Nature Shaper [Base Class]

[Jack_of_Spades]

This is a new class I'm thinking about implementing in my campaign Lurvia, A World Alive. I'm splitting the Druid into a combat oriented one and a spell oriented one.This is the combat one. Also, thsi is the first class I've ever tried to create, so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Nature Shaper

Lvl BaB Saves F/R/W Class features
1 +0 0/2/2 Legs of the Beast Wild Empathy, Fangs of the Beast
2 +1 0/3/3
3 +2 1/3/3 Fangs of the Beast
4 +3 1/4/4 Legs of the Beast 2/day
5 +3 1/4/4 Fangs of the Beast
6 +4 2/5/5
7 +5 2/5/5 Legs of the Beast 3/day, Fangs of the Beast
8 +6 2/6/6 Enduring Energy
9 +6 3/6/6 Fangs of the Beast
10 +7 3/7/7 Legs of the Beast 4/day
11 +8 3/7/7 Fangs of the Beast
12 +9 4/8/8
13 +9 4/8/8 Legs of the Beast 5/day, Fangs of the Beast
14 +10 4/9/9 Enduring Energy
15 +11 5/9/9 Fangs of the Beast
16 +12 5/10/10 Legs of the Beast 6/day
17 +12 5/10/10 Fangs of the Beast
18 +13 6/11/11
19 +14 6/11/11 Legs of the Beast 7/day Fangs of the beast
20 +15 6/12/12 Enduring Energy


HD d8
Skills 4+int mod
Class Skills Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (dungeoneering) (Int), Knowledge (geography) (Int), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), and Use Rope (Dex).

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: All simple weapons plus the net. All Armors.



Legs of the Beast
Translucent energy surrounds a part of your body in the form of an animal’s body parts. Wings, hooves, flippers etc. This is only present when the movement is being used; wings only appear when flying and legs only appear when going faster than what they could do without this ability.

The Third time this is gained a new movement type may be acquired. It may be modified like the original
Fly Average 10
Burrow 10
Swim 10
Climb 10
Land Speed +10
If you select the same type a second time add 10 feet to the speed.

Fangs of the Beast.
You can shape the energy of Lurvia into an animal form long enough for it to make an attack.Only the part relevant to the attack is created: the head of a wolf, the jaws of a shark, or the legs of an elephant.

This is usable a number of times equal to your Level + Charisma Mod
You can shape the energy of Lurvia into an attack. Each time this feature is gained select an ability from the chart. Attack is made using your Base attack plus your wisdom modifier. Your charisma modifier is added to damage, if any.
The range of this attack is ten feet per level.
---1d8 damage
--- Improved trip.
--- Improved Grapple.
--- Area effect. Instead of targeting one creature, you may designate a 10x10square as the target of your attack. The DC to avoid is 10+ 1/2level+ wisdom mod. Save for half damage and/or negate special attack. Each time this is taken, increase the area affected by ten feet on each side
--- Adds 1d6 damage of one energy type
--- Improved Bull Rush. If taken with Area Effect
--- +4 to special attack. Trip or Grapple or Bull rush.

For example:
A third level Channeler can have a Fang that deals 2d8 damage on a successful hit by taking the 1d8 damage option twice. Or it can Trip everyone in a 10x10 square by taking Improved Trip and Area Effect.


Using Fangs of the Beast provokes attacks of opportunity like casting a spell. It requires two free hands to use.

Enduring Energy
At 8th level Your fangs of the beast may attack the next round within fifteen feet of your first attack with it. If you attacked an Orc with it, you may attack anything within 15 feet of that Orc. To attack something else you would have to spend an additional use of Fangs of the Beast as usual.
This effect only lasts for one round.
At 14th level this effect lasts for two rounds
At 20th it lasts for three rounds

[Fizban]

It seems that you've taken some of my advice, excellent......

First off, Legs of the beast has no actual rules for using it, just a table of uses. Generally, giving any sort of flight at 1st level is considered a bad idea, while swimming means little to a non-aquatic campaign, just for consideration.

Second: I think I see what you're going for on the Fangs of Beast ability, but right now I think it's pretty underpowered, so I'm just going to write up a different idea:

Fangs of the Beast (Su)
As a full round action you may create and attack with the natural weapons of a creature at a distance. The effect is something like a wolf's head or a sharks jaws appearing in midair and attacking the target. The effect makes a full attack using your BAB+ your wisdom modifier to hit, dealing 1d6+ your charisma modifier of damage. As you gain levels, your fangs of the beast gains more abilities, such as: trip like a wolf, improve damage die one step, improved grab, extra natural weapons (ex: add 2 claws to a bite), rake, rend, poison, etc.

Okay, so I don't have a fully formed idea, so sue me. See, what I had been thinking was a shapeshifting based character using a suped up version of the PHBII's shapechanging variant, maybe just using that with a normal animal companion and calling it good. I really like the idea you've got here, it reminds me of various RPG summoners (the Tamer class of Golden Sun 2 in particular), but I can't think of how to really stat it out. I have no idea how to balance out trip, rend, poison, rake, extra attacks and so on from each other. I starte thinking maybe it just makes a bite attack, then you add features, effectively creating a natural attack and ability routine for this effect you create, but then you might as well just have an animal companion or gain the attacks yourself. Hope some of my rambling helps!

[Jack_of_Spades]

hmm...I think I may do that. I'll probably have the damage go up by 1d8 automatically and have abilities for it gained at certain levels. I'll post the revised idea when it's written.

[Jack_of_Spades]

Okay, I made some changes to The Nature Shaper class which I hope balances it with other classes. I also included new feats for this class at the bottom.

Nature Shaper


Level BAB Saves F/R/W Class features
1 +0 0/2/2 Legs of the Beast Land speed +10
Wild Empathy, Fangs of the Beast
2 +1 0/3/3
3 +2 1/3/3 Fangs of the Beast
4 +3 1/4/4 Legs of the Beast Land speed +20
5 +3 1/4/4 Fangs of the Beast
6 +4 2/5/5 Bonus Feat
7 +5 2/5/5 Legs of the Beast, Fangs of the Beast
8 +6 2/6/6 Enduring Energy
9 +6 3/6/6 Fangs of the Beast
10 +7 3/7/7 Legs of the Beast
11 +8 3/7/7 Fangs of the Beast
12 +9 4/8/8 Bonus Feat
13 +9 4/8/8 Legs of the Beast, Fangs of the Beast
14 +10 4/9/9 Enduring Energy
15 +11 5/9/9 Fangs of the Beast
16 +12 5/10/10 Legs of the Beast
17 +12 5/10/10 Fangs of the Beast
18 +13 6/11/11 Bonus Feat
19 +14 6/11/11 Legs of the Beast, Fangs of the beast
20 +15 6/12/12 Enduring Energy


HD d8
Skills 4+int mod
Class Skills Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (dungeoneering) (Int), Knowledge (geography) (Int), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), and Use Rope (Dex).

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: All simple weapons plus the net. All Armors.



Legs of the Beast
At first level you can draw on the energy of Lurvia to enchance you speed. You add 10 to your land speed.
At 4th Level it increases to + 20
At 7th level another movement type may be chosen.
Fly Average 10
Burrow 10
Swim 10
Climb 10
Land Speed 10
If you select the same type a second time add 10 feet to the speed.

At 10th level you may choose another movement type or increase any existing ones (which must be gained through this class) by 10 feet. This is the same for 13th and 16th level and 19th level.

Fangs of the Beast.
You can shape the energy of Lurvia into an animal form long enough for it to make an attack. Only the part relevant to the attack is created: the head of a wolf, the jaws of a shark, or the legs of an elephant.

This is usable a number of times equal to your Level + Charisma Mod
You can shape the energy of Lurvia into an attack. Each time this feature is gained select an ability from the chart. Attack is made using your Base attack plus your wisdom modifier. Your charisma modifier is added to damage, if any.
The range of this attack is ten feet per level.

---1d8 damage
--- Improved trip.
--- Improved Grapple.
--- Area effect. Instead of targeting one creature, you may designate a 10x10square as the target of your attack. The DC to avoid is 10+ 1/2level+ wisdom mod. Save for half damage and/or negate special attack. Each time this is taken, increase the area affected by Five feet on each side and increases the DC by 2.
--- Adds 1d6 damage of one energy type
--- Improved Bull Rush. If taken with Area Effect the Bull Rush propels creatures in the same direction.
--- +4 to Trip or Grapple or Bull rush.

For example:
A third level Channeler can have a Fang that deals 2d8 damage on a successful hit by taking the 1d8 damage option twice. Or it can Trip everyone in a 10x10 square by taking Improved Trip and Area Effect.

Using Fang of the Beast is a standard action that provokes attacks of opportunity.

Enduring Energy
Your fangs of the beast may attack the next round within fifteen feet of your first attack with it. If you attacked an Orc with it, you may attack anything within 15 feet of that Orc. To attack something outside of this range you would have to spend an additional use of Fangs of the Beast as normal. It uses a swift action that doesn’t provoke attacks of opportunity.

Bonus Feats must be selected from the following list. A Nature Shaper must still meet any pre-resquites.
Endurance, Diehard, Dodge, Mobility, Fast Reflexes, Iron Will, Toughness, Elemental Fangs, Poison Fang, Horrifying Fang, Strengthen Fang, Sharp Fang, Fast Fang, Delay Fang, Extra Fangs, Enhance Legs

Elemental Fang
Pre Requisite: A Fang of the Beast that deals elemental damage. Nature Shaper level 7
Your Fang of the Beast has a special effect which is determined by the type of damage it deals.
Acid: It deals ½ of its damage the next round. A successful For save negates this extra damage. 10+your charisma mod+ 2 for each die of acid damage.

Fire: The target must succeed of a reflex saving throw or catch fire. DC 10+your charisma mod+ 2 for every die of fire damage it deals.

Ice: Target must succeed of a Fortitude save or be slowed for one round per die of Ice damage dealt. DC= 10+your charisma mod+ 2 for each die of ice damage

Electricity: Target must succeed on a concentration check to cast any spells, gain sneak attack damage, or use ranged attacks for one round per die of electric damage used. The electricity interferes with their nerves and makes it difficult to gain the required degree of precision. DC= 10+your charisma mod+ 2 for each die of electricity damage.

Sonic: Target must succed on a Fort save or be Stunned for one round per die of sonic damage. 10+your charisma mod+ 2 for each die

Horrifying Fang
Pre Requisite: Fang of the Beast Nature Shaper Level 5

The area affected by your fang of the beast is filled with a feeling of dread. Creatures in the area of your attack must make a will save or become Shaken in addition to the damage. DC= 10+your charisma mod+ ½ your shaper level.

Use of this expends one additional use of the Fang of the Beast ability. If a creature who is already shaken is affected by this he becomes panicked if their HD is four less than yours or lower.


Poison Fang
Pre Requisite: Shaper Level 4

Creatures hit by your fang of the beast are also hit with a powerful poison. It deals either 1d6 int, wis or cha; 1d4 dex,, str or con. DC for the poison is equal to 10 +½ your level+your cha mod.

Note: This feat may be taken more than once. Each time it adds another die of ability damage and adds 1 to the DC.

Sharp Fang
Reqs: Fang of the Beast, Shaper Level 5

Add +1 damage for every 2 dice of damage dealt by your fangs of the beast ability.


Strengthen Fang
Reqs: Fang of the Beast, Shaper Level 5
Choose one new ability for your Fangs of the Beast. It gains this permanently.

Fast Fang
Reqs: Shaper level 8th

You may use your Fang of the Beast as a swift action. A fang used in this manner does not benefit form Enduring Energy or Area Effect. It still provokes attacks of opportunity.

Delay Fang
Reqs: Fang of the Beast ability

You may set you Fang of the Beast to be triggered one or more rounds later. To use a fang like this you must first succeed on a ranged touch attack on the target to hit him with a small ball of energy. You then declare how long until the Fang is activated. It must be activated less than a minute after it strikes him. When it activates the target is allowed a will saving throw (DC 10+½ you Shaper level+ your cha mod) to negate it. If he fails the save he is affected by the Fang as though you had just used it.

Extra Fangs
You may use your Fangs of the Beast Ability 3 more times per day.

Enhance Legs
Reqs: Shaper level 7
You may add 10 feet to any movement speed you have gained from your Shaper levels.




Feedback of any kind would be greatly appreciated.