There are some who are born with an affinity or connection to nature. When a shaman is born with this connection, they become Avatars of Nature. An avatar believes nature is alive and has its own spirit, and as such, tries to protect it and help it grow whenever possible.
Adventures: An Avatar of Nature usually sees an adventure as a way to learn more about the spirits of nature, and discover new spirits they have yet to encounter. They might also adventure to further spread nature to areas that lack its gentle and peaceful touch. They might even be tribal wisdom or leader candidates that were set on a quest to prove themselves worthy.
Characteristics: An avatar doesn’t cast spells or rely on intensive combat training, they know where their power lies. They channel the spirits of nature itself to aid them in battle, or other tasks. Other classes may look down on them for relying on ‘outside’ help, but they quickly change this view when they see the true power an avatar can wield.
Alignment: An avatar is always some type of neutral. This is due to the avatar being so closely connected to nature, that nature’s natural indifference seems to ingrain itself within the avatar. This does not mean an avatar has to be true neutral however, just as nature encompasses such dichotomies as life and death, beauty and horror, and peace and violence, so two druids can manifest different or even opposite alignments (neutral good and neutral evil, for instance).
Religion: Avatars of Nature don’t have any real leanings toward religion. Some worship nature itself, some choose to worship deities of nature such has Ehlonna or Obad-Hai. Some may choose to go different paths.
Background: All shamans are born with the ability to channel spirits that roam the world. For Avatars of Nature, this takes the form of being able to channel the spirits of nature. The ability to channel spirits manifests itself early in a child, and those children are usually trained by an older shaman. Some are not so lucky though, and are considered freaks and sent away from their homes and they must learn to channel and control these spirits by themselves, sometimes leading to disaster.
Races: While shamans can be born into any race at any given time, Avatars of Nature seem to be most common around areas where nature has a strong presence.
Other Classes: Avatars find they have the most in common with druids and rangers, but work well with any class. They may not get the cleric’s strong devotion to a deity, or a wizard’s incessant study, but they acknowledge the role they play in an adventure.
Role: An avatar tends to be best suited for a support combatant, or ranged support with their aspects. If the need arises, they can also help act as a diplomat or negotiator although they aren’t quite as adept at it as bards or rogues.
Class Table:
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{table="head"]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special |Total Channels|Max Level Aspect
1st|+0|+0|+0|+2|Nature Binding, Wild Empathy|2|1
2nd|+1|+0|+0|+3|Nature Sense|2|1
3rd|+2|+1|+1|+3||2|1
4th|+3|+1|+1|+4|Uncanny Dodge|2|2
5th|+3|+1|+1|+4|Animal Companion|3|2
6th|+4|+2|+2|+5||3|3
7th|+5|+2|+2|+5|Wild Aspect 1/Day|3|3
8th|+6/+1|+2|+2|+6|Woodland Stride|3|4
9th|+6/+1|+3|+3|+6|Improved Uncanny Dodge|4|4
10th|+7/+2|+3|+3|+7||4|5
11th|+8/+3|+3|+3|+7|Wild Aspect 2/Day|4|5
12th|+9/+4|+4|+4|+8||4|6
13th|+9/+4|+4|+4|+8||5|6
14th|+10/+5|+4|+4|+9|Wild Aspect (Large)|5|7
15th|+11/+6/+1|+5|+5|+9|Wild Aspect 3/Day|5|7
16th|+12/+7/+2|+5|+5|+10||5|8
17th|+13/+8/+3|+5|+5|+10||6|8
18th|+13/+8/+3|+6|+6|+11||6|9
19th|+14/+9/+4|+6|+6|+11|Wild Aspect 4/Day|6|9
20th|+15/+10/+5|+6|+6|+12|Wild Aspect (Huge)|6|9
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Skills: Balance (Dex),Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Emapthy (Wis), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge: Nature (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str)
Skill points at first level: (4+ Int modifier) x 4
Skill points at each additional level: 4+ Int Modifier
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Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Avatar’s of Nature are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, and light armor, but not shields.
Nature Binding (Su): An avatar of nature begins play knowing how to channel 2 aspects at once, as shown by the Total Channels column of the class table, but gains the ability to channel more as she levels. The highest level aspects she can channel is determined by the Max Aspect Level column. See Chapter 2: Aspects for how the channeling system works.
An avatar of nature has access to the Beast, Fey, and Plant aspect lists.
Wild Empathy (Ex): An avatar can use body language, vocalizations, and demeanor to improve the attitude of an animal (such as a bear or a monitor lizard). This ability functions just like a Diplomacy check made to improve the attitude of a person (see Chapter 4: Skills). The avatar rolls 1d20 and adds her druid level and her Charisma modifier to determine the wild empathy check result. The typical domestic animal has a starting attitude of indifferent, while wild animals are usually unfriendly.
To use wild empathy, the avatar and the animal must be able to study each other, which means that they must be within 30 feet of one another under normal conditions. Generally, influencing an animal in this way takes 1 minute but, as with influencing people, it might take more or less time.
An avatar can also use this ability to influence a magical beast with an Intelligence score of 1 or 2 (such as a basilisk or a girallon), but she takes a –4 penalty on the check.
Nature Sense (Ex): Due to an avatar’s strong spiritual connection to nature, she gains a +2 bonus to all Knowledge (Nature) and Survival checks.
Uncanny Dodge (Ex): Starting at 4th level, an avatar can react to danger before her senses would normally allow her to do so. She retains her Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) even if she is caught flat-footed or struck by an invisible attacker. However, she still loses her Dexterity bonus to AC if immobilized.
If an avatar already has uncanny dodge from a different class (a rogue with at least two levels of barbarian, for example), she automatically gains improved uncanny dodge (see below) instead.
Animal Companion (Ex): At 5th level, an avatar gains an animal companion selected from the following list: badger, camel, dire rat, dog, riding dog, eagle, hawk, horse (light or heavy), owl, pony, snake (Small or Medium viper), or wolf. If the DM’s campaign takes place wholly or partly in an aquatic environment, the DM may add the following creatures to the ranger’s list of options: crocodile, porpoise, Medium shark, and squid. This animal is a loyal companion that accompanies the avatar on her adventures as appropriate for its kind. (For instance, an aquatic creature can’t adventure with an avatar on land and shouldn’t be selected by a nonaquatic character without extenuating circumstances). In most cases, the animal companion functions as a mount, sentry, scout, or hunting animal, rather than as a protector.
This ability functions like the druid ability of the same name (see page 35), except that the avatar’s effective druid level is her avatar level -4. For example, the animal companion of a 5th-level ranger would be the equivalent of a 1st-level druid’s animal companion. A ranger may select from the alternative lists of animal companions just as a druid can, though again her effective druid level is her avatar level -4. Thus, she must be at least an 8th-level avatar to select from the druid’s list of 4th-level animal companions, and if she chooses one of those animals, her effective druid level would be reduced by 3, to 1st level. Like a druid, an avatar cannot select an alternative animal if the choice would reduce her effective druid level below 1st.
Wild Aspect (Su): At 7th level, an avatar gains the ability to use Wild Shape, same as the druid ability, once per day but gains additional uses as she levels. The only difference from this ability and the druid’s wild shape is this ability only lasts for 10 minutes/level instead of 1 hour/level.
While in this alternate form, an avatar cannot use any trait or utility aspects, but retains any bonuses from passive aspects. (The Natural Spell feat DOES NOT bypass this rule.)
At 14th level, the avatar gains the ability to choose large creatures to change into, and huge creatures at 20th level.
Improved Uncanny Dodge (Ex): An avatar of 9th level or higher can no longer be flanked; she can react to opponents on opposite sides of her as easily as she can react to a single attacker. This defense denies a rogue the ability to sneak attack the character by flanking her, unless the attacker has at least four more rogue levels than the target has avatar levels.
If a character already has uncanny dodge (see above) from a second class, the character automatically gains improved uncanny dodge instead, and the levels from the classes that grant uncanny dodge stack to determine the minimum rogue level required to flank the character.
