#devoted muse

 Art is something worthy of being preserved. That is the doctrine of many faithful of Shelyn and other deities of art and creation. However, while in most cases art is a pacifistic force, the preservation of art sometimes means defending yourself and the works you value from despoilers.

When Aroden died, the Age of Lost Omens began, and with it, on the other side of the world, the ancient empire of Lung Wa in Tian Xia fell. Suddenly, centuries of art and culture were at risk of being wiped out by marauders and squabbling warlords alike who lack the capacity to recognize the value of that which they destroy or consign to the depths of history.

Thus, the Muses of Five Flowers, devoted as they are to Shelyn and the arts, trained warrior-poets to recover, preserve, and propagate the wonders and art forms that are constantly being threatened with extinction.

Even outside of this setting and context, this archetype screams an artistic battler that fights with incredible grace.

This prestige class only requires a goodly disposition, devotion to Shelyn or another god of arts, and mastery of a few common feats used by masters of light weaponry and feinting tactics.

The result, as we’ll see, is a feinting combat master that excels in buffing themselves and debuffing foes in more varied ways than just getting the enemy to drop their guard.

 Blurring the line between dancer and warrior, these swordsmasters use their dancing skill to make themselves harder to hit.

Additionally, they benefit from the same panache and special daring deeds of a swashbuckler, though at a slower pace, though they are able to combine the two should they be both swashbuckler and muse.

When feinting foes, rather than leave the foe open to attack, these muses can use various graceful techniques to befuddle them in other ways. These include movements that make it hard to pin down foes other than the muse, confusing movements that provoke reactionary actions that might harm themselves or allies instead of the muse, unbalancing strikes that leave the foe unable to act easily for a few seconds, and minor stunning tricks.

Additionally, once they have their foe befuddled, they can add all sorts of graceful tricks to their follow-up strikes with a little expenditure of their daring. These include moving around the target with ease while they grapple with their debilitation, striking precisely for greater damage, inspiring allies with the enemy’s embarrassment, or begin befuddling another separate foe in one smooth motion.

Naturally focused on feinting, these tricky foes learn many extra techniques to improve or take advantage of their deceptive skills.

Finally, they also have a greater panache reserve than others, and even slowly recover it with time.

A fun archetype for a patron of the arts that is also a master of the feint and strike style of combat. Naturally, swashbuckler has the best synergy with it due to the stacking panache pools and deeds, but any feinting melee build can benefit from the prestige class if you feel it suits them.

 Even if not motivated by a desire to preserve the arts, this prestige class does a lot to try and turn combat into an art form. The suggestion that their fighting style blends ancient and extinct fighting styles seems to me like a way to introduce homebrew feats that emulate some of the abilities this class grants, though perhaps in different form.

  Though she remains a loyal soldier of her people, Voshakk of the sahuagin became a champion by studying the carvings of the fighting styles of seen in many sunken ruins, mastering the rapier work of both elves and humans. Some among her kind call her a blasphemer for her reliance on surface techniques, but there is no denying her skill. Were her favor to diminish, however, she would quickly find herself exiled or on the end of a trident.

 Calligraphy requires a steady, yet flexible hand, just like swordplay, and in the nation of Buuraku, the allegory has been taken to its logical extreme with artist-swordspersons that master every graceful fighting art and dance, as well as others. Many are bards or geisha skilled in the art of calligraphy and magic.