Olympic Paragon

Relics  & Rituals: Olympus

© 2004 White Wolf Publishing,
Inc. Distributed for Sword and Sorcery Studios by White Wolf Publishing, Inc.

By W. Jason Peck, Aaron Rosenberg,  Christina Stiles and Relics & Rituals: Olympus  team

Driven by the desire to  achieve physical perfection, the Olympic paragon is an athlete without parallel,  able to perform feats of agility and strength that ordinary mortals can only  dream of. She swims as though born to a seagod, runs like the gazelle, and hurls  javelins as though they were thunderbolts. Although athletic competitions are  where the Olympic paragon is at her best, her skills also make her a sought-after  companion on adventures. Jason himself insisted on bringing some of the world’s greatest  athletes with him on the quest for the Golden Fleece, and they served him well.

Members of the most physical classes – monks, fighters, barbarians, rogues, rangers and paladins – are the most likely to excel at the role of Olympic paragon. Of these classes, the monk, fighter and rogue gain the most from the enhanced physical prowess of this prestige class, while sacrificing the least.

As NPCs, Olympic paragons  are most frequently encountered at athletic contests they have some stake in.  Some actually refrain from participating in such contests, unless they have  good reason to believe that the other competitors are of similar caliber. A  retired Olympic paragon may serve as a trainer to new generations of heroes,  and may be a mentor figure to almost any sort of hero.

Hit Die: d10.

Requirements

To qualify to become an  Olympic paragon, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.
Skills: Jump 8 ranks, Tumble 4 ranks
Feats: Any four of the following: Acrobatic,  Agile, Athletic, Endurance, Improved Grapple, Improved Unarmed Strike, Run.
Special: Cumulative Strength, Dexterity and Constitution bonuses totaling  +5 or greater.

Class Skills

The Olympic paragon class  skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dexterity), Climb (Strength), Concentration (Constitution), Craft (Intelligence), Escape Artist (Dexterity), Jump (Strength), Profession  (Wisdom), Ride (Dexterity), Swim (Strength), and Tumble (Dexterity).

Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Intelligence  modifier.

The Olympic Paragon
Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special	Speed Bonus
1st	+1	+2	+2	+0	Mighty leap	+10 feet
2nd	+2	+3	+3	+0	Power throw	+10 feet
3rd	+3	+3	+3	+1	Evasion, power swimmer	+10 feet
4th	+4	+4	+4	+1	Swift Climber	+10 feet
5th	+5	+4	+4	+1	+1 ability bonus	+20 feet
6th	+6	+5	+5	+2	Champion of the ring	+20 feet
7th	+7	+5	+5	+2	Improved evasion	+20 feet
8th	+8	+6	+6	+2	Indefatigable	+20 feet
9th	+9	+6	+6	+3	Killing throw	+30 feet
10th	+10	+7	+7	+3	+1 ability bonus	+30 feet

Class Features

All of the following are  features of the Olympic paragon prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency:  The Olympic paragon is proficient with all simple weapons, and with light armor.

Fast Movement (Ex):  The Olympic paragon’s base speed is increased by an amount dependent on  class level. This extra movement can be maintained  in light or medium armor, or when carrying a light or medium load. If the Olympic  paragon wears heavy armor or is carrying a heavy load, she does not benefit  from the fast movement ability.

Mighty Leap (Ex): The  Olympic paragon is treated as one size category larger than she actually is  for purposes of vertical reach when jumping, as detailed under the Jump skill.

Power Throw (Ex): At  2nd level, the Olympic paragon may add 10 feet to the range increment of any thrown weapon; she can throw a javelin, dart or the like farther and more accurately than even a trained soldier. This applies even to weapons that are not designed to be thrown (although the penalty to the attack roll and critical hit rules remain unchanged). Thus, an Olympic paragon throwing a javelin would have take no range penalty to her attack roll out to a distance of 39 feet, and would be at a -2 penalty if the target was between 40 and 79 feet away, and so on.

Evasion (Ex): At 3rd level, the Olympic paragon gains the evasion ability. If she makes a successful saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save, she takes no damage. Evasion can be used only if the Olympic paragon is wearing light or no armor. A helpless character (such as one who is paralyzed) cannot benefit from evasion.

Power Swimmer (Ex): With a successful Swim check, the Olympic paragon is able to move half her speed as a move action or her full speed as a full-round action. In addition, the Olympic paragon is able to hold her breath for a number of rounds equal to one and one half her Constitution score (rounding up) if she does nothing other than take move actions or free actions.

Swift Climber (Ex): At 4th level, the Olympic paragon is able to Climb at half her speed without incurring the usual -5 penalty to Climb checks for accelerated climbing.

Ability Bonus: At 5th level, and again at 10th level, the Olympic paragon gains a +1 innate bonus to Strength, Dexterity or Constitution. This bonus is in addition to any ability bonuses gained from character level.

Champion of the Ring (Ex): At 6th level, the Olympic paragon gains a +2 morale bonus to unarmed strike attack rolls and to grapple checks.

Improved Evasion (Ex): At 7th level, the Olympic paragon gains the improved evasion ability. She still takes no damage if she makes a successful saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save. However, even if she fails her save, she takes only half damage. Improved evasion can be used only if the Olympic paragon is wearing light or no armor. A helpless character (such as one who is paralyzed) cannot benefit from improved evasion.

Indefatigable (Ex): At 8th level, the Olympic paragon is so hardy that she can shrug off many lesser forms of punishment. The character gains damage reduction 5/- versus nonlethal damage. This damage reduction does not apply to lethal damage taken from what are ordinarily nonlethal attacks (such as the unarmed strike from a character with Improved Unarmed Strike who is opting to inflict lethal damage).

Killing Throw (Ex): At 9th level, the Olympic paragon does an additional 1d6 points of extra damage when throwing a weapon. This extra damage, like sneak attack damage, is not multiplied should the Olympic paragon achieve a critical hit.