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Anima River

The school of the Anima River originated from monks and incarnates who sought personal enlightenment through meditating on the spiritual aspects which empowered them. Fine control of the body was only half the puzzle, the soul was every much a living, breathing thing of its own and worked in tandem with biological functions. To understand the soul would allow them to train it as one would train your muscles. In times of battle, their enlightenment allowed them to strike at the invisible ever-present flow of life and wound their opponents most grievously.

Nei Jing was the creator of the school, a monk, and student of Desert Wind and Shadow Hand styles. He found neither school worked best for him, but was fascinated by their many supernatural abilities, and pondered deeper upon the source of this phenomena, drawing himself into isolation to meditate. After 11 years of hidden life in the world, Nei Jing returned a changed man, whose fighting style employed neither shadow nor flame, and whose mere presence had an suffocating aura of power.

The ways of the Anima River rely on empowering oneself to greater, even supernatural, action and striking at the enemy spiritually, rendering their bodies useless as they fall out of spiritual balance. The weapons associated with the Anima River are the Gauntlets (normal and spiked), Jian, Kama, Nunchaku, Quarterstaff, Sai, Siangham, and Unarmed Strike. The skill associated with Anima River is Concentration (Con).

A swordsageToB may replace one of his disciplines known with the Anima River discipline.


Game Mechanics of the Anima River

Available To: Swordsage

Discipline Skill: Concentration (Con) - It is not easy to draw in and use life energy without the proper focus.

Discipline Weapons: Gauntlets (normal and spiked), Jian, Kama, Nunchaku, Quarterstaff, Sai, Siangham, and Unarmed Strike, and any other special monk weapon. - The traditional weapons of monks, as the origins are based upon mighty monk-like warriors. 

Saves: 10 + level of the maneuver + Wis 

Legacy Weapon: Nyoi-bo Staff 

Maneuver Granting Item: Anima Channeling Belt 

Discipline Feat: Concentrated Defense 

Tactical Feat: Enlightened Fist


[edit]Maneuvers of the Anima River

To see the full, expanded description of every maneuver, click here.

1st-Level Maneuvers

  • Inertial Focus: Stance — You gain fine control over your inertia, allowing you to survive long falls, seem to grow lighter or heavier, and walk upon water.
  • Qi Ripple: Strike — You set up a vibration within the creature's spiritual essence, and in turn stun the body.
  • Spiritual Awareness: Boost — Your mind expands to note the location of all targets, giving you the ability to make many attacks of opportunity.
  • Spiritual Resistance: Counter — Your spirit and mind are one, and as master of the spirit you are not as easy to ply as others.
  • Vita Surge: Boost — You draw in life energy from your surroundings, giving yourself additional temporary hp.


2nd-Level Maneuvers

  • Inertial Strike: Strike — Your impacts strike harder, for your spirit adds virtual mass to the end of your blows.
  • Qi Critical: Counter — With special monk weapons and Anima River weapons, you push them beyond their limits when they strike a critical hit.
  • Spiritual Blow: Boost — You turn your spirit into a dangerous force weapon, which you channel through your attacks.
  • Spiritual Reflexes: Counter — Your spirit is aware of what you are not, granting your the precognition to move out of harms way.


3rd-Level Maneuvers

  • Anima Wave: Strike [Force] — Your spiritual energy erupts from your hands, blowing away the opposition!
  • Rushing Cascade Stance: Stance — Your spiritual energy torrents into your body and pushes your attacks faster and faster, becoming a blur of strikes.
  • Self-Perfection: Boost — You have augmented your body to breach beyond human limits and achieve anything!
  • Vita Purge: Counter — Your spirit and body are one, and through will alone you can purge yourself of toxins.


4th-Level Maneuvers

  • Inertial Burst: Boost — With a surge of energy you release your spiritual energy out of your body, granting you great bonuses to speed.
  • Qi Wave: Strike — You set up a shockwave within the creature's spiritual essence which disrupts the body and renders them sickened as well.
  • Spiritual Disruption: Counter — You become able to disrupt enemy spellcasters, striking extra hard against them.
  • Spiritual Pressure: Boost — Your spiritual body is much larger and imposing than your physical body, and you can impose its presence upon the material world to seem bigger than you are.


5th-Level Maneuvers

  • Enlightened Spirit Stance: Stance — Your improved awareness of the energy of life has given you a precognitive edge against that which would threaten you.
  • Greater Spiritual Blow: Boost — Body and spirit attack as one, allowing you to combat ghosts and strip away spell resistance with your force of will.
  • Greater Vita Purge: Strike — You can draw life energy from around you to purge your body and heal yourself in one motion.
  • Passing of the Spirit: Strike — Your attacks become a potent destructive force against the mockery of undeath.
  • Tongue of Heaven and Earth: Stance — Your connection to all that lives gives you both understanding of other creatures, and protection against that which would use words against you.


6th-Level Maneuvers

  • Anima Blast: Strike [Force] — You release a destructive wave of spiritual energy that vaporizes everything in its way!
  • Qi Lock: Strike — You strike all their spiritual pressure points, rendering them immobile and harmless.
  • Vita Rebuke: Counter — Your life force is overwhelming, those who try to snuff it out only get burned!
  • Wave Step: Boost — You transform yourself into a wave of energy, escaping the grasp of your enemies.


7th-Level Maneuvers

  • Qi Geyser: Strike — You strike a creature's spiritual essence so hard, the shockwave causes other targets in the area to shudder!
  • Quivering Soul: Strike [Death] — You cleave soul from body, but by a single thread which you may snap at any moment.
  • Soul Mirror: Counter — Your spirit protects you from harmful magic, knocking it back to its source when it can.
  • Vita Pulse: Boost — You sacrifice your own life force to empower the lives of others.


8th-Level Maneuvers

  • Hamedo: Counter — Pre-emptive strike, hit them hard before they even think about hitting you!
  • Invert Vita: Strike — You invert the natural flow of life, resulting in a a body which is on the road to self destruction.
  • Spirit Breaker: Boost — Outsiders, elementals, incorporeals... they're all living souls, and thus you know just how to deal with them.
  • Stance of the Ascended: Stance — Your aura is visible, raging like a fire. It protects you and allows you to tread the air as if it were solid ground.


9th-Level Maneuvers

  • Anima Explosion: Strike [Force] — Kamehameha!!!!
  • Greater Wave Step: Boost — You transform yourself into a wave of energy at moments notice, escaping the enemy's attacks.
  • Qi Banish: Strike — When I said POW, right to the moon... I wasn't kidding about that.
  • Spirit Shift: Boost — The spirit is on the ethereal plane, the body is on the material plane. You fail to see the borders anymore, they are one in the same.
  • Anima Blast
    Anima River (Strike) [Force]
    Level:6
    Prerequisite:Three Anima River maneuvers
    Initiation Action:Standard
    Range:30 ft. cone or 60 ft. line
    Area:Cone or Line (see text)
    Duration:Instantaneous
    Saving Throw:Reflex half

    A glowing sphere of energy appears in each hand, and you slam them together, causing the whole lot to explode in a blinding flash ahead of you!

    A skilled Anima River adept can gather their spiritual energy and focus it into a destructive blast of psychokinetic energy. When you initiate this maneuver you may choose to release the energy in either a 30 ft. cone or a 60 ft. line shape, dealing 10d4+10 points of force energy, with a Reflex save (16 + Wis modifier) for half.

    This maneuver is a supernatural ability.

    Anima Explosion
    Anima River (Strike) [Force]
    Level:9
    Prerequisite:Four Anima River maneuvers
    Initiation Action:See Text
    Range:60 ft. cone or 120 ft. line
    Area:Cone or Line (see text)
    Duration:Instantaneous
    Saving Throw:Reflex half

    And with a single blinding flash of light, the entire army disintergrated into ash. After that day, they stopped sending soldiers after him.

    A skilled Anima River adept can gather their spiritual energy into a massive barely controled explosion of psychokinetic energy. When you initiate this maneuver you may choose to release the energy as a standard action in either a 60 ft. cone or a 120 ft. line shape, dealing 1d6 points of force energy per initiator level, with a Reflex save (19 + Wis modifier) for half. The blast is more than most men can handle, and as a result they take 1/4th of the damage dealt as nonlethal damage to themselves. But look at all the cool stuff that just exploded!

    Unlike other maneuvers, you may charge this and gain additional power the longer you power up. If you spend a full round action powering up, the damage is 2d6 points per initiator level. If you spend 2 full round actions it rises to 3d6 per level, and so forth up to 5d6 points per level after 4 rounds, releasing the energy on the beginning of the fifth round. While you are charging up energy longer than a standard action, the flow of power around you protects you, granting you a deflection bonus to AC equal to the number of dice per level (that is, +2 on the first full round, +3 on two, +4 on three, and +5 on the forth round).

    Charging up is dangerous, not simply for the backlash of nonelethal damage that can result from such a large amount of damage dice, but also because it can be disrupted. If you take damage while holding the energy and fail a Concentration check against the damage, the maneuver is disrupted and you lose the maneuver.

    This maneuver is a supernatural ability.

    Anima Wave
    Anima River (Strike) [Force]
    Level:3
    Prerequisite:One Anima River maneuver
    Initiation Action:Standard
    Range:15 ft. cone or 30 ft. line
    Area:Cone or Line (see text)
    Duration:Instantaneous
    Saving Throw:Reflex half

    You cup your hands behind you as your spiritual energy turns into a destructive force, and with utmost focus you release a wave of glowing energy outward!

    A skilled Anima River adept can gather their spiritual energy and focus it between their hands, until it forms a glowing pressurized sphere of psychokinetic energy. When you initiate this maneuver you may choose to release the energy in either a 15 ft. cone or a 30 ft. line shape, dealing 5d4+5 points of force energy, with a Reflex save (13 + Wis modifier) for half.

    This maneuver is a supernatural ability.

    Enlightened Spirit Stance
    Anima River (Stance)
    Level:5
    Prerequisite:Two Anima River maneuvers
    Initiation Action:Swift
    Range:Personal
    Target:Self

    As you clear your mind, you become aware of the presence of all things around you. The smallest disturbances made against you cause you to react with great alacrity.

    Your sense of awareness sharpens to razor edge, and your body reacts to danger before your mind even registers that anything was even there. While you are in this stance, you gain improved evasion, a +4 bonus to initiative, and +4 on saving throws against traps.

    Greater Spiritual Blow
    Anima River (Boost)
    Level:5
    Prerequisite:One Anima River maneuver
    Initiation Action:Swift
    Range:Personal
    Target:Self
    Duration:1 round

    Your entire body is surrounded in a foaming ectoplasmic skin, your very touch deadly.

    You focus your spirit and project it through your body, becoming a bubbling hazard to both material and ethereal planes. For 1 round, your attacks are considered magical ghost touch weapons, and you deal an additional 1d4 force damage. If your opponent has spell resistance, your attacks strip 2 points of spell resistance away for each successful attack you make. The damage to spell resistance lasts until the end of the round. The sheathe of force energy also protects you. For the duration of this maneuver any melee attacks made against you by a non-reach weapon cause your attacker to take the 1d4 force damage (and 2 points of spell resistance damage if applicable), as if you had attacked them.

    This maneuver is a supernatural ability.

    Greater Vita Purge
    Anima River (Strike)
    Level:5
    Prerequisite:Two Anima River maneuvers
    Initiation Action:Standard
    Range:Personal
    Target:Self
    Duration:Instantaneous

    You close your eyes, faint motes of light swirling into your body and sealing your wounds as your negative effects leave your body as you exhale.

    The world is alive with energy, there flows a thousand rivers of light even within your very surroundings. Now you know how best to make use of it, gathering life force into yourself. As a standard action you may immediately ends any and all of the following adverse conditions affecting yourself: ability damage, blinded, confused, dazzled, deafened, diseased, exhausted, fatigued, feebleminded, insanity, sickened, and poisoned. It also cures 3 hit points of damage per initiator level of the caster. This maneuver does not remove negative levels, restore permanently drained levels, or restore permanently drained ability score points.

    This maneuver is a supernatural ability.

    Greater Wave Step
    Anima River (Boost)
    Level:9
    Prerequisite:Three Anima River maneuvers
    Initiation Action:Immediate
    Range:Long (400 ft. + 40 ft./level)
    Target:Self
    Duration:Instantaneous

    One moment you're there, the next you're gone!

    This maneuver functions as wave step, but you may initiate it as an immediate action, escaping danger before it even strikes.

    This maneuver is a supernatural ability.

    Hamedo
    Anima River (Counter)
    Level:8
    Prerequisite:Three Anima River maneuvers
    Initiation Action:Immediate
    Range:Melee Attack
    Target:One creature
    Duration:1 round
    Saving Throw:Fortitude negates

    You can read your opponent like a book. The way his lifeforce shifted, the change in the pulse, he was going to attack. Show him whose boss.

    Your keen sense of the energy flows of others gives you precognitive insight on when an attack can happen, allowing you to find a way to move in and disrupt it. Whenever you are subject to a melee attack you may initiate this maneuver to interrupt their attack and strike first. Make a single melee attack and deal damage, in addition they must succeed on a Fortitude save DC 18 + Wisdom modifier, or become dazed for 1 round, and subsequently lose the attack which triggered your move to action.

    Inertial Burst
    Anima River (Boost)
    Level:4
    Initiation Action:Swift
    Range:Personal
    Target:Self
    Duration:1 round

    A massive spiritual wind erupts from you and carries you along as you move, turning every step into a rocket powered blast of speed!

    Your spiritual energy blasts out of your body and thrusts you forward much faster than mere running. Until the end of your turn, you gain an enhancement bonus to speed as a monk of your initiator level. A 7th level initiator would gain the speed bonus of a 7th level monk (20 feet).

    This maneuver is a supernatural ability.

    Inertial Focus
    Anima River (Stance)
    Level:1
    Initiation Action:Swift
    Range:Personal
    Target:Self

    You realize there is more to your body than what is visible, and by positioning your spiritual body, you are able to defy mass and inertia.

    You gain the ability to stand upon liquids as if they were solid surfaces, and are able to move up to twice your normal speed upon them (though if you move faster, you fall through). As a swift action you may adjust your weight from anywhere from 1/8th to 8 times your original weight, gaining a +4 bonus to stability against ability checks made to resist being bull rushed or tripped when standing on the ground (but not when climbing, flying, riding, or otherwise not standing firmly on the ground).

    Your weight-shifting abilities allow you to endure falling damage better. For every rank in concentration you have, you may ignore up to 10 ft. of fall damage, up to becoming immune to fall damage at 20 ranks.

    Inertial Strike
    Anima River (Strike)
    Level:2
    Prerequisite:One Anima River maneuver
    Initiation Action:Standard
    Range:Melee Attack
    Target:One creature
    Duration:Instantaneous

    You swing your weapon into the face of the opponent, and on impact its mass rapidly increases and drives the business end deep!

    Your spirit has a weight of sources, normally impossible to messure, weightless and ethereal. However through training not only do you give it weight, you channel it through your blows to improve the damage of your attacks. When you use this maneuver you make a melee attack against a single foe. In addition to normal damage, you deal an extra +2 of damage per initiator level.

    Invert Vita
    Anima River (Strike)
    Level:8
    Prerequisite:Two Anima River maneuvers
    Initiation Action:Standard
    Range:Melee Attack
    Target:One creature
    Duration:1 minute/level
    Saving Throw:Fortitude negates

    You strike the opponent and corrupt their life force. Suddenly the healthy hydra began looking ill, as you watched as it began to rot before your very eyes.

    The body heals naturally through the normal regulation of life energy through it. Those whose life force has been disrupted, or do not even have natural life forces such as golem, cannot heal naturally. You go one step further, and reverse the natural healing, turning it into something baneful. As a standard action you may make a melee attack and deal damage as normal. In addition they must succeed on a Fortitude save DC 18 +Wisdom modifier, or have their life force corrupted. They cannot heal, all magical attempts at curing them fail to function unless they succeed on a caster level check with a DC equal to 10 + your initiator level. Any fast healing or regeneration they possess is reversed, causing them to lose that much hit points every round (which, for regeneration, is treated as the bypassing damage type). Thus effect lasts for the duration of the maneuver. A successful save negates the inversion effect, but not the damage.

    If the target is already under the effects of Invert Vita, employing the maneuver again may do one of two things. You may dispel Invert Vita on the target (usually used for allies, and with a melee touch attack so not to cause damage), or you may aggrivate the target's natural healing abilities, dealing your normal melee damage +1 point of damage for every HD of the opponent. Invert Vita does not work on creatures that no not heal naturally, or at least possess some form of fast healing (allowing you to target undead and constructs with the fast healing ability, even though most are immune). A successful save negates the additional damage, but not the initial damage from your attack.

    This maneuver is a supernatural ability.

    Passing of the Spirit
    Anima River (Strike)
    Level:5
    Prerequisite:Two Anima River maneuvers
    Initiation Action:Standard
    Range:Melee Attack
    Target:One creature
    Duration:Instantaneous
    Saving Throw:Will negates

    The undead are pale mockeries of life, and your blows seek to push out the negative energy powering them with a rush of positive force.

    Your weapons glow with an awesome power, its positive might tells you to reach out and smite undead! When you use this maneuver, you make a melee attack against a single undead foe. The attack automatically overcomes any damage reduction, and the target must make a Will saving throw DC 15 + your Wisdom modifier, or be destroyed. On a successful saving throw, they still take normal damage. If a non-undead is hit by this attack, your attack still overcomes any damage reduction and deals normal damage, but there is no saving throw against destruction.

    This maneuver is a supernatural ability.

    Qi Banish
    Anima River (Strike)
    Level:9
    Prerequisite:Four Anima River maneuvers
    Initiation Action:Standard
    Range:Melee Attack
    Target or Area:One creature
    Duration:Instantaneous or 1d4 rounds
    Saving Throw:Will partial

    You pull back your fist blazing with spiritual flames, and with a single solid blow you knock them right into the void of the astral sea!

    Outsider, humanoid, it no longer matters, as you find ways to strike with such force that the spirit is blown straight across dimensions and drags the body along with it. When you initiate this maneuver, you make a melee attack and deal normal damage, and the opponent must make a Willsave DC 19 + your Wisdom modifier, or be sent hurling into the deepest corners of the astral plane! Even on a successful save, their spirit is knocked clean from their body temporarly, stunning the target for 1d4 rounds.

    This maneuver is a supernatural ability.

    Qi Critical
    Anima River (Counter)
    Level:2
    Initiation Action:Immediate
    Range:Melee Attack
    Target:One creature
    Duration:Instantaneous

    You strike the opponent with your fist, and feel it hit true and hard, but that is not enough! With a final split second surge of power you drill through the opponent straight to victory!

    When you make a critical threat with a special monk weapon, or any of the Anima River discipline weapons, you can force extra energy into your attack. As an immediate action your critical multiplier increases by 1 (such as from 20/x2 to 20/x3) and you automatically confirm the critical hit.

    Qi Geyser
    Anima River (Strike)
    Level:7
    Prerequisite:Three Anima River maneuvers
    Initiation Action:Standard
    Range:Melee Attack
    Target or Area:One creature and 10 ft. radius
    Duration:1d4 rounds and 1 round (see text)
    Saving Throw:Will negates

    Your blow strikes with resounding force, a pulse of energy rippling outward and stunning everyone in range.

    Your attack strikes both body and soul, and rings your opponent like a bell, causing others to be affected as well. You attempt a concentration check as part of this maneuver, with the DC equal to 10 + the opponent's HD. You then make normal melee attack against a single foe. The attack is also part of this maneuver. If your concentration check succeeds, the opponent you gain a +6 bonus to attack and the opponent must make a Will save DC 17 + your Wisdom modifier, or become stunned for 1d4 rounds and then they are sickened for 1 round after. Regardless if your opponent makes his saving throw, a shockwave extends out to 10 ft. in all directions, and other opponents of your choosing in range must make the same saving throw or be stunned for 1 round and sickened for 1 round after. If your check fails, the attack is made at a -2 penalty, and deals normal damage, and there is no additional shockwave effect.

    Qi Lock
    Anima River (Strike)
    Level:6
    Prerequisite:Three Anima River maneuvers
    Initiation Action:Standard
    Range:Melee Attack
    Target:One creature
    Duration:1 round/level
    Saving Throw:Will partial

    As your blows hit your opponent their body seems to ripple unnaturally. Suddenly the flow of energy which animates their body seems to lock up and freeze in place, body following suit.

    By adjusting the flow of life force in others, you can force them into a closed loop that locks the body into position, effectively paralyzed. When you initiate this maneuver, you make a melee attack. On a successful hit you deal normal damage and the target must make a Will save DC 16 +Wisdom modifier, or become paralyzed as if under the effects of hold monster for the duration of the maneuver. Each round, the target gets a new saving throw to resist. On a successful save, the target is free, but takes 5d6 additional damage from the sudden disruption of body and soul.

    This maneuver is a supernatural ability.

    Qi Ripple
    Anima River (Strike)
    Level:1
    Initiation Action:Standard
    Range:Melee Attack
    Target:One creature
    Duration:Instantaneous
    Saving Throw:Will negates

    You strike the opponent in the sides in rapid succession, and suddenly the opponent's body grows weak and shudders...

    Your attack strikes both body and soul, and sets up a vibration in the spirit which stuns your opponent's body. You attempt a concentration check as part of this maneuver, with the DC equal to 10 + the opponent's HD. You then make normal melee attack against a single foe. The attack is also part of this maneuver. If your concentration check succeeds, the opponent you gain a +2 bonus to attack and the opponent must make a Will save DC 11 + your Wisdom modifier, or become stunned for 1 round. If your check fails, the attack is made at a -2 penalty, and deals normal damage.

    Qi Wave
    Anima River (Strike)
    Level:4
    Prerequisite:Two Anima River maneuvers
    Initiation Action:Standard
    Range:Melee Attack
    Target:One creature
    Duration:Instantaneous (see text)
    Saving Throw:Will negates

    You strike the opponent in the sides in rapid succession, and suddenly the opponent's body grows weak and shudders...

    Your attack strikes both body and soul, and sets up a vibration in the spirit which stuns your opponent's body. You attempt a concentration check as part of this maneuver, with the DC equal to 10 + the opponent's HD. You then make normal melee attack against a single foe. The attack is also part of this maneuver. If your concentration check succeeds, the opponent you gain a +4 bonus to attack and the opponent must make a Will save DC 14 + your Wisdom modifier, or become stunned for 1 round and then they are sickened for 1 round after. If your check fails, the attack is made at a -2 penalty, and deals normal damage.

    This maneuver is a supernatural ability.

    Quivering Soul
    Anima River (Strike) [Death]
    Level:7
    Prerequisite:Three Anima River maneuvers
    Initiation Action:Standard
    Range:Melee Attack
    Target:One creature
    Duration:1 day/level (D)
    Saving Throw:Will negates

    Your blow seems to punch deep into your opponent, and drag out a glowing phantom mist which vanishes moments after. The enemy's life is now in your hands.

    You reach out and grab your opponent's animating force, ripping it from its body but leaving a single invisible thread which you can snap at a moment's notice. The enemy is now at your mercy. When you initiate this maneuver, you make a normal melee attack. In addition to the damage from the attack, the opponent must make a Will save DC 17 + your Wisdom modifier, or have its soul sundered. At any time during the duration of this maneuver, you may sever its soul (a free action), killing the creature. The enemy is aware of the power you currently hold over it. A successful saving throw negates the death-effect, but not the damage.

    Creatures without a constitution score are immune to this ability, and simply take normal damage from the attack. You may only have one quivering soul in effect at one time. If you make another successful quivering soul attack while another one is currently in place, the first one expires.

    This maneuver is a supernatural ability.

    Rushing Cascade Stance
    Anima River (Stance)
    Level:3
    Prerequisite:One Anima River maneuver
    Initiation Action:Swift
    Range:Personal
    Target:Self

    You attack in a flurry of strikes, the energy powering them boiling up from deep within your soul.

    Your body is a spiritual dynamo of energy, and you can release the floodgates, allowing you to lash out faster than ever before. You are able to flurry any light weapons, all special monk weapons, and all weapons of the Anima River discipline as if you were a monk of your initiator level. Unlike a monk, you pay perform a flurry of blows in light or no armor. As typical for flurry, you take a -2 penalty to all the attacks you make in your full attack action.

    Self-Perfection
    Anima River (Boost)
    Level:3
    Prerequisite:Two Anima River maneuvers
    Initiation Action:Swift
    Range:Personal
    Target:Self
    Duration:1 round

    With a deep breath you focus your mind, and take on the task at hand with all that you have!

    You improve your physical and mental abilities for a single round, using your inner reserves of spiritual strength to augment yourself. When you use this maneuver you may add a +4 enhancement bonus to the ability score of your choice and an additiona +2 for every five initiator levels you possess (+4 at 5th, +6 at 10th, +8 at 15th, to a maximum of +10 at 20th). This ability lasts for 1 round.

    Soul Mirror
    Anima River (Counter)
    Level:7
    Prerequisite:Three Anima River maneuvers
    Initiation Action:Immediate
    Range:Personal
    Target:Self
    Duration:Instantaneous

    The Flesh to Stone spell suddenly had you in its grip, and you felt your body hardening. Instinctively your spirit resisted, and as your body regained its mobility you notice the caster had been turned to stone.

    Your spirit can become a barrier which rejects dangerous magic which would harm you. As an immediate action you may gain spell resistance equal to your initiator level + 15 against a single magical attack. If your spell resistance successfully stops the spell, and it was a targeted spell that is not touch range, the spell is reflected onto the caster as if by spell turning.

    This maneuver is a supernatural ability.

    Spirit Breaker
    Anima River (Boost)
    Level:8
    Prerequisite:Two Anima River maneuvers
    Initiation Action:Swift
    Range:Personal
    Target:Self
    Duration:3 rounds

    Your fist strikes the pit fiend so hard in the chest, you send him right back to hell!

    Your attacks are especially effective against creatures who are of one body and soul, such as outsiders, elementals, and most incorporeal creatures such as ghosts. When you initiate this maneuver, your attacks are both ghost touch and bane against these creatures, granting a +2 to attack and an additional +2d6 damage. Every time you make an attack, the creature must make a DC 20 Will save or be banished back to their home plane. The effect lasts for 3 rounds. Initiating this maneuver again merely resets the time remaining.

    This maneuver is a supernatural ability.

    Spirit Shift
    Anima River (Boost)
    Level:9
    Prerequisite:Three Anima River maneuvers
    Initiation Action:Swift
    Range:Personal
    Target:Self
    Duration:1 round/level (D)

    Your body becomes as a ghostly spirit, and fades away from this world.

    You phase between the borders of the material and ethereal planes, duplicating the effects of ethereal jaunt except where noted above. You may dismiss the effect and return to the material plane as you wish, but after using spirit shift you cannot perform another attempt for 1 minute, as your body must recalibrate itself to the plane.

    This maneuver is a supernatural ability.

    Spiritual Awareness
    Anima River (Boost)
    Level:1
    Initiation Action:Immediate
    Range:Personal
    Target:Self
    Duration:1 round

    You can't see the fighter behind you, but you can feel him trying to move away. Now's the time to strike.

    Your spiritual aura invisibly expands outward out to your reach, and gives you the awareness to make unnaturally quick responses. While under the effects of Spiritual Awareness you may make a number of attacks of opportunity equal to your dexterity bonus, and may make attacks of opportunity even while flatfooted. If you also possess the Combat Reflexes feat, you gain a +4 insight bonus on your attacks of opportunity.

    Spiritual Blow
    Anima River (Boost)
    Level:2
    Initiation Action:Swift
    Range:Personal
    Target:Self
    Duration:1 round

    Your weapon becomes coated in a pale blue light which ripples and churns like waves in a storm.

    You focus your spirit and project it through your weapons and body. For 1 round, your attacks are considered magical for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction, and you deal an additional 1d4 force damage. When striking incorporeal creatures, even if your attack is lost due to miss chance you still deal the 1d4 force damage.

    Spiritual Disruption
    Anima River (Counter)
    Level:4
    Prerequisite:One Anima River maneuver
    Initiation Action:Immediate
    Range:Melee Attack
    Target:One creature
    Duration:Instantaneous

    You notice the wizard's aura shifting into position before he even begins his arcane words of power. With a quick strike, you go to disrupt his spellcasting plans.

    The art of spellcasting and magic often involves the manipulation of things unseen to mortal eyes, but to an Anima River adept, you have learned to sense the disruptions in the eddies and currents of spiritual energy. Whenever a caster attempts to use a spell or spell-like ability when you threaten them, you may take an immediate action to disrupt their casting. Make a melee attack with a +2 bonus on your attack roll, and deal an additional +6d6 damage on a successful hit.

    Spiritual Pressure
    Anima River (Boost)
    Level:4
    Prerequisite:Two Anima River maneuvers
    Initiation Action:Immediate
    Range:Personal
    Target:Self
    Duration:1 round

    You only glare at your opponent, and they seem to stumble under some invisible suffocating weight. Try as they might, you're simply too much of a large and imposing figure to fight effectively.

    Your aura grows into a large barely visible ripple around your body that bulks up your form, so that you can perform feats of creatures much larger and more powerful than you. When you initiate this maneuver, you treat yourself as two size categories larger than you actually are for 1 round. This allows you to avoid or improve your chances in a grapple by pushing around your spiritual bulk, or improve your ability to intimidate others with the show of force that your aura commands. You may employ this as an immediate action to avoid being swallowed whole, for example, in which case the attempt fails if you are suddenly too large to swallow.

    This maneuver is a supernatural ability.

    Spiritual Reflexes
    Anima River (Counter)
    Level:2
    Prerequisite:One Anima River maneuver
    Initiation Action:Immediate
    Range:Personal
    Target:Self
    Duration:Instantaneous

    The dragon's breath filled the room, but somehow you could feel its path cutting through the air and at the last moment lept into its safe zone, as the others got charred.

    Your aura spreads far, granting you a sort of danger sense, allowing you to evade that which would normally be impossible to dodge. When subject to a Reflex save, you may use this maneuver as an immediate action and gain evasion against the attack. You add your wisdom bonus (minimum +1) to this saving throw.

    Spiritual Resistance
    Anima River (Counter)
    Level:1
    Initiation Action:Immediate
    Range:Personal
    Target:Self
    Duration:Instantaneous

    The enemy reaches into your mind and tries to turn your body against you, but never expected your mind to resist so strong...

    Your spirit is trained as part of your teachings of the Anima River, and as such it can fight back against forces which would break the willpower of another, and with great force. As an immediate action in response of a Will saving throw you may employ this maneuver. You gain a +2 insight bonus to your saving throw, plus an additional +1 bonus for every 5 initiator levels (+3 at 5th, +4 at 10th, +5 at 15th, and +6 at 20th) you possess. You may do this after you have rolled, but before you know the result of your save.

    Stance of the Ascended
    Anima River (Stance)
    Level:8
    Prerequisite:Three Anima River maneuvers
    Initiation Action:Swift
    Range:Personal
    Target:Self

    With a howl your aura flares into dramatic view, covering you in a shimmering flame of gold, protecting you from harm, and letting you travel heaven and earth.

    You manifest your aura as a real physical substance which licks around you like a constant inferno and gives off a steady spiritual wind. You illuminate the area as a torch, and it is treated as an 8th level [Light] effect for the purpose of dispelling darkness effects, or being dispelled. You gain a deflection bonus to armor class equal to your Wisdom bonus, all your attacks deal an additional 1d4 force damage, and you are under the effects of air walk, allowing you to move after flying opponents.

    This stance is a supernatural ability.

    Tongue of Heaven and Earth
    Anima River (Stance)
    Level:5
    Prerequisite:Two Anima River maneuvers
    Initiation Action:Swift
    Range:Personal
    Target:Self

    There is another language, a language more base and primal to all, which all living beings share. Through this you have achieved understanding, and speak on a different level than others.

    You are able to speak to any manner of creature, and protect yourself against words wrapped up with dangerous magic. When you are in this stance, you may speak and understand any creature with a constitution score, as if you were under the effect of tongues or speak with animals. This unique ability also gives you a defense against that which would harm you with words, rendering you immune to all language-dependant spells, holy word and its alignment variations, and the Power Word series of spells.

    This stance is a supernatural ability.

    Vita Pulse
    Anima River (Boost)
    Level:7
    Prerequisite:Three Anima River maneuvers
    Initiation Action:Standard
    Range:60 ft.
    Target or Area:Up to one creature per initiator level in a 60 ft. radius
    Duration:Instantaneous
    Saving Throw:Will half (harmless)

    Your allies are wounded badly, yet you still stand. Focusing your energy, you sacrifice your own vitality so that others may stand and fight.

    With a burst of light, you release your spiritual energy, losing power but restoring the bodies and spirits of others in your wind of positive energy. When you initiate this maneuver, you may sacrifice up to 5 hp per initiator level, and in return cure 5 hp for every 5 hp you sacrificed to all targets within range. While this is generally used to heal allies, you may target undead, in which case they are dealt 5 damage per every 5 hp you sacrificed, with a Will save DC 17 + Wisdom for half.

    This maneuver is a supernatural ability.

    Vita Purge
    Anima River (Counter)
    Level:3
    Initiation Action:Standard
    Range:Personal
    Target:Self
    Duration:Instantaneous

    With a gentle sigh, you force the poison out of your mouth in a sickly green cloud which disperses harmlessly into the wind.

    Your body and spirit are as one, and you have learned how to channel your spirit, to push out destructive energy, to empower itself, and to purge itself of toxins. As a standard action you may flush yourself of any mundane and magical poisons or disease. This maneuver cures 1d4 points of ability penalty or ability damage to a single ability score when used.

    Vita Rebuke
    Anima River (Counter)
    Level:6
    Prerequisite:One Anima River maneuver
    Initiation Action:Immediate
    Range:Long (400 ft. + 40 ft./level)
    Target:One creature
    Duration:Instantaneous

    You feel the clutch of death surround you, but your aura flares up with life, burning away the vile magic and its caster!

    You can resist death with a great show of power. When you are subject to a [Death] effect, you may initiate this maneuver as an immediate action. You gain half your initiator level as a bonus to your saving throw and you no longer fail on a result of a natural 1. If your saving throw is successful, not only do you resist the magic but if the original caster of the spell is in range they suddenly burst into spiritual flame, taking 1d6 points of damage per initiator level (max 20d6 at 20th), no save.

    This maneuver is a supernatural ability.

    Vita Surge
    Anima River (Boost)
    Level:1
    Prerequisite:One Anima River maneuver
    Initiation Action:Standard
    Range:Personal
    Target:Self
    Duration:1 minute

    You draw in life energy from your surroundings, briefly glowing faintly as your are guarded against harm.

    You focus your mind to empower yourself with temporary hp, allowing you to endure punishment above and beyond what your body should be able to take. As a standard action, you gain 5 temporary hp per initiator level, which lasts for 1 minute and does not stack with any other sources of temporary hp.

    This maneuver is a supernatural ability.

    Wave Step
    Anima River (Boost)
    Level:6
    Prerequisite:Two Anima River maneuvers
    Initiation Action:Standard
    Range:Long (400 ft. + 40 ft./level)
    Target:Self
    Duration:Instantaneous

    Your opponent has grappled you, you're surrounded by solid fog, and things are looking grim. With a burst of energy, your body becomes a spiritual wave which races away in a flash!

    Spiritual energy is less of a substance and more of a wave, a pulse of living energy that travels along the hidden aether. You have learned how to briefly become as such on the material plane, and thus can slip away in a flash. As a standard action you duplicate the effects of dimension door, with the following exceptions: You may not take along any other creatures, and it is not a teleportation effect. Indeed, your travel is simply supernaturally quick, so the path between point A and point B must have a clear passage, as small as a 2 inch hole. You may take any path to get there, such as up out of the mouth of the creature that has swallowed you, pass the solid fog, through the open window, and onto the roof, but any solid objects impede your passage. You ignore difficult terrain and effects which would hamper or slow your progress.

    This maneuver is a supernatural ability.

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