Base Class: Fighter
Some fighters are forged through years of disciplined training. Others are struck — quite literally — by fate.
The Star-Struck Blade is a fighter who survived an inexplicable event: a bolt of unnatural lightning, a brush with a dying legend's soul, a curse that should have killed them. Instead, it left behind a Voice — a presence that speaks only in the heat of battle, whispering the openings in an enemy's stance, the half-second before a killing blow lands, the feint that will break their guard.
Where most swordsmasters build their skill brick by brick, the Star-Struck Blade's growth is erratic and sudden. Weeks of clumsy swordplay give way, almost overnight, to reflexes and instincts that veteran knights spend decades chasing. This power manifests as a faint, barely visible Aura — a resource fighters of this archetype learn to call upon, spending it to feint, to read the flow of a fight before it happens, or to unleash a surge of speed and ferocity that leaves onlookers questioning what, exactly, they are watching.
Many who walk this path come from nothing — orphans, street thieves, forgotten children of the slums — which makes their rise all the more unsettling to the nobility and knighthood they eventually stand among. They fight less like trained soldiers and more like something feral given purpose: reading, adapting, and striking with an instinct that cannot quite be taught.
Fighters who embrace the Voice gain access to Aura Points, a resource fueling signature techniques like Feint Step, Read the Flow, and Aura Surge — abilities that reward aggressive, adaptive combat over rigid technique.
Level 3: The Voice Awakens
You gain a pool of Aura Points (AP), equal to your proficiency bonus. You regain all spent AP on a short or long rest. You also regain 1 AP whenever you land attacks against the same target on two consecutive turns.
Combat Intuition: Add your proficiency bonus to initiative rolls.
Path of the Wolf or Path of the Guardian: When you gain this feature, choose one path that you swear to follow: the Wolf or the Guardian, both detailed at the end of the archetype description. Your choice grants you features at 3rd level and again at 7th level.
(Wolf and Guardian path features listed separately below)
Path of the Guardian
Bulwark Stance (1 AP): As a reaction when you or an ally within 5 feet of you is hit by an attack, you can spend 1 AP to reduce the damage by 1d6 + your proficiency bonus.
Steadfast Aura: Allies within 10 feet of you have advantage on saving throws against being frightened.
Path of the Wolf
Feint Step (1 AP): As part of an attack, you can spend 1 AP to make that attack with advantage. If the attack misses, attacks against you have advantage until the start of your next turn.
Predator's Momentum: Whenever you hit a creature with an attack, you can move up to 5 feet without provoking opportunity attacks. You can do so once per turn.
Level 7: Aura Manifestation
You can spend AP to empower your own weapon attacks: for each AP spent (maximum 2 per attack), add 1d6 damage to that attack.
Read the Flow (1 AP): Before making an attack roll, you can spend 1 AP to reroll it and use the new result.
Level 10: Aura Surge
As a bonus action, spend 2 AP to gain the following for 1 minute: • One additional attack whenever you take the Attack action. • +10 feet of speed. • Resistance to one damage type of your choice, chosen when you activate this feature.
The Voice's Final Lesson
Once per long rest, as a bonus action, activate for 1 minute: • Your weapon attacks score a critical hit on 19 or 20. • Feint Step no longer risks giving enemies advantage on a miss.
Level 18: Legend of the Slums
The first time you drop to 0 hit points each day, you instead drop to 1 hit point and gain the effect of your Second Wind immediately, free of charge.
Level 3: Aura Points
You gain a pool of Aura Points (AP), equal to your proficiency bonus. You regain all spent AP on a short or long rest. You also regain 1 AP whenever you land attacks against the same target on two consecutive turns.