Mesmerist Tricks (Mesmerist)
It’s Trickster Week this week at Necromancers of the Northwest, and we’re celebrating scoundrels, liars, and pranksters of all sorts. When it comes to tricksters, your first thought might be rogue, but mesmerists are the ones who actually have a whole class feature devoted to being tricky, and it just wouldn’t be right not to recognize that with a set of new mesmerist tricks today, which is why that’s exactly what we did (disappointingly straightforward for Trickster Week, I know). Here they are.
New Mesmerist Tricks
After You: The mesmerist makes the subject appear to be in a slightly different place than she actually is, allowing her to easily avoid and counter certain combat maneuvers. The mesmerist can trigger this trick when the subject is the target of a bull rush, drag, overrun, or trip combat maneuver. The combat maneuver suffers a –10 penalty. Additionally, if the combat maneuver fails, the subject can immediately make a dirty trick, drag, reposition, or trip combat maneuver against the attacker. This combat maneuver does not provoke attacks of opportunity, and is made with a +2 bonus.
Be My Eyes: The mesmerist sends sensory input to the subject in the event that she is blinded or deafened, allowing her to largely ignore those conditions. The mesmerist can trigger this trick if the subject begins her turn with the blinded or deafened condition. If the subject is blinded, she no longer suffers the –4 penalty on Strength- and Dexterity-based skill checks, she is able to pinpoint the locations of creatures and objects as though she could see, and creatures only have concealment (20% miss chance) against her, instead of total concealment. She still suffers a –2 penalty to Armor Class, loses her Dexterity bonus to AC, and suffers a –4 penalty on Perception checks, and she must still succeed on a DC 10 Acrobatics check to move faster than half speed. If the subject is deafened, she no longer suffers a spell failure chance when casting spells with verbal components. If the subject is suffering from both conditions, both effects apply. This effect lasts for 1 minute, or until the mesmerist moves more than 60 feet away from the subject, at which point the effect ends.
Flick of the Wrist: The mesmerist makes the subject appear to be wielding her weapon differently than she actually is, allowing her to easily avoid and counter certain combat maneuvers. The mesmerist can trigger this trick when the subject is the target of a disarm or steal combat maneuver, or an item she is holding is the target of a sunder combat maneuver. The combat maneuver suffers a –10 penalty. Additionally, if the combat maneuver fails, the subject can immediately make a dirty trick, disarm, or steal combat maneuver against the attacker. This combat maneuver does not provoke attacks of opportunity, and is made with a +2 bonus.
Impenetrable Façade: The subject magically seems like a difficult target, encouraging enemies to attack elsewhere. The mesmerist can trigger this trick when a creature misses the subject with an attack (even if the attack is part of a full attack in which the creature hits the subject with another attack). The enemy must succeed on a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 the mesmerist’s class level + the mesmerist’s Charisma modifier) or be unable to take any hostile action against the subject on its next turn. Additionally, the subject gains a +2 circumstance bonus to AC against attacks made by the creature that missed it. Both of these effects last until the end of the attacker’s next turn. The bonus to AC increases by 1 for every 5 levels the mesmerist possesses. This is a mind-affecting compulsion effect.
Soften Blow: What appears to be a deadly blow in fact turns out to be little more than a scratch. The mesmerist can trigger this trick when a critical threat is made against the subject, before the confirmation roll is made. The attacker’s roll to confirm the critical threat suffers a penalty equal to the mesmerist’s Charisma modifier. Additionally, whether the critical threat is confirmed or not, all damage dice made for the attack are treated as though the attacker had rolled a 1.