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View Full Version : [3.5e NPC PrC] Child of the Forest (PEACH)



Welknair
2011-06-05, 01:16 PM
Yeah, those again. I was bored again and was trying to think of PrC ideas. I thought of my NPC PrCs and wondered if there was room for any more. "Well, I made one for a Wizard knock-off, what about a cleric one? Or a druid? Or Psion?" ... You'll notice several similarities between this and the Mage's Assistant. Especially the casting.


Child of the Forest
http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2010/288/2/9/this_is_mai_forrest_by_alishmcmalish-d30uiob.jpg

"Why are you in my woods?"

-Tania, Child of the Forest

Children of the Forest are individuals that have recieved no formal Druidic training and are not a part of their society, yet still abide in forests and end up finding many druidic techniques to help them get by. They also tend to be a bit territorial. And they bite.

Becoming a Child of the Forest

Druids often live in forests and make friends with the animals. This does not mean that all individuals that do so are druids. Sometimes a child gets lost in the woods. Or they lose their family and find refuge in the woods. Either way, they have come and are determined to survive. After much time they become accustomed to the harsh environment and learn to live with the wild life. They become a child of the forest.

Entry Requirements
Skills: Climb 2, Handle Animal 6, Knowledge (Nature) 1, Survival 1
Special: Must have spent the majority of their childhood living in a forest with no other humanoid company

Class Skills: Concentration, Craft, Handle Animal, Heal, Knowledge (nature), Listen, Ride, Spellcraft, Spot, Survival, Swim and Tumble
Skill Points each level: 4 + Intelligence Modifier

Hit Dice: d8



Level
BAB
Fort
Ref
Will
Special


1st

+0

+2

+0

+2
Wild Empathy, Familiar


2nd

+1

+3

+0

+3
Nature's Gift


3rd

+2

+3

+1

+3
Forest Home


4th

+3

+4

+1

+4
Greater Nature's Gift


5th

+3

+4

+1

+4
Enlightenment



Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Chidren of the Forest are familiar with the following weapons: bolas, club, dagger, dart, longbow, quarterstaff, shortbow, shortspear, sling, and spear. Children of the Forest gain no armor proficiencies.

Wild Empathy: Getting along in the forest is important. The Child of the Forest learns how to communicate to a degree with the animals of their woods to plea for aid or request the wolf not to eat them. They gain Wild Empathy as the Druid class feature except that the roll uses the Child's level in this class instead of their Druid level. If the Child becomes a Druid, levels in this class stack with levels in Druid for determining their bonus on the check.

Familiar: One needs friends. Otherwise you go insane. The Child of the Forest forms a special bond with a small woodland creature who becomes their dearest companion. They gain a Familiar as the Sorcerer class feature, using their level in this class instead of their levels in sorcerer for determining the additional bonuses that this familiar accrues. Levels in Druid stack with levels in this class for determining Familiar features.

Nature's Gift: Living in the forest so long, the Child becomes attuned to the ways of nature and the flow of life. They start unlocking secrets held deep within the soil. Even if they're small secrets. The Child selects two 0-level spells from the Druid spell list. They may now use each of these once per day as a spell-like ability with the save being based off of their Wisdom and their effective CL equal to their Child of the Forest level. If they ever become a Druid, levels in Druid stack with levels in Child of the Forest for determining the CL. Wearing metal iron of any sort prevents the use of these abilities.

Forest Home: The Child's home is the forest and they know how to use this to their advantage. The Child adds four to all skill checks relevant to forest features and terrain, whether this be Knowledge (Geography) to find your way out of the forest, using Climb to scale a tree, or Hide to duck in some bushes. This bonus almost always applies to Survival.

Greater Nature's Gift: One more day. One more meal. One more secret. The Child has learned to cast a single first level spell from the Druid spell list once per day at a CL equal to their Child level as a spell-like ability. If they ever become a Druid, levels in Druid stack with levels in Child of the Forest for determining the CL. Wearing metal iron of any sort prevents the use of these abilities.

Enlightenment: Oh. This is what the Druids were talking about. The Child becomes one with the forest, and the forest one with her. The Child gains two 0-level spell slots and a single 1st-level slot. These are in addition to the spells that they've mastered. The caster level of these spells is equal to their Child of Nature level. Wearing metal iron of any sort prevents the use of these spells.


And that's it for this one. I'll have the Cleric and Psion ones coming along shortly. And I was struck by a brilliant idea. What if these classes were requirements to enter the classes which they were based off of? It would certainly mitigate their powers. The casting granted at first level would override those gained at 5th level in the class, but they would maintain the three spells which they had completely internalized. Just an interesting idea.

wiimanclassic
2011-06-05, 04:10 PM
So you start as an npc class then work to get to a base class? Sounds interesting.

DracoDei
2011-06-05, 04:43 PM
Specify the spell slots are from the druid list (obvious, but the usual D&D writing style is like that).



The weapon proficiency list irks me personally. It is obviously based on the druid list, but that always struck me as very tied to the specific mythology/setting/D&D version history. I would try to think in terms of "What can you figure out how to make based on necessity, vague childhood memories from before your were abandoned, and maybe the occasional hint from a fae you talk to?". Think less "druid" and more "Tarzan" + "Peter Pan" + "The Jungle Book".

Personally I would drop the scimitar, and add bows, bolos and maybe a few other things. Metal-smithing tends to be a lot of investment before you get a result worth using, and requires there to be metals in the area (at least copper). Atl-atls (which nobody ever includes in their RPGs for some reason... maybe because they were more for hunting than war), and bows are hard to do WELL, but easy to do in the first place so it is a smoother learning curve.

Welknair
2011-06-05, 08:55 PM
Specify the spell slots are from the druid list (obvious, but the usual D&D writing style is like that).



The weapon proficiency list irks me personally. It is obviously based on the druid list, but that always struck me as very tied to the specific mythology/setting/D&D version history. I would try to think in terms of "What can you figure out how to make based on necessity, vague childhood memories from before your were abandoned, and maybe the occasional hint from a fae you talk to?". Think less "druid" and more "Tarzan" + "Peter Pan" + "The Jungle Book".

Personally I would drop the scimitar, and add bows, bolos and maybe a few other things. Metal-smithing tends to be a lot of investment before you get a result worth using, and requires there to be metals in the area (at least copper). Atl-atls (which nobody ever includes in their RPGs for some reason... maybe because they were more for hunting than war), and bows are hard to do WELL, but easy to do in the first place so it is a smoother learning curve.

Added the bolas and bows while removing the metal weapons. Specified in Greater Nature's Gift that it has to be a Druid spell. Nice catch there.

The Tygre
2011-06-06, 02:08 PM
SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! AISLING CLASS!

...

*ahem* That is to say, Jolly good, old chap. Jolly good.

Kyrinthic
2011-06-06, 02:42 PM
SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! AISLING CLASS!

...

*ahem* That is to say, Jolly good, old chap. Jolly good.

Thats the first thought I had when I saw this too :)

Icedaemon
2011-06-06, 03:52 PM
Indeed a nice idea. One thing that I suggest changing is the familiar into an animal companion, at least if the idea of this class being a requirement for Druid (definitely a good one in my book, especially for low-magic settings) is used. I shall follow your work with interest.

Welknair
2011-06-06, 04:56 PM
Indeed a nice idea. One thing that I suggest changing is the familiar into an animal companion, at least if the idea of this class being a requirement for Druid (definitely a good one in my book, especially for low-magic settings) is used. I shall follow your work with interest.

Well, when I think of a kid lost in the woods, usually they make friends with a smaller animal, such as a hawk or toad as opposed to a tiger. When (if) they become a Druid, they would then get the Animal Companion in addition to the Familiar.

Now that I think of it, I'll make sure to say that levels in Druid stack with levels in this class for determining the extra bonuses to the Familiar.

If you honestly think that it would be more appropriate for whatever setting this would be used in for the Familiar to be replaced by an Animal Companion, then that's up to you. I personally feel that a Familiar better fits the lower power level of this class.

I was going to drop the whole "NPC caster entry PrCs" thing, but since it was apparently popular, I guess I'll go through with the other two. Problem is of course figuring out what to do with the Psion since they only get three powers to start anyways. Though it's pretty obvious that Naturally Psionic or Wild Talent are the main prereqs...


And now I feel all out of the loop. What is this "Aisling" that you speak of?

Edit: Icedaemon, have you browsed my Extended Signature? The majority of my PrCs are primarily made for NPCs and the Mage's Assistant is much like this, save based on the Wizard.

Eldest
2011-06-06, 07:07 PM
Try having the familiar change into a animal companion when they take their first level of druid. It would be a bit weird (your pet owl just turned into a bear) but it solves that problem.

Welknair
2011-06-06, 07:40 PM
Try having the familiar change into a animal companion when they take their first level of druid. It would be a bit weird (your pet owl just turned into a bear) but it solves that problem.

"OWL IS EVOLVING! OWL EVOLVED INTO BEAR!"

...

Whatever floats your boat. My opinion is there is no right answer here. It's really dependent on what the DM thinks is appropriate for the setting.

Edit: Hint: Owl's final form is Owlbear

wiimanclassic
2011-06-06, 08:17 PM
Bear cub or something? Like it being around you when you become a druid helps influence it to become a bigger bear or something? Hell your meant to be this as a child so maybe just a bear cub and by the time you become old enough to be a druid its become a full grown bear.

The Tygre
2011-06-06, 09:44 PM
And now I feel all out of the loop. What is this "Aisling" that you speak of?

Aisling, the fairy girl from Secret of Kells. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lw2_HZTuQBE) Its a great movie; definitely check it out when you have the chance.

Welknair
2011-06-06, 11:21 PM
Aisling, the fairy girl from Secret of Kells. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lw2_HZTuQBE) Its a great movie; definitely check it out when you have the chance.

Now I need to go find that movie. And hey, this class matches her perfectly. What a crazy random happenstance.