Note, this compilation includes the draft revised armor abilities. These abilities are not official errata, at least not yet.

ARMIGER

While other warriors rely on speed or canny parries to defend themselves, the armiger trusts in his armor. Armigers create their own protective gear and improve it over time. They can stand before dozens of opponents, confident that their armor will shield them from harm. The armiger wins battles by wearing down his foes. If you decide to play an armiger, keep close to your friends but stay near the front of every battle. Ideally, the most powerful monsters and opponents you face focus their attacks on you. This may sound suicidal, but the armiger excels at defending himself. Attacks that barely faze you could seriously injure your friends. As your foes’ attacks harmlessly rebound off your armor, you wear down their stamina and position yourself for a devastating counterattack.

Constitution is the armiger’s most important ability. He needs lots of hit points to survive. Plus, in some cases, he can use Constitution rather than Strength as his key ability.

Hit Die: 1d4+6/level

SKILL GROUPS

Armigers gain access to the Athletics skill group. They also gain free ranks in the Craft skill, as described below. Armigers focus on fighting and armorcrafting to the exclusion of almost

all else. The other skills they cultivate derive from their personal interests rather than their studies and traditions.

Skill Points at 1st Level: (4 + Intelligence modifier) ×4

Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Intelligence modifier

FEATS

Armigers focus on defense above other pursuits, granting them excellent mastery in the Armor feat category. When they fight, they prefer Power weapons over other options, as their heavy armor makes light, agile weapons impractical. The protection provided by their armor allows them to turn the tide of battle if they can recognize the key points, granting a good mastery of Tactics feats.

CLASS FEATURES

Armigers craft their own armor, allowing them to create custom-fit pieces that provide far superior protection when compared to normal defensive equipment. An armiger’s abilities focus on his armor token pool. He can wear down an opponent’s strength by absorbing attacks. While an enemy wastes energy trying to smash through an armiger’s armor, the armiger carefully waits for the precise moment to attack.

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: Armigers are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, all armor, and all shields.

Armor Mastery: Drawing on his ability to modify armor and his uncanny talent for using it to absorb blows, the armiger is the unquestioned master of armored fighting. When he wears armor, he improves its abilities according to the Armor Traits and Ratings table. Its headers are explained below.

Max. Dex Increase: You increase the maximum Dexterity bonus to defense for your armor by the listed amount.

Armor Check Reduction: When you wear armor, it is like a second skin to you. You can move and maneuver in it with unmatched speed and grace. Reduce the armor’s check penalty by the listed amount, down to a minimum of 0.

Speed Category: You move much faster than normal while wearing armor. Treat your armor as one category lighter from class levels 1 to 10, and two categories lighter from class levels 11 to 20 for the purposes of determining your speed.

Otherwise, its category type remains unchanged. You cannot reduce armor’s category to less than light. For example, a 1stlevel armiger in medium armor moves as if he wore light armor, while one in heavy armor moves as if he wore medium armor.

Armor Traits and Ratings

Master Armorer: Armigers gain access to the special Craft (Master Armorer) skill that allows them to create armor. This skill grants you ranks in Craft equal to your armiger level + 3, but you can use these ranks only to create and repair suits of armor and shields. To expand into other Craft areas, you must purchase the skill as normal using your skill points.

If you choose, you can apply your Constitution modifier rather than your Intelligence modifier when using your Craft (Master Armorer) skill.

Tough as Nails: Armigers can carry heavy loads that would reduce others to exhausted wrecks. When determining how much equipment you can carry (see “Carrying Capacity” in Chapter Nine: Adventuring), use either your Strength score or your Constitution + your Strength modifier, whichever is higher. Using sheer toughness and determination, you shoulder your equipment with relative ease.

Bonus Feats: At 2nd level and every 4 levels thereafter (6th, 10th, 14th and 18th) you gain a bonus feat that must come from the Armor category. Otherwise, you can spend this selection on any feat of your choice, provided that you meet its mastery requirements. Bonus feats are in addition to the feat a character gets at every even-numbered level.

Armor Pool: The armor token pool represents your ability to wear down opponents by absorbing their blows. Your implacable stance frustrates your enemies and pushes them to adopt overly aggressive tactics.

By waiting for the right moment to strike, you can deal a grievous injury when a foe oversteps her defenses.

Your opponent may take a wild, uncontrolled swing out of frustration or tire herself out as she throws herself against your unyielding defense.

Starting at 3rd level, whenever your armor absorbs damage from an attack, you earn 1 armor token to spend

against your foes. You gain this token after your damage resistance has been rolled. You also earn 1 armor token whenever an enemy's attack strikes your shield. You gain these tokens when the attack is resolved. An enemy's attack is considered to strike your shield if the attack misses, but would have hit your

shieldless defense.

You can accumulate armor tokens against all the opponents who attack you. Use the tokens from this pool throughout the encounter against any opponent you like, as long as the foe has made at least one attack against you during the encounter. You may have, at most, a number of unspent aim tokens equal to 10 + your class level. You lose all unspent tokens at the end of an encounter.

Armor Abilities: Armor abilities are special combat options. Beginning at 3rd level, you may activate them in battle. They represent the tactics you attempt with your armor, the strategies armigers employ to defeat their enemies. When you activate an armor ability, you may be required to select a specific opponent against whom it applies. This target must have made at least one attack against you during the encounter. You can spend armor tokens as a free action, but you cannot use more than one armor ability per round. If you use an armor ability, you cannot use another one until the start of your next action.

Many armor abilities are defensive in nature. You use them in response to an opponent’s attacks, actions, or as the result of a strike, and thus they often do not take effect on your own turn, even though you activate them during your turn. Each time you gain an armor ability (at 3rd, 7th, 11th, 15th, 17th, and 19th levels), select a new ability from those listed below.

Armored Trap: You put yourself in position to make a counterattack against an opponent, timing your strike to coincide with hers. You activate this ability as a free action and designate a single foe as its target. If your chosen foe strikes your armor or shield, you may immediately spend 2 or more tokens to make an attack of opportunity against them. You gain a competence bonus to your attack equal to the number of tokens spent. On a hit, you gain a bonus to damage equal to the amount of damage your armor absorbed from your opponent’s attack. There is no bonus damage for shield-blocked hits.

Combat Magnet: You assume a combat stance devised to draw attacks to you while defending your allies.

You enter this stance as a free action. After this preparation, should an ally adjacent to you suffer an attack, you may immediately spend 2 armor tokens to force that attack to be resolved against you instead.

Each individual attack requires the expenditure of separate tokens, and you must spend the tokens before resolving the attack. You earn additional armor tokens as normal for suffering these attacks. This combat stance lasts until your next action. You cannot make attacks of opportunity while you act as a combat magnet.

Defensive Stance: As a free action, you assume a defensive stance and wait for your enemies to expose themselves to your counterattacks. Each time an opponent attacks and hits you or strikes your shield, you may spend 3 armor tokens to make an immediate attack of opportunity against her. You cannot make more than one attack of opportunity against a target as normal, but attacks you make in this manner do not count against your normal limit on attacks of opportunity. You gain the benefit of your defensive stance until the start of your next action. You must make your attack of opportunity before your opponent resolves her attack.

Distracting Lure: By making yourself a tempting target, you lure an opponent into attacking you at the expense of defending herself against your allies. You activate this ability as a free action and designate a single foe as its target. When your chosen foe attacks you, you may immediately spend 4 or more tokens to force her to make a Will save (DC 10 + half your armiger level + your Constitution modifier + number of additional tokens over 4 spent). Upon a failure, she loses her active bonus to defense against the next attack that targets her. You have made yourself enough of a target that your opponent throws all her energy into hammering home her strikes.

Draining Defense: You coax your opponent into wasting her strength on wild, uncontrolled strikes. You may designate a single foe as the target of this ability as a free action. If the target attacks you before the start of your next turn, you may spend 2 or more tokens to force her to make a Will save (DC 10 + half your level + your Constitution modifier + number of additional tokens over 2 spent). Failing the save means that she automatically takes an amount of nonlethal damage equal to 1d4 + your Constitution modifier. The target cannot suffer this damage more than once per round. She wastes energy on her attacks, or you step into her blows to jar her with a body check or similar harassing attack. The effects of this ability last until the start of your next action.

Impervious Defense: You can resist even the most devastating blows from your opponents. You may activate this ability as a free action on your turn. Each time you are struck between the end of this turn and the beginning of your next, you may spend armor tokens to increase your damage resistance against that attack. Each armor token you spend increases your damage resistance against the attack by 1 point. You may choose to spend tokens after the attack's damage has been rolled, but must do so before rolling your damage resistance.

Indomitable Wall of Iron: As your enemy’s attacks rebound off your armor, she slowly grows more frustrated and impatient. You are an easy target to hit, but a difficult one to injure. You may designate a single foe as the target of this ability as a free action. If the target attacks you before the start of your next turn, you may spend tokens to force her to make a Will save (DC 10 + half your level + your Constitution modifier + number of tokens spent) or suffer a –2 morale penalty to attacks against you and to defense against all attacks for the rest of the encounter. Your foe loses faith in her ability and makes wild attacks at you while ignoring her own defense. Indomitable wall of iron is a mind-affecting effect.

Iron-Sheathed Counterattack: You lock an opponent’s weapon in your steely grasp, pulling the foe off balance. You can activate this ability during your turn as a free action. You can use it when an opponent hits you with a melee weapon and fails to inflict enough damage to beat your damage reduction. When this occurs, you may spend 4 tokens in order to make an attack of opportunity against that enemy. Unlike with normal attacks of opportunity, you may choose to make a trip or disarm attempt. If you choose to disarm or trip her, she gets no chance to trip or disarm you on a failed attack. By catching your opponent’s weapon in a gauntleted hand, coaxing her into overextending herself and losing her balance, you can make a quick attack as her own strike rebounds from your armor and forces her backward for a moment.

Sentinel’s Defense: You use your armor’s weight to your advantage in close combat. You may activate this ability as a free action on your turn. Until the start of your next turn, each time you make grapple check, Strength check, or base attack check, you may choose to spend 1 token to gain a bonus to your check equal to your armor’s damage reduction (including mastery and material bonuses but not other sources of damage reduction). Roll the damage reduction along with your normal d20 roll and add the two together. (See Chapter Eight: Combat.)

Uncanny Dodge: A 4th-level and higher armiger can react to danger before his senses normally would allow him to do so.

You retain your active bonus to defense when you are caught flat footed. If you already have uncanny dodge from a different class, you instead gain improved uncanny dodge (see below).

Armored Redoubt: Beginning at 5th level, when you occupy a space, you hold it against your enemies like a walking fortress. Any allies who gain cover from you gain an additional

+2 cover bonus to defense, for a +6 bonus total. You gain a +4 bonus on defense, checks, or saves to resist any attack that would force you to move or knock you prone.

Reinforced Defenses: Part of the defensive value of your armor comes from your ability to wear it effectively. Starting at 9th level, you learn how to roll with attacks, absorb strikes in heavily plated areas, and otherwise lessen the force of combat. If an opponent strikes you with a weapon that would normally ignore your damage reduction (such as a demon's claw), you may still roll your normal damage reduction (including any armor feats or effects of challenges you have taken) and apply half of the result, rounded down, against the damage from the attack. Even though the weapon cleaves through your armor, you still twist and dodge to reduce the force of its impact.

This benefit also extends to energy attacks and spells that inflict damage in hit points.

Improved Uncanny Dodge: Due to your training and heavy armor, starting at 12th level you cannot be flanked while you wear your custom suit of armor. This defense prevents the use of sneak attack and other precision-based attacks that require flanking, unless the attacker’s base attack bonus is 5 or more points higher than your base defense bonus.

Armor as Second Skin: From 13th level forward, you have grown so adjusted to wearing your armor—plus you have made modifications for comfort—that you can sleep in it without penalty.

Supreme Reinforced Defenses: At 20th level, when facing an opponent whose weapons or attacks would normally ignore your armor's damage reduction, you gain the full benefit of your damage reduction. Otherwise, this ability functions as the reinforced defenses ability and replaces that ability's lower value.