"The true warrior disdains no weapon, no tool, that might win h im the day on the field of battle. And what is magic but another weapon hanging at your side, ready to be drawn and wielded when the need arises?"

-Caspian LaMont, Guard-Captain of the Knights Ascendant

While the eldritch knight strives to balance his mystical and martial prowess, and the spellsword uses weapons to channel his spells, the abjurant champion focuses his arcane abilities both to augment his personal defense and to hinder enemy spellcasters. Perfectly suited for martial stalwarts who dabble in magic, this class offers characters the ability to improve their combat skills in ways neither soldiers nor spellcasters can.

BECOMING AN ABJURANT CHAMPION

Fighter/wizard and paladin/sorcerer are both common paths taken to become an abjurant champion, but given the requirements, any martial-oriented character can qualify by taking minimal levels in an arcane spellcasting class, such as one level in wu jen or two levels in bard. Single-classed hexblades or duskblades can qualify but usually lack the abjuration spells that make this combination function best.

PLAYING AN ABJURANT CHAMPION

You are a student of warfare and combat in all its forms. You seek to master the skills of the warrior but also to understand arcane magic, attempting to create a perfect fusion of the two seemingly disparate arts. You are pragmatic and practical, determined to achieve victory. This doesn't necessarily mean that you fight without honor, merely that you are willing to make use of every tool at your disposal. You respect those who master either martial or mystical disciplines, but believe that they are shortsighted in their failure to understand that the two are complementary, not opposed.

If you are still a member of the order that trained you, you can count on regular opportunities for combat, adventure, and potentially lucrative assignments. On the other hand, you'll be giving up some degree of personal freedom, since you are expected to answer when the organization calls.

Combat

You are a straightforward combatant in battle. Although you might well be capable of casting offensive spells and should certainly do so when the situation calls for it, you are best suited to melee. Use your various abilities to improve your combat effectiveness, casting enhancement spells and taking advantage of your arcane boost as necessary. Although you don't want to squander your limited-use abilities, don't be afraid to use them either. After all, if you don't win the day now, you might never make it to the next battle.

Advancement

Only a select few organizations teach the skills of the abjurant champion: specific militant orders that have mastered magical techniques. Although some of these orders are secret, many are not, so you could easily have sought one out. Likely you already had some interest in augmenting your martial prowess with mystical arts, though it's possible you were simply a soldier looking for an edge on the battlefield. A few of these orders seek out those who show signs of the proper skills, or - if they are associated with a government or religion - recruit strong-willed or intelligent soldiers to serve them in new ways. You might have been sworn to service, or the order might be far less formal, but you have vowed never to teach your techniques to another without the group's permission.

Abjurant champions are evenly divided between those who still belong to their order and those who have gone their own way. You might be either, as your own desires (and the needs of the campaign) dictate. In either case, you spend your free time training or studying, determined to become a master of your varied abilities.

As an abjurant champion, you should focus on skills that provide the greatest advantage in combat. Physical skills, such as Climb and Jump, allow you to take optimal tactical positions, while Concentration and Spellcraft enable you to effectively make use of your magic and anticipate the magic of others. Select feats that improve your martial talents, since you aren't likely to cast enough spells to make Spell Focus, Spell Penetration, and the like worthwhile. Still Spell (and its sudden version) allows you to cast while wearing armor, if you so choose.

After reaching the end of the abjurant champion prestige class, you face a difficult decision about how to proceed. Gaining additional levels in a martial class improves both your combat prowess and your caster level but prevents you from gaining additional spells (and higher spell levels). On the other hand, advancing as an arcane caster reduces your combat prowess but opens up new spell options. Consider mingling the two options, alternating between two classes to get the best of both worlds. After all, with higher-level spells, your arcane boost provides a bigger punch.

Resources

If you still belong to an organization, you can count on its members for support, since it is in the group's best interest to ensure its members remain effective. The organization might be able to loan you magic items for shortterm use, or on occasion sell you items that might not otherwise be available. If you are a wizard, you might be able to trade spells with your fellow members. If nothing else, the group provides contacts, allies, and a pipeline to potential employers.

On the other hand, the group leaders expect you to accept assignments they hand down and to come to the aid of your fellows. If you have left the organization, you can no longer call on its resources for support, but neither does it have any influence over your activities.

ABJURANT CHAMPIONS IN THE WORLD

"Yeah, I thought the same thing. 'A mystic warrior with that kind of skill? Not a chancel' And look where that attitude got me!"

-Tarvis One-Arm, former guardsman

Given the prevalence of magic and martial skills, it's not surprising that some groups or individuals seek to combine the two in ways never before attempted. Because their abilities are useful under almost any combat circumstances, these battlecasters can effectively be placed in national armies, mercenary companies, adventuring parties, or anywhere else a strong arm and a swift sword are in demand.

Organization

While not all abjurant champions are members of the same order, all of them learned their skills from some sort of organization. These organizations vary dramatically, however.

The Knights Ascendant, for instance, is a mercenary guild that hires out only to causes the guild leaders believe are just and honorable, whereas the members of the Scions of Kas revere Vecna's fallen lieutenant as a deity in his own right and offer sword and spell to the service of any conqueror or warlord they consider sufficiently strong. Similar organizations might serve a church or a nation or act as the militant arm of an arcanist guild.

Regardless, a member's daily life allows little free time. Waking hours not spent in direct service to the organization, on patrol, or on the field of battle are filled with martial training, arcane study, or both. The abjurant champion is not a divine caster, but his abilities require him to be as disciplined as any holy warrior.

NPC Reactions

Unless an abjurant champion is blatant in his use of spells, most individuals can't easily distinguish him from a more mundane warrior (other than perhaps by his lack of visible armor) and react accordingly. Fighter-types and spellcasters who recognize the mystic warrior for what he is, however, react with distrust, uncomfortable with the notion of their own art being combined with the other. Such people begin one step nearer to hostile than they otherwise might.

ABJURANT CHAMPION LORE

Characters who have ranks in Knowledge (arcana) or the bardic knowledge ability can research abjurant champions to learn more about them. When a character makes a successful skill check or bardic knowledge check, read or paraphrase the following, including the information from lower DCs.

DC 10: Mystic warriors? Soldiers who can swing a sword and cast spells, I think.

DC 15: Oh, yeah, I've heard of the champions. They learn how to use their magic to fight better on the battlefield. It's not flashy, but it works.

DC 20: Abjurant champions can cast a wide variety of spells, depending on what they've studied, but they're particularly skilled at casting defensive spells. They can cast them much faster than normal.

DC 30: Characters who achieve this level of success can learn important details about specific abjurant champions in your campaign, including notable members, the areas where they operate, and the kinds of activities they undertake.

PCs who wish to meet with an abjurant champion need only follow tales and stories of "spell-using warriors" back to the organization that utilizes them. Although this might send them in the wrong direction a few times, perhaps leading them to a spellsword or eldritch knight, it should eventually take them where they need to go.

ABJURANT CHAMPIONS IN THE GAME

Abjurant champions are relatively easy to integrate into most campaigns. Even though their particular ability to combine two very different disciplines is unusual, the disciplines themselves are quite commonplace. They can appear as adventurers or soldiers from a distant land, members of an order with which the PCs have had little direct interaction, or even as people whom the PCs have met before, but of whose special abilities they were unaware. After all, in the midst of battle, it's difficult to tell that one particular soldier has somehow imbued himself with a small bonus or an enhancement spell.

The abjurant champion should appeal to PCs who enjoy playing martial characters, but who seek a touch of magical ability. The prestige class allows them to prove particularly effective in combat without overshadowing other warriors in the party.

Adaptation

The abjurant champion can be made into a divine prestige class by altering the requirements and spellcasting progression. Alternatively, with a bit more work, the class can be transformed into a psionic prestige class, with its boost costing a range of psionic power points. On a campaign level, you might wish to restrict the champion to one particular organization of the setting.

Sample Encounter

Abjurant champions are found wherever battle rages: on the fields of war, the walls of castles, the streets of the big city and the depths of foul dungeons. Characters can encounter an abjurant champion as a companion or enemy anywhere they might meet a soldier of an allied or a rival power.

EL 11: Guard-Captain Caspian LaMont (LN male half-elf fighter 4/sorcerer 2/abjurant champion 5) of the Knights Ascendant is an honorable man and a skilled warrior. Once he commits himself to a cause, he adopts it as his own. Although the Knights Ascendant do not serve blatantly evil powers, they still might end up on the opposite side of a struggle from the characters. When the PCs encounter him, he might be scouting out his enemy's defenses or protecting an important location or leader of his employer's forces. He is willing to take whatever steps he must to avoid capture or defeat.