Yojimbo are highly trained bodyguards favored by nobles and warlords. Yojimbo who follow the order of the warrior loyally guard a single master, while ronin serve whoever can pay for their protection.
| Base Attack Bonus | Fort Save | Ref Save | Will Save | Special | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | +1 | +2 | +0 | +2 | Adamant resolve, ancestral weapon, challenge, zeal |
| 2nd | +2 | +3 | +0 | +3 | Ancestral scion (1st), least legendary abilities |
| 3rd | +3 | +3 | +1 | +3 | Armor mastery +1, vigilant strike |
| 4th | +4 | +4 | +1 | +4 | Ancestral scion (2nd) |
| 5th | +5 | +4 | +1 | +4 | Sentinel’s imposition |
| 6th | +6/+1 | +5 | +2 | +5 | Ancestral scion (3rd) |
| 7th | +7/+2 | +5 | +2 | +5 | Armor mastery +2, shouted challenge |
| 8th | +8/+3 | +6 | +2 | +6 | Ancestral scion (4th) |
| 9th | +9/+4 | +6 | +3 | +6 | Enduring resolve, guardian’s toughness |
| 10th | +10/+5 | +7 | +3 | +7 | Ancestral scion (5th), moderate legendary abilities |
| 11th | +11/+6/+1 | +7 | +3 | +7 | Armor mastery +3 (1/2 touch AC), honorable stand |
| 12th | +12/+7/+2 | +8 | +4 | +8 | Ancestral scion (6th) |
| 13th | +13/+8/+3 | +8 | +4 | +8 | Roaring challenge, warden's resilience |
| 14th | +14/+9/+4 | +9 | +4 | +9 | Ancestral scion (7th) |
| 15th | +15/+10/+5 | +9 | +5 | +9 | Armor mastery +4, greater enduring resolve |
| 16th | +16/+12/+6/+1 | +10 | +5 | +10 | Ancestral scion (8th) |
| 17th | +17/+12/+7/+2 | +10 | +5 | +10 | Greater warden's resilience |
| 18th | +18/+13/+8/+3 | +11 | +6 | +11 | Ancestral scion (9th), greater legendary abilities |
| 19th | +19/+14/+9/+4 | +11 | +6 | +11 | Armor mastery +5 (full touch AC), thundering challenge |
| 20th | +20/+15/+10/+5 | +12 | +6 | +12 | Ancestral scion (10th), yojimbo champion |
Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level): Arms Lore, Insight, Intimidate, Linguistics, Perception, Persuasion, Profession, and Streetwise
Class Features
A Yojimbo does not gain the Banner, Improved Banner, Greater Banner, War Banner, and Battlefield Champion class features.
Class Skills
You lose Academics and Handle Animal as class skills but gain Perception and Streetwise.
Challenge
At 1st level, whenever you issue a challenge, you can select one ally within 60 feet as your ward for the duration of the challenge. Whenever you are adjacent to your ward, you can step into an attack against your ward and take the damage yourself. All damage you take in the place of your ward must be added to your delayed damage pool. Any damage you can’t absorb in this way is dealt to your ward as normal.
For example, a 5th-level samurai can normally delay up to 15 points of damage and could absorb 15 damage from an attack against his ward. However, if he has already delayed 7 points of damage, then he can only reduce the damage his ward takes by 8 points, the maximum amount he is able to add to his delayed damage pool.
This modifies the Challenge ability.
Armor Mastery
At 3rd level, you gain Armor Mastery as a Fighter. This functions exactly as the armor master ability of the fighter using your samurai level as your fighter level. If you have at least 3 levels in fighter, your samurai and fighter levels stack to determine the benefits of your armor mastery.
Sentinel’s Imposition
At 5th level, when an adjacent ally is attacked, you may use an attack of opportunity to attempt the aid another action to improve your ally’s AC against that attack.
If the adjacent ally is your ward, you may also spend a point of zeal as an immediate action to switch places with them, becoming the new target of the attack.
Guardian’s Toughness
Beginning at 9th-level, when you designate your ward, you gain temporary hit points equal to your samurai class level plus your Charisma bonus. These temporary hit points last for the duration of the challenge.
When you use your Sentinel’s Imposition ability to take the place of your ward, these temporary hit points are refreshed, but they cannot be refreshed more than once per round.
Warden's Resilience
When you use your Sentinel’s Imposition ability to take the place of your ward, you gain damage reduction 10/— and energy resistance 10 against that attack. For purposes of stacking damage reduction, this is considered a bonus from an esoteric effect.
At 17th level, the damage reduction and energy resistance from this ability both increase to 20.
Yojimbo Champion
At 20th level, you become the ultimate bodyguard. You can use your sentinel’s imposition ability on your ward as long as your ward is within 20 feet, and when absorbing damage for your ward, the damage you add to your delayed damage pool is reduced by half, allowing you to take twice as much damage as normal when defending your ward.
While you have an active challenge, you can spend zeal to continue fighting even when your wounds should claim your life. You can spend 1 point of zeal as a free action to remove 10 damage from your delayed damage pool and may spend multiple points in this way on your turn.
In addition, you gain zeal points each day based on your total samurai level rather than only half.