Word Stack or A Pile of Thoughts

I cannot think. I cannot think. I cannot imagine, I cannot write. I can’t spell right. I am rewriting as as I right. If now lon ger do i edie,t, thoe words ebceom like this kidn of off, sort o f wrong. now, i’m not sickl, not high, not drunkl, just… i f you get this, if you can see this its sor tof a call for help, liek a need to wresre tr tre return to sanity. i don’t wknoknwknwoknow what is wrong with me. plkeasplese help me, i don’t knwo what know hhwa what’s worng. there’s no way i can think right anyujmo anymore. It ’s diring dirinv dirir driving me caracraccrazy becaebecayuse the words aren’t coming anynore anymore. the words aren’t coming likie like i’ve lost touch with that ability to think to writine write and to speak. pleseplease help. I sear swaswear, im not wring writing like this on purpose, but ijm iam ai iam i am purposely leaving it unedited, liek aslik like a stream of thought, so you can see what state of myu mind i’m in, what the seetiseething nature of my life is like beneeabeneathth the facsaade. Imm going nuts, and i’m wathcing myself do it too. I cna’t can’t think, and it’s horribnle horrible, absolutely horrbi hro b hrohorrible. I can’t write either If you can help, helpl please.

This is a story I’m writing:

In the dream, I find myself standing on the landing, one staircase going up, and the other staircase going down. Behind me, the sunlight enters the house through a stained-glass door, the blotch of colors painting the linoleum steps going up and going down. The Family is there, getting ready to leave, a vacation of sorts, I suppose. There’s Dad, his mustache, his mustard-yellow collared tee, and Mom, a pink sweater tied around her waist, and The Children. But not Livia.

She lived in this house, I know that much. This house with one staircase going up, and the other going down. She kept to herself, because she was the quiet one. “It’s the quiet ones that get it!” Dad had said one night, throwing down his copy of the Washington Post. The other children started at the sound of his bellowing, but they kept on playing with their plastic toys scattered over the living room rug. Dad stood up. From the hallway, Mom called the other children to come to bed. Dad went downstairs, to Livia.

In the dream, I never know what happens next. I can’t tell what happens to Livia, what goes on in that house, 51 Embrey Mill Rd., where there’s a yellow light upstairs and a red light downstairs. The yellow light goes out, framed by blue window frames and hidden behind soft white curtains. The red light glows on, through the cracks in the wall, through the slits in the blinds.

The next day is vacation day. The Family doesn’t see me, standing on the landing. They get in their car, their brown station wagon, and they drive off to the camps, the McDonald’s and the Holiday Inns.

I go downstairs. Its just a dream, my dream. I go downstairs, into my bedroom, Livia’s bedroom. I see my bed, Livia’s bed. I find a newspaper, The Washington Post. A child has disappeared, and the police are everywhere, with their flashlights and sniffing dogs. It’s a face on a milk carton, a little girl’s face, a face I recognize as Livia Chesterton, age 11. “It’s the quiet ones that get it!” he yelled.

Please help.

I cannot think. I cannot think. I cannot imagine, I cannot write. I can’t spell right. I am rewriting as as I right. If now lon ger do i edie,t, thoe words ebceom like this kidn of off, sort o f wrong. now, i’m not sickl, not high, not drunkl, just… i f you get this, if you can see this its sor tof a call for help, liek a need to wresre tr tre return to sanity. i don’t wknoknwknwoknow what is wrong with me. plkeasplese help me, i don’t knwo what know hhwa what’s worng. there’s no way i can think right anyujmo anymore. It ’s diring dirinv dirir driving me caracraccrazy becaebecayuse the words aren’t coming anynore anymore. the words aren’t coming likie like i’ve lost touch with that ability to think to writine write and to speak. pleseplease help. I sear swaswear, im not wring writing like this on purpose, but ijm iam ai iam i am purposely leaving it unedited, liek aslik like a stream of thought, so you can see what state of myu mind i’m in, what the seetiseething nature of my life is like beneeabeneathth the facsaade. Imm going nuts, and i’m wathcing myself do it too. I cna’t can’t think, and it’s horribnle horrible, absolutely horrbi hro b hrohorrible. I can’t write either If you can help, helpl please.

This is a story I’m writing:

In the dream, I find myself standing on the landing, one staircase going up, and the other staircase going down. Behind me, the sunlight enters the house through a stained-glass door, the blotch of colors painting the linoleum steps going up and going down. The Family is there, getting ready to leave, a vacation of sorts, I suppose. There’s Dad, his mustache, his mustard-yellow collared tee, and Mom, a pink sweater tied around her waist, and The Children. But not Livia.

She lived in this house, I know that much. This house with one staircase going up, and the other going down. She kept to herself, because she was the quiet one. “It’s the quiet ones that get it!” Dad had said one night, throwing down his copy of the Washington Post. The other children started at the sound of his bellowing, but they kept on playing with their plastic toys scattered over the living room rug. Dad stood up. From the hallway, Mom called the other children to come to bed. Dad went downstairs, to Livia.

In the dream, I never know what happens next. I can’t tell what happens to Livia, what goes on in that house, 51 Embrey Mill Rd., where there’s a yellow light upstairs and a red light downstairs. The yellow light goes out, framed by blue window frames and hidden behind soft white curtains. The red light glows on, through the cracks in the wall, through the slits in the blinds.

The next day is vacation day. The Family doesn’t see me, standing on the landing. They get in their car, their brown station wagon, and they drive off to the camps, the McDonald’s and the Holiday Inns.

I go downstairs. Its just a dream, my dream. I go downstairs, into my bedroom, Livia’s bedroom. I see my bed, Livia’s bed. I find a newspaper, The Washington Post. A child has disappeared, and the police are everywhere, with their flashlights and sniffing dogs. It’s a face on a milk carton, a little girl’s face, a face I recognize as Livia Chesterton, age 11. “It’s the quiet ones that get it!” he yelled.

Please help.

I cannot think. I cannot think. I cannot imagine, I cannot write. I can’t spell right. I am rewriting as as I right. If now lon ger do i edie,t, thoe words ebceom like this kidn of off, sort o f wrong. now, i’m not sickl, not high, not drunkl, just… i f you get this, if you can see this its sor tof a call for help, liek a need to wresre tr tre return to sanity. i don’t wknoknwknwoknow what is wrong with me. plkeasplese help me, i don’t knwo what know hhwa what’s worng. there’s no way i can think right anyujmo anymore. It ’s diring dirinv dirir driving me caracraccrazy becaebecayuse the words aren’t coming anynore anymore. the words aren’t coming likie like i’ve lost touch with that ability to think to writine write and to speak. pleseplease help. I sear swaswear, im not wring writing like this on purpose, but ijm iam ai iam i am purposely leaving it unedited, liek aslik like a stream of thought, so you can see what state of myu mind i’m in, what the seetiseething nature of my life is like beneeabeneathth the facsaade. Imm going nuts, and i’m wathcing myself do it too. I cna’t can’t think, and it’s horribnle horrible, absolutely horrbi hro b hrohorrible. I can’t write either If you can help, helpl please.

Kenshin  Himura, Legendary  Imperialist  Battousai  of Kyoto
One hundred and forty years ago, amidst the chaos and bloodshed which accompanied the end of the Tokugawa regime, there was a swordsman in Kyoto who was called Battousai the Manslayer.  Battousai carved the way into the new era, the Meiji Era.  It was said that he was undefeatable.  And then one day, as the screams faded and the dust began to settle, Battousai mysteriously disappeared into the sunset. To this day, his whereabouts are unknown.  Battousai the Manslayer had become a legend.

Kenshin Himura is described as being a slender man with red hair and a cross-shaped scar on his left cheek.  This scar he gained during the Revolution while fighting in Kyoto.  His character is loosely based upon the historical figure of Kawakara Gensai, one of the four “man-slayers” of the Tokugawa shogunate.  Legend has it that Gensai moved with such speed that he was able to kill men in broad daylight, drawing, cutting and sheathing before anyone could actually see the blade of his katana.  Himura, as a student of the Hiten Mitsurugi style, likewise focuses entirely on speed in order to destroy his opponent before there is any chance of resistance.  When out to kill, Himura’s targets do not have time to even scream before their lives are taken with a single precise draw-strike attack.

Tactics: Kenshin’s style and approach to fighting will vary between his two distinct identities of either as a full-blooded “man-slayer” or as a wandering swordsman seeking to correct the sins of his shameful past.  As a man-slayer, Kenshin stalks his target, and learns everything there is to know about his opponent prior to attacking.  Although he attacks with blinding speed, every move is calculated and well-planned.  When Himura finally decides the time is right, his attack is calculated to destroy his opponent in the least amount of time, preferably before they even have a chance to draw their own weapons in self-defense. 
As a wanderer, Kenshin avoids a fight whenver he can, fully exploring his options to find a peaceful resolution to whatever it is that threatens to force him to draw his blade.  Even with a drawn blade, Kenshin rarely uses the more powerful attacks of the Hiten Mitsurugi style.  When acting as a wanderer, Kenshin uses the sakabattou, or reverse-edged sword, which does the same damage as a normal sword, except entirely subdual.  He does not kill, merely disables.

Level 20 Battousai, Epic 10
HD: 30d8 (240)
AL: LG
CR: 30
Abilities:
Str:    14 (+2)
Dex:     22 (+6)
Con:    10 (+0)
Int:    14 (+2)
Wis:    18 (+4)   
Cha:    12 (+1)
Initiative: +16
Base Speed: 90 feet
AC: 26 10+Dex Mod [6]+Wis Mod[3]+AC Bonus[6])
Full defense: 36 (10+Dex Mod [6]+Wis Mod[3]+AC Bonus[6]+Dodge[1]+Combat Expertise[5]+Defensive Fighting [4])
Note: Kenshin Himura, as a veteran of the streets of Kyoto, is usually on full-alert, constantly ready to defend himself.  If encountered, it is highly likely he will be using his defensive feats to full advantage.
Flatfooted: 35 (Uncanny Dodge)
Touch: 36
F/R/W Base: +6/+12/+12
F/R/W: +11/+23/+25

Attacks:
Base Atk: +30/+25/+20/+15
Full Atk: +44/+39/+34/+29
Full Atk w/ Ryu Song Sen: +44/+42/+39/+37/+34/+32/+24/+22
Atk w/ Full Defense: +35/+30/+25/+20
Atk w/ Ryu Song Sen on Full Defense: +35/+33/+30/+28/+25/+23/+20/+18

Damage:
Kenshin’s Blade of Kyoto
Katana +5 (1d10+9 17-20 x2)

SPECIAL:
Kenshin’s Sakkabatou “Reverse-Blade Sword
Sakkabatou Katana +5 Subdual Damage: 1d10+9 17-20 x2
    Reverse Edge: -2 Atk bonus, 1d10+9 17-20 x3
Note: When Kenshin is using the Sakkbatou, he is operating primarily as the Rurouni Kenshin or “Wandering Swordsman”, rather than as the murderous battousai of Kyoto.  This is merely a semantic mechanism and has no bearing on his capabilities.

Feats
Level 1: Quick-Draw- sheathe and resheath weapons as a free action
Level 3: Dodge- +1 AC Bonus vs. Specified opponent
Level 6: Improved Initiative- adds +4 to initiative
Level 9: Combat Expertise- subtract up to 5 from the attack bonus to add to AC
Level 12: Weapon Specialization [Katana]- +2 damage with selected weapon
Level 14: Improved Critical [Katana] – doubles critical threat range of selected weapon 
Level 15: Combat Reflexes- additional attacks of opportunity equal to the dexterity bonus of the character.
Level 18: Greater Weapon Specialization [Katana] - +4 damage with selected weapon
Level 21: Greater Weapon Focus [Katana] - +2 attack roll to selected weapon
Level 24: Mobility- +4 AC against attacks of opportunity while moving through an opponent’s threatened area.
Level 27: Still Thought- +2 all Will saves and re-roll failed saves in next round no matter how long spell lasts
Level 30: Spring Attack- the battousai can move before and after his attack, up to his maximum speed and at a minimum of 5 feet.
1 extra feat level 1 human
Weapon Focus [Katana] - +1 attack roll with selected weapon

Special Abilities
Level 1- Weapon Finesse(Ex): Katana- because of the emphasis on speed to execute the attacks of a professional battousai, at the first level the battousai is able to use his dexterity modifier in his attack rolls instead of his strength modifier.  This is similar to the normal Weapon Finesse feat, except it is applied to a katana, which normally cannot be used with the feat.
AC Bonus(Ex)- a battousai never uses armor, and relies on his senses as well speed to evade the blows of his opponent.  Like a monk, the battousai gains bonus AC as he increases in level.
Level 2- Canny Defense(Ex)- the battousai adds his intelligence modifier to his AC.
Level 3- Evasion(Ex)- similar to the rogue, a battousai can evade damage with heightened reflexes.  Successful reflex saves result in no damage rather than half damage.   
Level 4- Karmic Strike- the battousai has the ability to strike the enemy as the enemy strikes him.  After applying a –4 penalty to his AC, the battousai may make an attack of opportunity against his opponent.
Level 7- Uncanny Dodge(Ex)- as per the barbarian ability, the battousai can no longer be caught flat-footed.   
Ki Alertness(Ex)- the battousai has gained the ability to detect the warrior spirit of another.  If any character of combat-oriented class (ie paladin, samurai, ranger, kishi charger, ninja, monk) approaches within a 100 feet of the battousai, he automatically senses their presence.  He may spend 2 ki to sense their general disposition and attitude.
Level 8- Improved Evasion- the battousai now will always take only half-damage on a failed reflex save.
Level 9- Improved Uncanny Dodge(Ex)- the battousai can no longer be flanked or sneak attacked.

Battousai
The epitome of swordsmen during the 400 years of the Tokugawa Regime, the battousai gave their lives entirely to the practice of their art, which they perfected according to various sword style techniques.  Whereas the samurai devoted themselves to their masters, the battousai simply sought after the increasing of their martial prowess.  This relentless dedication to the art of swordsmanship made them the deadliest fighters in Japan. 

Adventures:  The battousai is at his core a martial artist, and pursues the perfection of this art in any endeavor.  He seeks to test his skills in combat against worthy opponents.  However, a battousai may adventure for a number of personal reasons, since they aren’t held back by any particular master or code of honor. 

Characteristics:  The signature of the battousai is his ability to use a sword in ways beyond that of any normal warrior.  The battousai, like a samurai, has access to all his special abilities only if he has his katana.  Unlike the samurai, the battousai never uses armor, and loses access to many of his bonuses if he wears armor.
But what truly makes a difference in the fighting ability of the battousai is their mastery of a particular sword technique.  As they progress, they gain access to the more powerful attacks and abilities of their particular sword technique.  Because they focus upon perfection, battousai never combine different sword techniques, remaining disciples of only a single technique.
Like monks and samurai, the battousai draws an inner strength called ki.  Ki can be understood as the energy of their life-force, and like the samurai, draws his ki from the amount of life-force he has (hit points).  Being drained of ki causes the battousai to lose all his sword technique abilities and become fatigued.

Alignment:  Because of the strict discipline required to master the art of swordsmanship, a battousai must be lawful.

Religion: The battousai is a swordsman first and foremost, and all other forms of discipline are secondary.  Religion and gods have little bearing upon the battousai, although some choose to pay homage to gods that may have made a personal impact upon their lives and their journeys.

Background: Battousai are trained by the masters of their particular sword techniques, who are usually either hermits who practice their skills in seclusion, or masters who teach formally at a dojo.  Often, these masters conceal the true nature of their swordsmanship, until they find a student who has the most potential.  Students are usually by circumstance, and are brought up from childhood learning the ways of the sword.  Only when they’ve completed some measure of their training do they decide to wander and submit themselves to the true challenges of the warrior.

Races: Considering that the Battousai are a historically based character class, they are often human.  Other races can easily take up the sword, but the single-minded drive that a battousai possesses is often too much for other races to adapt to.
Other Classes: Battousai often work alone, and prefer to face challenges with only a sword in hand and their individual prowess to rely on.  However, if convinced that other specialties are required to achieve his purposes, the battousai may join with others.  He views other fighting styles with interest, observing and trying to discover how to counter them.  Battousai often are suspicious of magic users, seeing them as tricksters who cannot be trusted.  They have the most respect for samurai, monks and paladins, who have the same kind of devotion to the pursuit of singular purpose that they can respect.  Other characters are viewed with indifference. 

Role: Battousai want to show their skill to themselves, and seek out the most martially-capable opponent on the battlefield.  In groups, they would determine the best way to get into a position to do maximum damage.

Game Information
Battousai have the following game statistics:
Abilities: Because of their reliance on speed and unarmored combat, dexterity is vital to the battousai.  Wisdom as well gives a bonuses to their armor as well as their resistance to mind-influencing effects.  Charisma also is important for the battousai, because it drives the force of their blade and swordsman spirit.
Alignment:  Any lawful.
Hit Dice:  d8.

Class Skills
The battousai’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance(Dex), Climb(Str), Diplomacy(Cha), Escape Artist(Dex), Iaijutsu Focus (Cha), Gather Information(Cha), Hide(Dex), Move Silently(Dex), Jump(Str), Ride(Dex), Sense Motive(Wis), Spot(Wis), and Tumble(Dex).

Class Features

Weapon  Finesse- at 1st level, the battousai may use his dexterity modifier to instead of his Strength modifier on attacks rolls with his katana.  This works like the Weapon Finesse feat, except that it applies to the katana, a weapon to which the feat cannot normally be applied.

AC Bonus- A battousai is highly trained at avoiding attacks, and has a sixth sense that lets him avoid even unanticipated attacks. When unarmored and unencumbered, the battousai adds his Wisdom bonus (if any) to his AC.  In addition, the battousai gains a +1 bonus at 5th level.  This bonus increases by 1 every five battousai levels thereafter (+2 at 10th, +3 at 15th, +4 at 20th). These bonuses to AC apply even against touch attacks or when the battousai is flat-footed. He loses these bonuses if he is immobilized or helpless, when he wears any armor, when he carries a shield, or when he carries a medium or heavy load.

Canny Defense- At 2nd level, when not wearing any armor or using a shield, a battousai adds 1 point of his Intelligence modifier (if any) per battousai class level to his Dexterity bonus to modify Armor Class while wielding a katana.   

Evasion-  A battousai of 3rd level or higher can avoid even magical or unusual attacks with great agility.  If he makes a successful Reflex saving throw against that normally deals half damage on a successful save (such as a red dragon’s fiery breath or a fireball), he instead takes no damage.  Evasion can only be used if the battousai is wearing no armor.  A helpless battousai (such as one that is unconscious or paralyzed) does not gain the benefit of Evasion.

Karmic Strike-  At 4rh level, the battousai can strike when his opponent is most vulnerable—the same instant his opponent strikes him.  Karmic Strike allows the battousai to make an attack of opportunity against an opponent that hits you in combat.  On his action, the battousai chooses to take a –4 penalty to his Armor Class in exchange for the ability to make an attack of opportunity on any creature that makes a successful melee attack or melee touch attack against him.  The opponent that hits him must still be in his threatened area, and this feat does not grant him more attacks of opportunity than he is normally allowed in one round.

Uncanny Dodge-  at 7th level, the battousai gains the ability to react to danger before his senses would normally allow him to do so.  He retains his Dexterity bonus to AC (if any), even if he is caught flat-footed or struck by an invisible attacker.  However, he still loses his Dexterity bonus to AC if immobilized. 

Ki Alertness-  because of the highly focused sword spirit that a battousai uses within himself, he can fully appreciate subtle nuances and shifts in the ki flow around him caused by the presence of another warrior spirit.  At 7th level, the battousai automatically knows if another character with martial weapon proficiency is within a 100ft radius of his location.  He may spend 2 ki to know in which general direction the presence is in, and another 2 ki to discern the presence’s general disposition (healthy, wounded, poisoned, unconscious etc) and attitude (hostile, cordial, friendly,  indifferent). 

Improved  Evasion- At 8th level, the battousai now only takes half-damage on a failed Reflex save, and takes no damage on successful Reflex save.  It works in the same way as Evasion.

Improved  Uncanny  Dodge- at 9th level, the battousai can no longer be flanked; he can react to opponents on opposite sides of him as easily as he can react to a single attacker.  This defense denies the ability to sneak attack the battousai by flanking him, unless the attacker has four more levels than the battousai. 

The Sword Style Techniques
Throughout the history of Japan, various ways of using the sword were developed and practiced among many different schools.  Each sword style technique embodied a specific strength in combat, whether it was range, speed, power, flexibility or other combat attributes.  Like the sword schools of the samurai, the battousai gain access to a particular set of special attacks and abilities as they advance through four tiers of proficiency in their chosen sword style technique.  However, unlike the samurai, they may not combine different abilities from different sword styles.  The discipline and perfection required to learn each tier is such that a battousai can only learn one style. 

The art of swordsmanship, in the eyes of the battousai, is to utilize the sword to its fullest potential in combat, as the sole focus of both defense and offense.  Because of this, battousai never use armor or shields.  The wearing of armor or the use of shields cancels all abilities from the sword school technique.

NOTE: I have only completed one sword style technique, which is the Hiten Mitsurugi Style Ultrasonic Sword Technique, drawing upon the abilities displayed by Kenshin Himura and Hiko Seijiro in the Samurai X television series and the OVA Rurouni Kenshin. 

Hiten  Mitsurugi  Style  Ultrasonic  Sword  Technique
- passed on from master to student, the heritage of the Hiten Mitsurugi Style Ultrasonic Sword Technique as always been in the hands of only two battousai at any given time: one master, one student.  It is said that this technique is the strongest of all sword techniques, focusing on the use of speed to its deadliest effect.  Based upon the actual battoujutsu sword styles of feudal Japan, the Hiten Mitsurugi Style’s abilities focus on the draw attack, using the momentum and acceleration of a sword drawn from it’s sheath to effect an attack upon the opponent.  It also focuses on mobility and movement at blinding speed, often striking the enemy multiple times in rapid succession with deadly accuracy.  Without a doubt, the Hiten Mitsurugi Style Ultrasonic Sword Technique has forged among the most feared swordsmen in all of Japan.

Hiten  Mitsurugi  Style  Ultrasonic  Sword  Technique

Tier 1
Studious Defense- the Battousai of the Hiten Mitsurugi style are taught the basics of intelligent combat.  Through the careful study of an opponent’s fighting style, the battousai can tailor his defensive technique to match the attacks of his opponent.
RULES: As a full-round action, the battousai makes a Spot Check (DC 10 + target level).  Upon success, the battousai gains a +2 insight bonus to his AC against this opponent for the rest of the encounter.  Failure results in misjudgement, incurring –2 insight penalty to the battousai’s AC.

Defensive Strike- the Battousai has the ability to turn a defensive stance into a powerful attack.
RULES: If an opponent attacks and misses a battousai using full defense, the battousai adds +4 to his attack role during his turn against that opponent.

Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu Song-Sen – as a free action, the Battousai of the Hiten Mitsurugi style may activate his use of Ryu Song-Sen, the first application of the hypersonic sword technique.  The battousai attacks with blinding speed and almost unerring accuracy.
RULES: Upon activation, the battousai effectively doubles the number of attacks made, with –2 penalty to all secondary attacks. KI Cost: 10

Tier 2
Lightning Blade- the signature style of speed that marks the Hiten Mitsurugi style places premium on the battousai’s ability to act before the opponent, and use their swordsman spirit to drive their attacks. 
RULES: The battousai adds his charisma modifer to all initiative rolls and attack rolls.

Hiten Mitsurugi Deadly Draw Battoujutsu Attack- by drawing the sword from its scabbard, the battousai effectively increases the blade’s force, making the initial strike fatal to almost any opponent.  This may be used in conjunction with Karmic Strike.
RULES: If attacking with a sheathed weapon, the battousai adds +10 to his damage roll.  This bonus applies only to the first attack.  A battousai may sheath his weapon again after attacking, so the next round may also begin with a Deadly Draw. KI Cost: 7

Hiten Mitsurugi Doryussen- the only ranged attack taught by the Hiten Mitsurugi style is an attack that uses the sword to strike the ground and launch a volley of broken fragments and stone at the opponent.
RULES: In a standard action, the battousai strikes the ground, releasing a 50 ft. cone of debris at his opponent, causing 3d6+Battousai level damage. Reflex save (DC 15+Battousai level) for half damage.  Ki Cost: 15

Tier 3
Combat Iaijutsu- a battousai of the advanced tier of the Hiten Mitsurugi style uses his skill in Iaijutsu with deadly effect in melee combat while engaging in a Karmic Strike.  By sizing up his opponent, the battousai can launch a single devastating attack, combining the physics of the Deadly Draw with the skill of Iaijutsu.
RULES: Using combat iaijutsu requires the following steps:
1) The battousai selects an opponent to perform an iaijutsu attack on.
2) The battousai spends a single round to do a ready action, sheathing his weapon.
3) As a Karmic Strike action, upon being attacked by his opponent, the battousai rolls an iaijutsu check. In addition to the normal iaijutsu skill bonus, ki points may be spent to add to the roll bonus.
4) Add damage according to following chart:
Roll            Bonus Damage
10-14 +1d6
15-19 +2d6
20-24 +3d6
25-29 +4d6
30-34 +5d6
35-39 +6d6
40-44 +7d6
45-49 +8d6
50+    +9d6 (maximum)
5) Roll normal attack against opponent.
6) A successful attack incurs damage +10 (Deadly Draw) + iaijutsu bonus damage
Base Ki Cost: 18

Inner Calm of the Hiten Mitsurugi- By experience and strength of ki, the battousai can use an amount of ki to add to his will save.  This aids him in combat against other sword styles that use mind-influencing attacks.
RULES: The battousai may spend up to 7 ki points to add to his will save in addition to a +2 will save bonus. 

Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu Sui-Sen- The battousai, using blinding speed, disappears from in front of his enemy, leaping into the air and attacking with devastating strength.
Rules: After a Ready Action move, the battousai may interrupt his opponent’s melee attack with the Ryu Sui-Sen, disappearing from view right before the attack is made.  He leaps into the air above his opponent.  The attack proceeds as if the opponent were flat-footed, dealing an additional +9d6 damage.  The Ryu Sui-Sen cannot be used in tandem with an attack that uses the Deadly Draw i.e. combat iaijutsu.  Ki Cost: 30

Tier 4
God-like Speed(Su)- at the 4th Tier of the Sword Technique of the Hiten Mitsurugi hypersonic sword style, a battousai has achieved an almost superhuman ability to attack with the feared God-Like Speed.  Kenshin Himura was known for this ability and it was this ability that made him the legendary “man-slayer” of Kyoto during the revolution.
Rules: In combat, every oppponent whose level is below that of the battousai’s or has less HD than the battousai is treated as flat-footed.  The battousai’s base speed is doubled.  He also gains a +5 bonus to his initiative.

Hiten Mitsurugi Kuzo Ryu-Sen Nine-Headed Dragon Strike- only a master of the Hiten Mitsurugi style can execute this devastating attack.  Using the God-like speed of the Hiten Mitsurugi style, the battousai can strike the nine vital points on an opponents body simultaneously, effectively dealing the maximum damage to the most vulnerable areas of the body (Provided that the opponent has a humaniod form). 
RULES: As a full-action, the battousai leaps forward, executing the Nine-Headed Dragon Strike, inflicting massive damage.  It is not counted as a normal attack roll against the enemy’s AC.  The battousai must be able to move in order to execute this attack. It affects only a single opponent, with nine separate damage rolls, each counted as an automatic critical.  The opponent must succeed a Reflex Save (DC 18+Battousai level) for half-damage. A target can only be humanoid and subject to critical hits.  Ki Cost: 75

Special: Hiten Mitsurugi Amakekaru Ryu No-Hirameki- the ultimate attack of the Hiten Mitsurugi style can only become accessible after the battousai uses a Nine-Headed Dragon Strike against a master of the Hiten Mitsurugi Style Hypersonic Sword Technique.  The Amakekaru No Ryu Himeki is the end of all draw attacks, and will destroy any opponent with a single blow.  The attack occurs with such speed that it creates a vortex of air that sucks the target in and denies them the benefits of their being able to avoid the blow.
RULES: The Amakekaru Ryu No-Hirameki operates as a Maximized (no dice rolling, just total it) Deadly Draw battoujutsu attack (+10 damage) with Maximized Combat Iaijutsu (+9d6 damage), +1d10 damage per battousai level, and the total attack counts as a critical (x2).  This ultimate attack uses the full attack bonus of the battousai and negates the dexterity bonus to AC of the target.  The opponent must also make a reflex save (DC 22+battousai level) or die.  Success takes full damage. Evasion or improved evasion does not apply.  Ki Cost: 100 Unlike previous draw attacks, the Amakekaru Ryu No-Hirameki can be used either in conjunction with Karmic Strike or not.

This character class is based on the Samurai X series and OVA Rurouni Kenshin.  If there are any comments on this class or if you want to use this in your campaign, please let me know.  Haven’t play-tested it yet.  Please see the blog entry Sample Character: Kenshin Himura.

This encounter occurred in a cave somewhere above the dwarven mines of Thorfast, deep under the Three Peaks of the far north.  Qadeem, a knight from the burning deserts of Arad, had been separated from the rest of his party in the twisting tunnels.  Led only by the light of his torch, Qadeem tried to find his way back when he discovered a strange creature, wearing black clothes, appearing from out of the darkness.

The creature approached him, its hands gripping a slender staff, a sneer cutting across its jagged face.  Qadeem flinched at the disgusting thing that moved towards him.  It looked like an overgrown rat, but it moved with the grace and unmistakable skill of an experienced warrior.  The knight drew his sword, his curved blade that had kept him alive in the deserts of his homeland.  He smiled inwardly, the weight lending itself to his courage.  Whatever this creature was, he would defeat it.

The creature lunged, its staff feigning to the right, just as its opposite end came down on the left.  Qadeem didn’t have time to react; a dull thud echoed in the cave as the blunt end of the staff struck Qadeem’s face full force.  The knight staggered, his nose bent in an odd position, blood flowing down his chin.  He grimaced.  The thing was quick.

It sneered again, chittering as if in glee.

The knight swung his sword with a loud cry, the heavy blade cutting through the air.  But there was no scream of pain, no heavy contact as his falchion pierced skin and crushed bone; instead, another blunt blow from the staff struck the knight’s knee, knocking him to the ground. Another strike came from above, slamming into his skull.

A weaker person would have been knocked out by that single devastating attack, but Qadeem, seeing stars, mustered his strength and rolled with the strike, getting his legs under him.  His sword cut again, but he watched with amazement as the rat-thing merely side-stepped his swing with a grace he had only seen once: in Al’Rashid Sadr, his cousin, an assassin of the Calim Abu Fahid Guild. 

Suddenly, the falchion didn’t seem so reassuring.  And he was being beaten with a stick.

The creature came in a third time, squeaking and chittering loudly. Qadeem barely had enough strength to raise his blade, but the circular attack bypassed his attempt at defense, and the knight found himself leaning against the cave wall, his blood dripping freely from his face, his hand clutching a broken rib. 

The creature sneered, and it reached to its back.  It drew a slender blade, painted black.  It was a strange blade, almost straight, with a long handle and a round hand guard.  It reminded him of Kami, the girl he had met in Westhaven, a girl who claimed she was from a land far to the east.  She carried a blade similar to the one that the creature approached him with.

Qadeem bit back the pain as the creature cut him across the forehead.  He tried to lunge in retaliation, but a sharp pain shot up his leg: his knee had been fractured.  Qadeem realized he was helpless, and this creature was going to take its sweet time killing him.

Up until my second year in college, I felt that the goal of my education was towards the operative, and I focused (or rather, didn’t) on the acquisition of skills for a future profession: writing, speaking, thinking.  The pursuit of education was simply about building competency in skills.  It was in this time that I developed a passion for debate, and the level of intellectual capacity required to do well in a round.  Debate widened my view of learning, to encompass a wide landscape of various interrelated ideas, knowledge in all its diversity and scope. 

When my father came to Silliman, and I began to seriously consider what education meant.  Dad kept urging me to read original material, going to roots of the issues that I’d become so familiar with in publications like The Guardian and The Economist, as well as secondary material in collected essays and books, like Alan Swingewood’s History of Sociological Thought.  What I began reading at the beginning of my third year were the deeper philosophies behind the discussion.  I read The Communist Manifesto, The End of Government, Politics Among Nations, The Prince, The Republic, Existentialism is a Humanism… the list goes on.  I began to value these core ideas, these theoretical frameworks that formed ideologies across the board.  Being inclined towards a historical approach, it didn’t take much for me to see how these ideas shaped the world we live in today.  It blew my mind. 

But that’s not where my pursuit of knowledge would end.  A thought struck me late one night, while working on a radio documentary at the end of my third year in college.  I was waiting for my classmates to finish their segment, and while waiting, I was working my way through Foucault’s collected lectures in Society Must Be Defended.  What hit me then was the sudden sinking feeling that this couldn’t be it; there was no way that a theory– even Foucault’s analysis of Hobbes and political discourse– could actually translate in palpable and relevant meaning.  There was another step I was missing out on, a step that would translate theory into something meaningful, something communicable and something that people could act upon. 

I’ve been trying to figure it out, and I think I may have something that works. I discovered the value of science.  It’s verifiable, its systematic, its rational, and most importantly, good science is meaningful; people can make something out of it.  Numbers speak with a power that, if combined with an appreciation of how ideas work and how these can be effectively communicated, cannot be denied. 

And so, I begin my fourth year in college with the idea that a theory must be verified, tested and put through the rigor of scientific analysis in order to give it validity.  No doubt, this seems like such a simple idea when read on a blog, but trust me, to experience this and actually have a personal connection to the pursuit of meaningful knowledge is beyond my ability to describe or define. 

In the back of mind, I have a hazy collection of images of my life as a toddler.  Most of these are jumbled together with images that have been lifted– not from the actual memories that I once upon a time experienced– but from the pages of old family picture albums.  However, though the mind’s eye may have difficulty recalling the physical realities of that time, I find that it’s easier for me to remember the sort of ideas of the world I held then.  Memories of what I was thinking are clearer than the images of the life I was living at three years of age.  One might say that this is an illusion, and yes, it very well may be.  But its a better illusion than most. 

What strikes me about those days was my fascination with the pursuit of science.  Perhaps it was the childhood growth into a love of animals and the natural world they represented.  It could have been something subconsciously implanted by the presence of my father, a scientist himself.  Or maybe it was something as obscure and superficial as Indiana Jones, the adventurer-academician.  Whatever it was, what consumed me was the singular pursuit of KNOWING as much about something that I fell in love with.  For me, there was a sort of crazy pleasure to be had when I could tell exactly what sort of dinosauria was illustrated in my books, along with it’s approximate placement in geological history and probable behaviour: Triceratops Horridus, common name "Triceratops", a successful species of the mid-late Cretaceous period, two prominent brow horns, single nose horn, distinct from other Ceratopsia by a solid bone frill protrusion from the skull.  Evidence of herd behaviour and probable organized defense.  Underdeveloped eyesight suggests near-sightedness, much like today’s rhinos.  Side-placed eyes suggest evolution as an herbivore, confirmed by large stomach area and prominent molars.  Beak suggests diet of woody shrubs, probable ecology in lightly forested areas with an abundance of shrubs, and space for a herd of possibly up to fifty animals, each weighing around the area of three tons. 

Of course, I wouldn’t have said it with that sort of language when i was three, but the propositions were the same.  What this points to is the way I know that when my heart was set on something, the end I wished to achieve was knowledge. 

This desire for knowledge led me to the field of science.  Science itself is something much more broader and interesting than the textbook "systematic, empirical, quantitative inquiry of phenomena through repeatable procedures to arrive at rational conclusions".  That’s easy to understand, and anyone who’s gone through all those science classes and labs can get a brain-vomit just thinking about it.  But what I’m talking about is outside the laboratory, outside the research and the statistics.  What I’m talking about is the rational mind as a state of self.  What I’m talking about is the pursuit of knowledge as life unto itself. 

There’s an interesting statement in the NBC television series "Heroes", in the episode titled "Six Months Ago".  In the episode, the character of Dr. Chandra Suresh is speaking to a man who would later be known as the villain Sylar.  Suresh, a geneticist, says that everything is found in the brain.  The statement piqued my interest, because it led to the idea that everything about a human being is found in knowledge.  This idea may seem dehumanizing and a bit abrasive in its disregard of the realm of the emotion, but its not too much of a stretch to say that emotion itself rests on knowledge.  Everything in the human experience is driven by knowledge and the working of the mind.  Consciousness itself is an act of engaging the mind with the world around it.

The oracle at Delphi said "know yourself".  Socrates says that to know oneself is really the device by which one cares for oneself.  The "self" is said to be the soul, and the "soul" is the synthesis of spirit and consciousness, spirit being the velocity of the soul, and consciousness its body that moves and develops.  I acknowledge this may seem a bit abstract, but this has a lot of bearing upon what the scientific life is really concerned about.  Science is how we come to know and understand things.  It is the tool of this desire to care for oneself.  A change in what we know is the fundamental change that leads to the development of the soul. 

Jesus said His was the "Way, the Truth, and the Life; all who believe in Me shall be saved." Look at the interrelationship of the three words: way, truth, life.  It pretty much sums what humans beings are about.  Life is always about finding one’s way through it, a progression.  The purpose of which is to determine a truth, to arrive at a certain knowledge.  The operative word of the second statement is belief.  Belief in itself is also a knowledge.(the talk about faith/belief being a valid sort of knowledge is a debate that this entry doesn’t intend to go into; rather, the basic point is that knowledge is the core of any human endeavor.)

That is where I place science– in the field of the human life spent seeking a path of truth. 

What makes science so beautiful is the way that it unlocks the world and presents it to our minds as a likely truth, rather than as a construction of the imagination.  It presents something reasonable, that people can agree to agree or disagree upon.  It is articulates something that society can be based upon, even though its individuals are swayed and biased in so many different ways.  Science is a level field for the discourse of rational society, where the nuances of the individual give way to the predominance of societal rationality.  It is a sort of knowledge that asserts itself, not as an absolute truth, but as a reasonable truth. It is the sort of knowledge that does not lay claim to objectivity, but unabashedly and with amazing integrity displays the limitations of its subjectivity on the table of scrutiny. When I think of science, I find the most humanizing of all fields of study.  And in the end, all fields of study inevitably tie back to science.

And of course, thinkers like Foucault like to confuse us even more (and present us with a deeper way of giving our souls two-cents worth of attention) by presenting a scientific inquiry into science. 

This is, to me, what being a human is: it is the art of knowledge,the art of science.

Something about the late nights bothered him.  It was a persistence, a sort of gnawing thing that grew from within.  He’d stare up at the ceiling, at the familiar empty points that he used to stare at while waiting for a text message or a phone call.  Sometimes, he’d fancy that there was a reason he was staying up.  Then he’d think about the balancing of an equation, a discussion on historical materialism, a paper waiting to be revised.  And this vein of thought would carry him into a more comfortable silence, a silence spent in the company of ideas, which was, as he knew quite well, much different from the company that he was actually looking for.

But in the end, isn’t reality merely a simulation of the idea?  He’d read that somewhere, from some dusty volume that served as the harbor that he’d lost. He could simulate his own content, his mind dictated upon what he felt.  He berated himself for his lack of discipline, for seeking, for asking where that wondrous something had gone. 

And such things would stretch the night, making the hours longer than they had ought to be.