Cavalier/Samurai Orders
Description Source:
Advanced Player's Guide
At 1st level, a cavalier must pledge himself to a specific order. The order grants the cavalier a number of bonuses, class skills, and special abilities. In addition, each order includes a number of edicts that the cavalier must follow. If he violates any of these edicts, he loses the benefits from his order's challenge ability for 24 hours. The violation of an edict is subject to GM interpretation.
A cavalier cannot change his order without undertaking a lengthy process to dedicate himself to a new cause. When this choice is made, he immediately loses all of the benefits from his old order. He must then follow the edicts of his new order for one entire level without gaining any benefits from that order. Once accomplished, he gains all of the bonuses from his new order. Note that the names of these orders might vary depending upon the campaign setting or GM's preference.
Description Source:
Ultimate Combat
The following orders can be chosen by both samurai and cavaliers, although the former are far more likely to do so. Samurai can also select any of the cavalier orders presented in the
Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player's Guide.
 Order of the Scales
Source Champions of Balance pg. 22
Members of this cavalier order serve the cause of legal integrity. Many order of the scales cavaliers track down and apprehend fleeing lawbreakers so that these vagrants may answer for their crimes and make good on their debts. They often serve as judges or stakeholders, and work to ensure that wherever a bargain is made—whether it is monetary, a life debt, or an oath to be upheld—both ends make good on their promises.
Edicts: The cavalier must fulfill all binding agreements he makes with others. If a bargain becomes impossible to fulfill, he must satisfactorily compensate all aggrieved or adversely affected parties involved in the bargain. When serving as a judge or arbiter, the cavalier must make fair, impartial judgments, and if unable to do so, must recuse himself at the earliest possibility. If authorized to enforce an agreement, the cavalier must wholeheartedly strive to accomplish this, remaining unswayed by threats, bribery, and other deterrents.
Challenge: Whenever an order of the scales cavalier issues a challenge, he receives a +1 morale bonus on combat maneuvers and attacks of opportunity made against the target of his challenge. This bonus increases by 1 for every 4 levels the cavalier possesses.
Skills: An order of the scales cavalier adds Knowledge (local) (Int) and Linguistics (Int) to his list of class skills. He gains a bonus equal to half his level (minimum +1) on Sense Motive checks to determine whether someone is bluffing and to determine whether a creature’s behavior is being inf luenced by an enchantment.
Order Abilities: A cavalier belonging to the order of the scales gains the following abilities as he increases in level.
Mobile Wall (Ex): At 2nd level, the cavalier receives Step Up as a bonus feat. He can use this feat while mounted by succeeding at a DC 15 Ride check, directing his mount to move rather than himself. The cavalier gains a +1 bonus to his CMD against attempts to tumble through squares he threatens. At 6th level, and every 4 levels thereafter, this bonus increases by an additional +1.
Seek Retribution (Ex): At 8th level, once per day after receiving a request for aid from a legal authority or an aggrieved party regarding the breaking of an oath, whenever the cavalier encounters the oath-breaking creature, he can choose to vehemently exact retribution. As a swift action, the cavalier can grant himself a competence bonus equal to his Charisma modifier on all attack rolls, weapon damage rolls, and opposed checks against the oathbreaking creature. These bonuses last for 1 round per level.
Sworn Oathkeeper (Ex): At 15th level, the cavalier can formally witness an oath or agreement between two creatures. If either creature breaks or reneges on the agreement and the cavalier becomes aware of this, he gains the bonuses from his seek retribution ability against that creature at all times. This ability ends when the creature fulfills the conditions of the oath or receives just punishment for breaking the oath. The maximum number of witnessed oaths cavalier can have active at a time is equal to his Charisma modifier (minimum 1).
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