Rising Spirit

[b][u]Rising Spirit[/u][/b]
The road of ascension is a difficult one. The Rising Spirit discipline emphasizes the search for transcendence, reconciling the mystical with the physical. Awareness of deeper layers of existence is key to this mastery.
This discipline channels the energies of each stage in the cycle of existence to inflict debilitating effects upon the targets, abilities that strike at the mystical and impinge upon other planes of existence.
Spot(or Perception) is the key skill for Rising Spirit. Rising Spirit's assocated weapons include the Falchion, Scimitar, Kukri and Rapier.

1st (4-5, 1-2 Stance) All Realms
[b]Hell - Fear for the Disgraceful End[/b] Strike  - A melee attack causes a will save or become Frightened for 1 round.
[b]Brute - Short-Sighted Fury[/b] Strike - A melee attack causes a will save or the target must move towards and physically attack the initiator for the next round by any means possible.
[b]Asura - Empty Victory[/b] Counter - Enemy that successfully strikes you takes a -4 penalty to AC for 1 round.
[b]Ghost - Fasting of the Hungry Ghost[/b]  Counter - Delay the effects of a status condition or spell effect by 1 round, but take a -4 on the first save against that effect.
[b]Mortal - Fleeting Passion[/b] Boost - A creature within 15ft gain the effects of [i]Rage[/i] for 1 round. Will save negates.
[b]Heaven - See the Next World[/b] Stance - Sense incorporeal, ethereal, gaseous and dematerialized creatures through nonmagical cover and concealment.

2nd (2-4) Hell Brute Asura
[b]Hell - Karma Gust[/b] Counter - For 1 round, add damage to all attacks based on damage received and delayed damage pool.
+1/5(delayed damage + damage from single source)
[b]Brute - Savage Rush[/b] Strike - Charge, ignoring difficult terrain and perform an attack with each weapon and natural weapon(to a maximum of 5 total attacks). AC penalty increases to -4.
[b]Asura - Green Eyed King[/b] Strike - Attack, target creature must Will save or perform attacks of opportunities from allies for 1d4 rounds.

3rd (3-4, 1-2 Stance): Ghost, Mortal, Heaven
[b]Ghost - Reach for the Spectral Feast[/b] Boost - Treat incorporeal, gaseous and ethereal creatures, effects and objects as if they were material for 1 round.
Initiator is treated as though he is corporeal, ethereal, and incorporeal all at once, using the least beneficial interpretation to a given situation when defending.
[b]Mortal - Approaching Disillusion[/b] Strike - Melee attack is preceded by area dispel(5ft cube).
[b]Heaven - Pride of the Deva[/b] Stance - Sanctuary against ranged and area attacks. Stance ends when taking damage, when gaining a status effect or spell effect.
[b]Asura - Slash of Present[/b] Counter - Delay the onset of an effect by 1 round. <effect must target or include initiator in its target area, originate from within melee reach or affect a square within melee reach>

4th (2-3)
[b]Hell - Reign of Terror[/b] Boost - Target of next attack must make a will save or be Frightened of the initiator for a number of rounds equal to Initiator level.
[b]Brute - Fool's Petard[/b] Strike - Make a single melee attack. The targeted creature targets itself for all targeted attacks, effects and abilities until the end of the next round, including melee and ranged attacks. Area effects must include the creature. A successful Will save alerts the creature to the disturbance.
[b]Asura - No Deed Unpunished[/b] Strike - Target creature provokes AoO from all other creatures for 1 round per 3 Initiator levels, as long as the creature performs a provoking action within reach of a creature capable of performing an AoO.

5th (2-3):
[b]Ghost - Unquenchable Hunger[/b] Boost - Melee attacks for one round act as a targeted Dispel Magic on the subject. <Objects must be specifically sundered. Each hit only removes a maximum of 1 spell or magical effect or suppresses 1 magic item.>
[b]Mortal - Delusion of Enlightenment[/b] Strike - Creatures in a 20ft radius make a will save or be blinded for 1 round.
[b]Heaven - Release from Suffering[/b] Counter - You and selected allies within melee reach become incorporeal for one round or until an affected creature take any action. This includes movement, free actions, immediate actions and attacks of opportunity, but not delaying.

6th (2-3, 1 Stance):
[b]Hell - Wrath of Hell God[/b] Strike - Creatures in a 30ft radius must make a will save or become Panicked and flee the initiator for 1 round per three initiator levels. A successful save reduces this to being Shaken for 1 round.
[b]Ghost - Tales of the Spirit Realm[/b] Stance - Become incorporeal while moving more than 10ft in a round. <Able to interact as if corporeal>
[b]Asura - Obsession with the Present World[/b] Boost - All attacks in the present round cause targets to be planeshifted to a coterminous plane in place of damage. Save negates, multiple strikes on a creature only causes one save.
[b]Brute -  Karmic Punishment of the Idle and Unfocused[/b] Strike - Move and make a full attack. Those struck are moved to before your initiative and do not act this round if they haven't already.<Split attacks across all targets>

7th (1-2):
[b]Heaven - Components of the Soul[/b] Boost - Separates the components of the soul momentarily to act independently for 1 round, creating a duplicate for every 5 IL.
[b]Mortal - Slash of Eternity[/b] Strike - Strike freezes target in time for 1d4 rounds. Will negates.

8th (2-3, 1 Stance)
[b]Enlightenment - Ageless Obsession[/b] Stance - Gain a move action. If you move and perform a full attack you may divide your attacks across any creatures within reach any time during the movement.
[b]Ghost - Retribution on the Hungry Ghost[/b] Counter - Dispel one spell and select a new target for it. Close range.
[b]Mortal - Attainment of Eternal Truth[/b] Boost - Become ethereal for 1 round, but able to affect the material world at will. <Does not actually use the Ethereal plane>
[b]Heaven - Five Signs of the Dying Deva[/b] Strike - Attack removes five forms of invulnerability for IL/4 rounds. Damage Reduction, Energy Resistance, Fast Healing, Immunities and Regeneration.

9th
[b]Enlightenment - Rise From Delusion[/b] Strike - Slash severs all in its path from worldly attachments, bodily removing them from the world. Will negates. Material creatures are Stunned and rendered incorporeal(without their equipment) for 1d4+1 rounds. Incorporeal, gaseous, ethereal or otherwise immaterial creatures are annihilated on a failed save.

[b]Transcendent Sight - Feat[/b]
Your quest for enlightenment slowly leads you towards transcendence, allowing you to percieve the supernatural in ways others cannot.
[b]Prerequisites]/b] One Rising Spirit stance
Benefit: While you are in a Rising Spirit stance, you may detect the presence of magic auras as the Detect Magic spell, without needing to concentrate to mantain the effect. You still need to concentrate in order to gain additional information about the auras you detect, such as their number, strength, location, or school. You may make a Perception (Spot) check instead of the Spellcraft check to identify an aura's school.


Ageless Obsession
Rising Spirit (Stance)
Level: Crusader 8, Swordsage 8
Prerequisite:
Initiation Action: 1 swift action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: Stance
Practitioners of the Rising Spirit have sought enlightenment for ages, far before even the founding of the Temple of the Nine Swords. The dedication of a true master of the discipline is so great that he can partially remove himself from his material form by merely willing it so, granting him alacrity undreamed of by those who remain governed by their delusions.
As long as you remain in this stance, you gain an extra move action every turn. If you move as part of this extra move action, you do not provoke attacks of opportunity for movement and ignore difficult terrain. In addition, when you move and make a full attack in the same turn, you may divide up the attacks you would be entitled to between all enemies you move past in any way you wish, in any order.
Example: Youki Konpaku is facing two ninjas and his archrival Rinnosuke. The Rising Spirit master enters the [i]Ageless Obsession[/i] stance, weaving among his opponents and performing a full attack. Knowing the ninjas to be pushovers, he assigns the two least accurate iterative attacks of the four he is entitled to to them and reserves his most accurate attacks for Rinnosuke - the order he passed the three in doesn't matter.

Approaching Disillusion
Rising Spirit (Strike)
Level: Crusader 3, Swordsage 3
Prerequisite:
Initiation Action: 1 standard action
Range: Melee attack
Target: One creature
Area: 5-ft. cube; see text
Duration: Instantaneous
Magic is the stuff of dreams and illusion. On the way to enlightenment, such deception of self and others is only a roadblock, and adepts of the Rising Spirit learn to cleanse themselves and their environment of it.
When you use this strike, make a single melee attack. This attack is preceded by a [i]Dispel Magic[/i] effect targetted on the five-foot space you attack into, using your initiator level as its caster level. Other than the area, this functions identically to the Area Dispel option of the [i]Dispel Magic[/i] spell. If you were attacking a space that you believe holds an invisible creature and the effect granting that creature invisibility is dispelled by this strike, you need not roll for concealment.
This maneuver is a supernatural ability.

Attainment of Eternal Truth
Rising Spirit (Boost)
Level: Crusader 8, Swordsage 8
Prerequisite:
Initiation Action: 1 swift action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: 1 round
You sever yourself from the material world for a short time, only leaving behind just enough of your presence to affect the world from your sanctuary.
Until the start of your next, turn, you become ethereal. However, you may still affect the plane you came from at will, both magically and physically. You are not actually on the ethereal plane, but entirely removed from the cosmology of the planes, so effects that specifically target the ethereal plane ignore you, and creatures or other obstacles on the ethereal plane do not affect you, nor do the ethereal plane's planar traits. Effects that can affect creatures across planar boundaries(such as Transdimensional Spell) can affect you normally.
This maneuver is a supernatural ability.

Components of the Soul
Rising Spirit (Boost)
Level: Crusader 7, Swordsage 7
Prerequisite:
Initiation Action: 1 swift action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: 1 round
The soul consists of ten base components - three for the mind and seven for the body. You split these base components from you and give them physical form, effectively splitting yourself into multiple parts, though each is a whole in its own right.
By initiating this maneuver, you create one duplicate of yourself per five initiator levels. These duplicates appear in spaces of your choice adjacent to you. The duplicates possess exact copies of your equipment, magical and nonmagical, as well as copies of all spell effects active on your person at the time of initiating this maneuver, but consumable items or items with limited charges such as wands or scrolls are duplicated fully expended, as are dischargable spell effects such as [i]True Strike[/i].
Each duplicate must use the same actions as you do (for instance, if you move, leave your swift action unspent, and use a strike, all duplicates must also move, leave their swift actions unspent, and use the same strike), though they may choose different targets or areas for their attacks and abilities, make different choices if the ability used demands one, and move in different ways and different distances. In fact, if you use an attack or effect, none of your duplicates may affect the same target as you and no two duplicates may affect the same target. If you use an effect that affects an area, the areas may overlap, but every target may be affected only once, even if it is in more than one of the areas.
For the duration of the maneuver, you and all your duplicates gain a number of temporary negative levels equal to the number of duplicates created. If a duplicate dies before the maneuver ends, you do not take damage, but instead one of the negative levels becomes a regular negative level that remains after the maneuver ends and forces a fortitude save to remove it after 24 hours if it is not removed before that time as normal.
The duplicates may not cast spells or use spell-like abilities, but they may initiate maneuvers as normal, and their lists of known, readied, and granted (if applicable) maneuvers are identical to yours at the time of initiating this maneuver. The duplicates may recover or be granted new maneuvers as normal for your initiator class(es), but they must all take the action(s) required if your recovery method requires an action and all duplicated must recover the same maneuver. If you are granted maneuvers randomly, determine the granted maneuver once for all duplicates and yourself. No duplicate may use the [i]Components of the Soul[/i] maneuver.
At the end of the maneuver's duration, each duplicate and all the equipment they were created with disappears, regardless of their state or location.
This maneuver is a supernatural ability.

Delusion of Enlightenment
Rising Spirit (Strike) [Mind-affecting]
Level: Crusader 5, Swordsage 5
Prerequisite:
Initiation Action: 1 standard action
Range: 20 ft.
Area: see text
Saving Throw: Will negates
Duration: 1 round
The sensation of an epiphany, of approaching true enlightenment, is the most exhilarating there can be, and Rising Spirit adepts know this better than anyone else. However, a false sense of enlightenment is dangerous, as it can blind one to the truths of the moment.
When you initiate this maneuver, you instill nearby creatures with a false sense of enlightenment that may blind them. All creatures you designate within 20 feet must make a will save (DC 15 + your Wis or Cha modifier, whichever is higher) or be blinded for one round.
This maneuver is a supernatural ability.

Empty Victory
Rising Spirit (Counter)
Level: Crusader 1, Swordsage 1
Prerequisite:
Initiation Action: 1 immediate action
Range: See text
Target: One creature
Duration: 1 round
The Asura realm is associated with jealousy, struggle, and combat. Exploiting your opponent's own affinity with this realm through his offense, you render his success meaningless and hollow.
You can initiate this maneuver when a creature successfully hits you with an attack. That creature takes a -4 penalty to AC for one round.

Fasting of the Hungry Ghost
Rising Spirit (Counter)
Level: Crusader 1, Swordsage 1
Prerequisite:
Initiation Action: 1 immediate action
Range: Personal
Target: One creature
Duration: You
The Ghost Realm is inhabited by wretched beings governed by their desires, damned to crave for what they cannot hope to attain until they have atoned for their past life's greed. By meditating on the ghosts' ordeal, you may make their forced abstinence your own and delay hostile effects.
You can initiate this maneuver any time you would be required to make a save. The onset of the effect that forced the save is delayed for one round. At the end of your next turn after initiating this maneuver, you make the saving throw at a -4 penalty and are affected as normal if you fail (or even if you succeed, depending on the effect).

Five Signs of the Dying Deva
[b]Heaven - Five Signs of the Dying Deva[/b]
[i]Rising Spirit (Strike)[/i]
[b]Level[/b] Crusader 8, Swordsage 8
[b]Prerequisite[/b] Three Rising Spirit Manuevers known
[b]Initiation Action[/b] 1 Standard action
[b]Range[/b] Melee Attack
[b]Target[/b] One Creature or Object
[b]Duration[/b] 1 round per 4 initiator levels
[b]Saving Throw[/b] Will negates(affects objects)
[i]All things end, even the divine will fall. You contemplate the inevitability of existence, and focus that realization into your attack, separating the target from his futile efforts to stave off the end.[/i]
As part of this maneuver, make a melee attack. If this attack hits, the affected creature or object has the following suppressed for the duration, regardless of source:
- All damage reduction and energy resistances.
- Fast Healing
- All Immunities
- Regeneration
- Rejuvenation abilities(such as a lich's phylactery, contingent resurrection magic or a ghost's rejuvenation)
A will save (DC 18 + your Wis or Cha modifier) negates this effect. Damage or Drain to a non-ability have no further effect. Mind control and similar controlling effects only function if the target is capable of obeying, Five Signs of the Dying Deva does not grant them the ability to obey.

Fleeting Passion
Fool's Petard
Green-Eyed King
Karma Gust
Karmic Punishment of the Idle and Unfocused
No Deed Unpunished
Obsession with the Present World
Pride of the Deva

[b]Ghost - Reach for the Spectral Feast[/b]
[i]Rising Spirit (Boost)[/i]
[b]Level[/b] Crusader 3, Swordsage 3
[b]Prerequisite[/b] One Rising Spirit Manuever known
[b]Initiation Action[/b] 1 Swift action
[b]Range[/b] Personal
[b]Target[/b] You
[b]Duration[/b] 1 round
[i]Desire, Greed, Lust. The Ghost realm is the sphere of Want, and in emulating their sins, the initiator gains the ability to reach what they cannot. Beware falling into the trap of becoming what you emulate.[/i]
While under the effect of this maneuver, you treats incorporeal, gaseous and ethereal creatures and objects as if they were the same material state as you are(i.e. solid), and can manipulate, interact with or attack them normally.
At the same time, you are treated as being corporeal, incorporeal, gaseous or ethereal for purposes of adjucating effects that would not affect creatures of all these states, whichever would be least advantageous to you in any given circumstance. For beneficial effects (such as a buff spell), you may choose to be treated as corporeal instead.

Release from Suffering
Reign of Terror
Retribution on the Hungry Ghost
Rise From Delusion
Savage Rush

[b]Heaven - See the Next World[/b]
[i]Rising Spirit(Stance)[/i]
[b]Level[/b] Crusader 1, Swordsage 1
[b]Prerequisite[/b] None
[b]Range[/b] Personal
[b]Duration[/b] Stance
[i]The first steps of the path of ascension is to open your eyes to see the path and those who have gone before.[/i]
While in this stance, you can see incorporeal, gaseous and dematerialized creatures through any nonmagical cover(such ghosts inside a solid surface) and concealment(such as darkness or fog) within your sensory range. You can also see creatures in coexistent planes(such as the Ethereal Plane and the Plane of Shadow) the same way.
If you have the ability to see through magical cover or concealment(such as True Seeing or Blindsight), you can also apply the benefits of See the Next World to creatures benefiting from such concealment.

[b]Brute - Short-Sighted Fury[/b]
[i]Rising Spirit(Strike)[/i]
[b]Level[/b] Crusader 1, Swordsage 1
[b]Prerequisite[/b] None
[b]Initiation Action[/b] 1 Standard action
[b]Range[/b] 1 melee attack
[b]Target[/b] 1 creature
[b]Saving Throw[/b] Will negates
[i]Instinct is short-sighted and leads to doom in the end. This strike sends the beast instinct rising to the fore, to strike out blindly in wrath.[/i]
You make a melee attack, if you hit, the target must make a Will save(DC 11+Cha) or be forced to move towards and physically attack you the next round by any means possible.

[b]Mortal - Slash of Eternity[/b]
[i]Rising Spirit(Strike)[/i]
[b]Level[/b] Crusader 7, Swordsage 7
[b]Prerequisite[/b] Three Rising Spirit Manuevers known
[b]Initiation Action[/b] 1 Standard action
[b]Range[/b] 1 melee attack
[b]Target[/b] One creature, object or effect
[b]Saving Throw[/b] Reflex Partial
[i]The difference between an eternity and a moment is only in the one who experiences it. Here and now, is forever. With one strike, the subject's moment becomes an eternity.[/i]
You make a melee touch attack against a creature, object or tangible effect(i.e. a magical effect like a Wall of Fire or Black Tentacles), turning a moment into an eternity. The target must make a Reflex save(DC 17+Wis) or be frozen in time for 1d4+1 rounds. A successful save reduces this to being [i]slowed[/i] for 1 round.
A frozen target has its conditions fixed. Durations on such a target do not count down(except for Slash of Eternity), and no force or effect can alter it's state or position without first affecting Slash of Eternity.

[b]Asura - Slash of Present[/b]
[i]Rising Spirit (Counter)[/i]
[b]Level[/b] Crusader 3, Swordsage 3
[b]Prerequisite[/b] Two Rising Spirit Manuevers known
[b]Initiation Action[/b] 1 Immediate action
[b]Range[/b] Melee reach
[b]Target[/b] One attack or effect
[b]Duration[/b] See text
[b]Saving Throw[/b] None
[i]'Now' is a broad, inclusive concept. Practioners of Rising Spirit know better. Everything exists in its own present. It is but a cut in the right place to sunder a small moment of time from all else.[/i]
You can initiate this maneuver when another creature would cast a spell or use an attack or ability within your melee reach, when such an attack or effect would target you or a creature within your melee reach, or when the area of such an attack or effect would intersect with your melee reach. Slash of Present delays the results of such actions as outlined below.
Instantaneous attacks or effects such as a [i]Fireball[/i] spell or a melee attack resolve as normal, but have their results delayed. The results take effect as normal at the end of your next turn after initiating this maneuver. For instance, a spell that deals damage would do so only at the end of your next turn. Instantaneous effects targeting an area have their outcome delayed for all creatures and objects affected, even if some of them would be outside of this maneuver's range. At the end of the maneuver's duration, the attack or effect affects all targets it originally targeted, and only those targets, even if some of its original targets would now be outside its range or area and other targets would be within range now.
Targeted effects with a non-instantaneous duration such as a [i]Slow[/i] spell also resolve as normal, but have their results supressed until the end of your next turn. This time does not count against the effect's duration.
Effects with a non-instantaneous duration that affect an area, such as a [i]Solid Fog[/i] spell, or that create non-instantaneous spell effects, such as a [i]Summon Monster[/i] spell, only take effect at the end of your next turn after initiating this maneuver. A target that moves out of the area of the effect while it is supressed is unaffected, and targets that move into the area are affected as if they had been caught within all along.

[b]Ghost - Tales of the Spirit Realm[/b]
[i]Rising Spirit (Stance)[/i]
[b]Level[/b] Crusader 6, Swordsage 6
[b]Prerequisite[/b] Two Rising Spirit Manuevers
[b]Initiation Action[/b] 1 swift action
[b]Range[/b] Personal
[b]Target[/b] You
[b]Duration[/b] Stance
[i]What is most desired is that which cannot be attained. The master of Rising Spirit inverts this realization, becoming the unattainable.[/i]
While in this stance, you become incorporeal as long as you move more than 10ft each round. You may treat your equipment and body as [i]Ghost Touch[/i] when it would be beneficial.

[b]Ghost - Unquenchable Hunger[/b]
[i]Rising Spirit (Boost)[/i]
[b]Level[/b] Crusader 5, Swordsage 5
[b]Prerequisite[/b] Three Rising Spirit Manuevers known
[b]Initiation Action[/b] 1 Swift action
[b]Range[/b] Personal
[b]Duration[/b] 1 round
[b]Saving Throw[/b] None
[i]Desire, the endless trap of wanting. In its endless hunger it leaves nothing where it wants everything. [/i]
All of your melee attacks for one round act as a targeted Greater Dispel Magic on what they strike, using your initiator level for the caster level check. Each hit can remove a maximum of one spell, dispel one magical effect or suppress one magic item.

[b]Hell - Wrath of the Hell God[/b]
[i]Rising Spirit (Strike)[/i]
[b]Level[/b] Crusader 6, Swordsage 6
[b]Prerequisite[/b] Two Rising Spirit Manuevers known
[b]Initiation Action[/b] 1 Standard action
[b]Effect[/b] Fear Aura
[b]Area[/b] 30 ft radius emanation
[b]Duration[/b] 1 round / 3 IL or 1 round
[b]Saving Throw[/b] Will Partial
[i]Opening yourself to the hate and fear embodied in the champions of the lower planes, you let it flow into, and through you, remaining untouched by its passage even as it strikes to the hearts of all around.[/i]
You gain a 30ft radius fear aura for 1 round. Creatures within this area must make a Will save(DC 16+Wis mod) or become Panicked and flee for 1 round per three initiator levels. A successful save causes the creature to be shaken for 1 round instead. While the aura is active, you are immune to fear effects.
Creatures that successfully save against this maneuver cannot be Panicked by it for 24 hours.