Cavaliers belonging to the order of the staff dedicate their lives to guarding and assisting spellcasters, especially wizards and druids, and to overcoming those who seek to destroy items and locations of magical import.
Edicts: The cavalier cannot refuse a spellcaster's request for aid unless it will interfere with his existing duties, or he believes the spellcaster seeks to directly oppose the cavalier's aims and goals.
Challenge: Whenever an order of the staff cavalier issues a challenge, his target takes a –1 penalty on saving throws against spells and spell-like abilities for 1 round after the cavalier successfully damages the target. This penalty increases by 1 for every four levels the cavalier possesses.
Skills: An order of the staff cavalier adds Knowledge (arcana) (Int) and Knowledge (nature) (Int) to his list of class skills. He may use Knowledge (arcana) to identify spells being cast by arcane spellcasters as if he were using Spellcraft, and may do the same with Knowledge (nature) for divine spellcasters. If the cavalier readies an action to strike a creature when it casts a spell, and identifies the spell to be cast with the appropriate Knowledge check, he gains a +1 bonus on the attack roll.
Order Abilities: A cavalier who belongs to the order of the staff gains the following abilities as he increases in level.
- Spell Aid (Ex): At 2nd level, whenever the cavalier uses the aid another action to assist one of his allies, the ally receives a +2 competence bonus on the next concentration check, dispel check, or caster level check she makes (whichever comes first). At 8th level and every six levels thereafter, this bonus increases by an additional +1.
- Arcane Vessel (Ex): At 8th level, whenever the cavalier gains a bonus on attack rolls, saving throws, or damage rolls from a spell or spell-like ability cast by another creature, the cavalier also gains a number of temporary hit points equal to the level of the spell or spell-like ability. Temporary hit points gained from this ability from different spells stack, but only to a maximum number of temporary hit points equal to the cavalier's level. These temporary hit points last for 10 minutes.
- Synchronized Attack (Ex): At 15th level, the cavalier can utilize the power of his spellcasting allies to make devastating attacks against the allies' targets. If the cavalier is adjacent to an enemy affected by a targeted or area spell or spell-like ability cast by one of the cavalier's allies, he can make an immediate attack of opportunity against the affected creature. If the cavalier is also affected by the spell (such as by being caught in the area of the same fireball spell), during the rest of that round he automatically confirms any critical hits made against the affected creature while using this ability.
