The ardent draws psionic power not from rigorous discipline and self-discovery, nor from unfettered passion, but from reflection upon the principles that govern the cosmos. They tap into their own mental wellspring through the filter of the overarching philosophies that are strongest to them.

Role: The role an ardent plays in a party is largely dependant on their choice of mantles. They can serve as the party's primary manifester, dealing with foes with directly offensive powers, or they can offer healing and support, or even augment themselves and serve as a secondary melee combatant. Though tougher, they have fewer powers known than a psion, so they tend to be more specialized.

Alignment: Any.

Hit Dice: d8

CLASS SKILLS

The ardent's class skills are Autohypnosis (Wis), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Profession (Wis), Psicraft (Int).

Skill Ranks at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.

CLASS FEATURES

The following are class features of the ardent.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The ardent is proficient with all simple weapons, with all types of armor (heavy, medium, light), and with shields (except tower shields).

Power Points/Day: An ardent's ability to manifest powers is limited by the power points she has available. Her base daily allotment of power points is given on Table: The Ardent. In addition, she receives bonus power points per day if she has a high Wisdom score (see Table: Ability Modifiers and Bonus Power Points, Psionics Unleashed Page 20). Her race may also provide bonus power points per day, as may certain feats and items.

Powers Known: An ardent begins play knowing two ardent powers available to her based on her choice of mantles. At each additional level, she unlocks the knowledge of new powers.Choose the powers known from the ardent mantles she has selected. (Exception: The feats Expanded Knowledge and Epic Expanded Knowledge do allow an ardent to learn powers from the lists of other classes). An ardent can manifest any power that has a power point cost equal to or lower than her manifester level.The total number of powers an ardent can manifest in a day is limited only by her daily power points.An ardent simply knows her powers; they are ingrained in her mind. She does not need to prepare them (in the way that some spellcasters prepare their spells), though she must get a good night's sleep each day to regain all her spent power points.The Difficulty Class for saving throws against ardent powers is 10 + the power's level + the ardent's Wisdom modifier.

Maximum Power Level Known: An ardent begins play with the ability to learn 1st-level powers. As she attains higher levels, she may gain the ability to master more complex powers.To learn or manifest a power, an ardent must have a Wisdom score of at least 10 + the power's level.

Mantles: The first two mantles an ardent selects are her primary mantles. All others gained are secondary mantles. Primary mantles represent the two philosophies the ardent feels most strongly about and champions above all others. An ardent must maintain at least as many powers in her primary mantles as she takes in her secondary mantles, reflecting that personal allegiance. An ardent cannot choose a power from a secondary mantle if doing so would give her more powers known from that secondary mantle than she knows from either of her primary mantles.For example, an ardent has the Fate and Good mantles as primary mantles and the Law and Light and Darkness mantles as secondary mantles. When she gains a new level, she could only choose a power from one of her secondary mantles if she had fewer powers in those mantles than in either of her primary ones. The exception to this rule is that if the only choice an ardent can make at a given level would give her more powers in a secondary mantle than in a primary mantle. Under those conditions, that choice is allowed.An ardent can choose to swap the priority of two mantles—making one primary and one secondary—at 8th level, and again at 15th level. As an ardent gains experience, her worldview changes. Many find themselves more devoted to different concepts later in their careers. If an ardent knows fewer powers from a newly designated primary mantle, she must take powers known exclusively from that mantle at each of the next few levels until she has learned more powers from that mantle than the rest of the mantles she has.

Assume Psionic Mantle: An ardent chooses a pair of psionic mantles at 1st level and assumes one additional mantle at 2nd, 5th, 10th, and 15th level. Each mantle provides a list of powers (usually six or more) that an ardent can learn as she increases in level. Each mantle also provides an ardent with a special granted power. See below for a complete list of psionic mantles.Mantles represent a psionic distillation of a universal concept or philosophical idea that the ardents believe transcends the multiverse. These concepts exist beyond deities or any creation of a creature, whether mortal or immortal.An ardent can select any mantle she wants over the course of her advancement, even choosing two that seem diametrically opposed to one another, such as Good and Evil. Such ardents might seem to embody a series of contradictions, constantly seeking ways to balance (or not) the conflicting philosophies they endorse. Other ardents who pursue this approach are merely scholars seeking to understand these powerful universal truths. An ardent with both the Good and Evil (or Law and Chaos) mantles might share one or none of those alignment factors.

Favored Mantle (Ex): At 11th level, choose one of your primary mantles. Powers from that mantle now cost one less power point to manifest, at a minimum of 1 power point. Thus, unaugmented 2nd level powers would cost 2 power points rather than 3, but unagumented 1st level powers would still cost 1 power point.At 20th level, you gain this benefit with your other primary mantle as well.

Skill Focus (Concentration): Battle meditants of 6th level gain Skill Focus (Concentration) as a bonus feat. If he already possesses this feat, he gains no benefit.

Meditant Movement (Su): Battle meditants of 12th level or higher may add their Wisdom modifier in lieu of his Dexterity modifier to his armor class both when meditating and maintaining a psionic focus as a Dodge bonus to his armor class. Meditants using this ability can only be considered flat-footed against characters that can deal a number of sneak attack dice equal one-fourth of the Battle meditant’s class levels or higher.

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