Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Threefists 01-26-07, 07:29 AM	Druids, Rangers. Protectors of the forest. You've got your caster (Druid) and your stealthy type (Ranger) but what about your front line melee combatant? Most people put their hands up and say "Barbarian, :uh-huh: !" But consider that the Barbarian, while having Handle Animal and certain 'feral' traits, is not tied to nature in the ways that Druids and, to a lesser extent, Ranngers are, both by spells and animal companions. Thus I've been kicking around for a while the idea of a core class somewhere between Aragorn and Conan (not personality wise...geez that's crazy!). I think I should call the class the Wild Avatar, since I fully intend to give these warrior-types animal guides, rather than animal companions. If anyone has ever played the game "Mark of Kri", the hero/main character of the game, Rau, is a mute Samoan/Maori type, sort of a barbarian/ranger/rogue gesalt, capable of overwhelming melee attacks, scouting/spying via his spirit guide, Kuzo, and single-kill stealth attacks by sneaking up behind unaware opponents. Now, obviously I'm not going to give the Wild Avatar a arse-kicking animal companion, Druids have those and Rangers have a slightly weaker version. In effect, I'm going for the other end of the spectrum, whereas the PC has all the grunt and the animal companion is sort of like a extension of the player, and also a symbol or reflection of the Wild Avatar's inner nature. Wild Avatar (First try) Full Base Attack Bonus like a Fighter or Barbarian, Good Fort saving throws, Poor Reflex and Will saving throws, D10 hit-dice, proficient with Unarmed Strikes, Dagger, Sickle, Club, Shortspear, Spear, Longspear, Shortbow and it's composite variant, Javelin, Sling, Throwing Axe, Battleaxe, Longsword and Bolas, and other weapons depending upon the Spirit Guide that is chosen/chooses the Wild Avatar. Proficient with Leather, Studded Leather, Hide, Bark, Bone, Cord, Leather Scale and Wicker armor and Light and Heavy Wooden Shields. Special Note: If the Wild Avatar comes across Dragonscale armour such as Red Dragon Hide Armor or Blue Dragon Scale Mail Armor, he is proficient with such armor since they are made from 'natural' creatures. 4 Skill-points per level, Skills are Craft (Int), Climb (Str), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate(Cha), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Ride (Dex), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis) and Swim (Str). Abilities: Level 1: Spirit Blessed (Supernatural), Lesser Bond of the Spirit Guide, Binding Ties of the Spirit. Level 2: - Level 3: - Level 4: Bond of the Spirit Guide. Level 5: My Eyes are Your Eyes (Supernatural). Level 6: Murderous Intent +2. Level 7: Tongues of Man (Supernatural). Level 8: Spirit of Two Worlds (Supernatural). Level 9: Commune with the Spirits 1/Month (Supernatural). Level 10: Gifts of the Spirit. Level 11: - Level 12: Murderous Intent +4. Level 13: Greater Bond of the Spirit Guide. Level 14: Commune with the Spirits 1/Week (Supernatural). Level 15: Spirit of Power (1 Template) (Supernatural). Level 16: Supreme Bond of the Spirit Guide. Level 17: Gifts of the Spirit. Level 18: Murderous Intent +6. level 19: Commune with the Spirits 1/day (Supernatural). Level 20: Spirit of Power (2 Templates) (Supernatural). Spirit Blessed The Wild Avatar chooses or is chosen by a Spirit Guide, one of Nine different sorts of animal spirits. This grants the Wild Avatar a certain feat, and also decides which benefits from the Bonds of the Spirit Guide and Gifts of the Spirit he or she will recieve. Once 5th level is reached, the Wild Avatar can call forth the Spirit Guide from the 'Spirit World', and the Spirit Guide arrives, in all ways, shapes and form identical to normal members of it's species but with a Int and Cha scores of 12 and Wis score of 14. The Spirit Guide can maintain it's physical body for a total of 2 rounds per Class Level, until level 15, at which it can maintain it's presence in the Material Plane for a total of 1 hour per class level. If the Spirit Guide is 'slain', it immediately is returned, unharmed, to the 'Spirit World', but the Wild Adept takes double the Spirit Guide's damage (all the damage that the Spirit Guide took while in the Material Plane) as Non-Lethal Damage, possibly knocking him or her out cold. The Spirit Guide can be summoned at will, which takes 3 rounds of chanting and 10 gp of incense to be burned, all of which is consumed in the last round to form a smoky portal through which the Spirit Guide emerges into the Material Plane. Binding Ties of the Spirit The choice to walk the path of the Wild Avatar is one that sticks with the Wild Avatar for life. A Wild Avatar may only multi-class into Druid, Spirit Shaman, Ranger or Scout. Taking levels in any other classes causes the Spirit Guide to leave the Wild Avatar, leaving the character unable to advance his or her Wild Avatar Class any further and removing all Feats, Special Abilities and Skill Bonuses. If levels of Druid or Ranger are taken, if any animal companions are selected, the Wild Avatar/Druid or Ranger's animal companion is treated as if 3 levels lower than it actually is for the purpose of Bonus HD, Natural Armor, Str and Dex bonuses, Tricks and Special abilities. Lesser Bond of the Spirit Once the Wild Avatar has chosen or been chosen by a Spirit Guide, he or she recieves certain gifts bestowed upon him or her by the Spirit Guide: Eagle: (May be selected/chosen by Neutral Good, Chaotic Good and Neutral Wild Avatars.) Low Light Vision twice as far as a Human can see in shadowy light, +2 to Spot checks and the Alertness Feat. Search is always a Class Skill. Owl: (May be selected/chosen by Neutral Good, Lawful Good and Lawful Neutral Wild Avatars.) Low Light Vision twice as far as a Human can see in shadowy light, +2 on Listen checks and the Alertness Feat. Knowledge [History] is always a Class Skill. Vulture: (May be selected/chosen by Lawful Evil, Neutral Evil, Chaotic Evil and Neutral Wild Avatars.) Low Light Vision twice as far as a Human can see in shadowy light, and the Great Fortiude and Toughness Feats. Bluff is always a Class Skill. Boar: (May be selected/chosen by Chaotic Good, Chaotic Neutral, Chaotic Evil or Neutral Wild Avatars.) Gain the ability to rage 1/day as a Barbarian of their Class Level and the Endurance Feat. Heal is always a Class Skill. Wolf: (May be selected/chosen by Neutral Good, Lawful Neutral, Chaotic Neutral, Neutral Evil or Neutral Wild Avatars.) Low-Light vision twice as far as a Human can see in shadowy light, and gain the Self Sufficient Feat. Sense Motive is always a Class Skill. Stag: (May be selected/chosen by Lawful Good, Lawful Neutral or Lawful Evil Wild Avatars.) +2 on Survival checks and the Lightning Reflexes and Run Feats. Diplomacy is always a Class Skill. Rat: (May be selected/chosen by, Chaotic Neutral, Chaotic Evil and Neutral Evil Wild Avatars.) Dark Vision to 30 feet and the Stealthy and Athletic Feats. Hide is always a Class Skill. Lion: (May be selected/chosen by Lawful Good, Neutral Good, Chaotic Good and Neutral Wild Avatars.) +2 on Intimidate checks and the Dash and Iron Will Feats. Knowledge [Geography]is always a Class Skill. Serpent: (May be selected/chosen by Lawful Neutral, Lawful Evil or Neutral Evil Wild Avatars.) Dark Vision to 30 feet and the Poison Use special ability as per the Ninja/Assassin class except only poisons harvest from snakes and poisonus plants from the Material Plane may be applied safely. Poisons and venoms from other animals or sources have the standard chance of poisoning the Serpent Wild Avatar. Knowledge [Nature] is always a Class Skill. Bond of the Spirit Guide By continuing down their path of worship for the spirits of nature, the Wild Avatar is blessed with more gifts from his Spirit Guide. Eagle: Gains the Spear Master Feat and Two-Weapon Fighting Feats, but it only applies to the use of Shortspears and Spears. Owl: Gains Proficiency with the Longbow and Composite variant, and the Weapon Focus feat with either the Short- or Longbow. Vulture: Gains Proficiency with the Barbed Bolas and the Weapon Focus Feat with either the Bolas or Barbed Bolas. Boar: Gains Proficiency with the Greataxe and the Cleave Feat. Wolf: Gains Weapon Focus for the Longsword and Combat Intuition Feat. Rat: Gains Darkvision 60 feet and the ability to do Sneak Attack Damage as a Rogue 1/3rd his Class Leve (Thus at lvl 20, a Rat Wild Avatar could do 4D6 sneak attack damage). Lion: Gains the Smite ability. Can add his or her Wisdom to the attack roll and deal 1 extra point of damage per Wild Avatar class level. Can use the Smite attack 1/day at 4th level, 2/day at 12 level and 3/day at 30th level. Serpent: Gains Darkvision 60 feet and the ability to cast Charm Animal (Serpents only) As a Druid of half his level 1/day and a variation of the Poison spell, dealing 1d3/1d3 Strength/Dexterity damage if the first saving throw fails and takes 1d3/1d3 Strength/Dexterity damage if the second saving throw fails. My Eyes are Your Eyes. Further powers are granted to the Wild Avatar, to the point where by sitting in a quiet place and closing his sense off to the outside world, the Wild Avatar may see through the eyes of any animal of his 'type' within a one mile radius of his location. Thus, a Lion Wild Avatar could potentially spot bandits coming if he used this ability to see through the eyes of a member of a pride of lions. The animal gains no saving throw against this ability unless Protection against Good/Evil/Law/Chaos or a similar spell has been cast upon the animal in question, and is under the control of the Wild Avatar for 1 round per 2 class levels. This ability can be used at will, but any animal can only be used thus once per day, with the exception of a corporeal Spirit Guide, wherein this ability may be used indefinitely up to the distance of one mile, at which point both Spirit Guide and ability end, and the Wild Avatar takes damage as if the Spirit Guide had been slain. Murderous Intent Not all fighting takes place weapon-to-weapon. Sometimes nessecity demands that stealth be used. Thus, a Wild Avatar can make a special grapply-check that can be used so long as the Wild Avatar has at least one hand free. If the Wild Avatar can sneak up behind a target and not be spotted or heard by either the target or allied creatures of the target, the Wild Avatar may make the special grapple check, adding +2 to the check at level 6, +4 at level 12 and +6 at level 18. Success means dragging the target back as many squares of movement as he/she has left at a -10 penalty to Move Silently as the target thrashes around in a panic. Failure means the target escapes the grapple and is immediately hostile and attacks you. If the Grapple check succeeds, the Wild Avatar has three options: Snap Neck With a single powerful twist, you snap the target's neck, killing them instantly unless they have four more HD then you are they are Undead. If the target has 4 more HD than you, you may continue the Grapple into the next round, and the round after that, dealing normal grappling damage. Due to the nature of this grapple, the target cannot speak unless he/she/it has two or more heads, at which point the free head is free to call for aid or cast spells. Knock Unconscious By repeatedly slamming the target's head (Or other body-parts that include the brain!) into the ground, walls or a nearby tree, you knock the target unconscious for 1d4 minutes and inflict nonlethal damage equal to three times your unarmed strike. Note that this technique adds a further -4 penalty to Listen checks if the target is clad in armour heavier than medium, as the armor will rattle loudly as the target is slammed into the walls/floor repeatedly. Pinned Perhaps the most gruesome of the three options, Pinned only works if you have access to a piercing weapon of a certain size. If you wished to pin a Halfling to a tree, you would need a Human-sized Dagger or a Halfling-sized Short Sword, but if you wished to pin a Ogre to a tree, you would need a Human-Sized Spear of a Dagger sized for a Cloud Giant. This has the side-effect of leaving enemy targets who come across the pinned bodies becoming Panicked if they have 4 or less HD than the dead target, or becoming Shaken if they have the 2 less or 2 more HD than the Target, or simply put on alert if they have 4 or more HD than the dead target. Tongues of Man The Spirit Guide gains the ability to speak in Common and three other languages chosen randomly by the DM. (Note that this speech is audible to everyone, not just the Wild Avatar. Having the Wild Avatar's Wolf Spirit Guide turn to him and say "Can I eat that cat?" Will most definitely freak out your average villagers in the average tavern room.) Spirit of Two Worlds By focusing as per the My Eyes are Your Eyes ability, the Wild Avatar gains the ability to turn his Spirit Guide Etherial or Greater Invisibility as per the spell, but it cuts the number of rounds the Spirit Guide may remain on the Material Plane in half and after level 15, reduces the Spirit Guide to 10 minutes/level on the Material Plane. This ability may be used in conjuction with the My Eyes are Your Eyes ability. Commune with the Spirits Functions exactly the same as Commune in the Players Handbook, except at level 9 it's 1/month, level 14 it's 1/week and at level 19 it's 1/day. All costs must be paid as per the spell. Spirit of Power At this point, the Spirit Guide can assume Celestial, Fiendish, Axiomatic or Archomatic templates, but this cuts the number of rounds the Spirit Guide can remain in the Material Plane by half, or if the Wild Avatar is Level 15 or high, cuts it’s time down from 1 hour per level to 10 minutes per level. At level 20, the Spirit Guide can assume any one of the above templates and not have it’s time on the Material Plane cut short, or it can apply two of the traits, but no opposing traits, and suffer the normal penalties to it’s time on the Material Plane. Gifts of the Spirit The Wild Avatar gains the ability to cast spells from the Animal Domain, each spell once per day, under certain conditions: The Wild Avatar must be using any of the armors, shields and weapons mentioned above, and cannot be using any other armors, shields or weapons that are not mentioned above, and the Spirit Guide must be present in the Material Plane to act as a focus for the spells. The Spirit Guide must also have the correct Wisdom score to be able to cast the spells. At level 17, the Wild Avatar is able to cast the spells 3/day for as long as the Spirit Guide is present. The Spirit Guide does not need to remain on the Material Plane for the spells to continue their effects. Greater Bond of the Spirit Guide The Spirit Guide grants ever more power to it's champion. Eagle: Gains the Weapon Focus (Spear) or Weapon Focus (Short Spear) Feat and Improved Two-Weapon Fighting Feats, but it only applies to the use of Shortspears and Spears. Owl: Gains Weapon Specialisation (Shortbow) or Weapon Specialisation (Longbow) and the Far Shot Feat. Vulture: Gains Immunity to Non-Magical Diseases and the ability to Overland Flight as per the spell. Caster level is equal to 3/4 of the Class Level. Boar: Gains Weapon Focus (Greataxe) and the Great Cleave Feat. Wolf: Gains the Weapon Focus (Longsword) and the Improved Trip Feats. Rat: Gains Darkvision to 90 feet and the Evasion special ability. Lion: Gains the Leadership Feat and a inherent +2 to Charisma that is used only for determining the highest level of the cohort. Serpent: Gains scaly skin that grants Natural Armor +3 and the the ability to cast Dominate Person 1/week as a Sorcerer of his or her Class Level, though casting the spell takes 10 rounds and requires the target to be bound so as they cannot run away and cannot escape as the Serpent Wild Avatar summons his Spirit Guide, who then 'bites' the target, leaving a pair of puncture wounds somewhere on the target that is the source of the Dominate Person effect. If the target is exposed to a Break Enchantment, Protection from Evil or similar spell, the target gets another saving throw to break the Dominate Person effect, and if successful, the Serpent Wild Avatar is stunned for the next hour per three HD of the target. Supreme Bond of the Spirit Guide At this level, the Wild Avatar begins to take on certain physical traits of his Spirit Guide, be it the eyes of a Eagle or the long canines of a Wolf, or even the twitching nervousness of the Rat. Eagle: Gains the Weapon Specialisation (Spear) or Weapon Specialisation (Short Spear) Feat and Greater Two-Weapon Fighting Feats, but it only applies to the use of Shortspears and Spears. Owl: Gains Power Critical (Shortbow) or Power Critical (Longbow) and the Improved Weapon Focus (Longbow) or (Shortbow) Feat. Vulture: Gains the ability to Rebuke Undead as a Evil Cleric half his class level and is immune to energy drain attacks. Boar: Gains Power Critical (Greataxe) and the Great Leap Feat. Wolf: Gains the Weapon Specialisation (Longsword) and the Improved Disarm Feats. Rat: Gains a permanent +3 bonus to Reflex saves and the Slippery Mind rogue special ability. Lion: Gains the ability to roar like a Leonal once per point of constitution bonus. Serpent: Gains the ability to make a Bite attack (1D4 x2 piercing) that also deals poison damage as a Huge Viper (DC 14, 1d6 con first and secondary damage, but secondary damage is permanent if the target fails the saving throw) and natural armour increases to +5. So....ideas guys? I know there's a lot of meat up there, but I am having problems using the board. Is the Wild Avatar overpowered, underpowered, pointless or otherwise....I'd like your opinions! :mrt:
Armoracia Rusticana 01-26-07, 09:07 AM	I like its flavor. It is something to do with native americans (can't judge as I know nothing of them ouside some movies/books. Fiction stuff all). It's pretty underpowered at most sides, but murderous intent is... Well... Strange. It's save or die at 6-th level, with save being a grapple check. Weird. Sure, Assassin can do that either, but his save is way lower at low levels. And doesn't benefit of polymorph, improved grapple and such.
VonRichthofen 01-26-07, 10:21 AM	Murderous intent is rediculously overpowered. Basically, if you lose a grapple check, you're dead. Totally out. It doesn't take the 3 rounds to prepare like Death Attack, it doesn't auto-fail against non-crittables, and it can be easily boosted to you know where - no chance any DM graced with a last vestige of sanity will ever allow this, especially at level 6.
Philbo_the_Happy_Halfling 01-26-07, 12:24 PM	If you're looking for a grapple based Death Attack check out the Reaping Mauler's Devastating Grapple ability. The Reaping Mauler can be found in Complete Warrior. Basically the effect works in the way that if you maintain a pin for three consecutive rounds your opponent must save or die. Not exactly what you've got here but similar enough that you could tweak it and use a variation.
Threefists 01-26-07, 06:01 PM	Alright....adjust Murderous Intent, push it back a few levels and make it take 3 rounds to 'prepare' and a further 3 rounds to 'kill' the target, who could possibly make a Fort save, Escape Artist check or a Opposed Grapple check to turn the grapple into a normal grapple check....make the Wild Avatar proficient with more varieties of armor.....perhaps a greater variety of weapons or maybe some bonus feats at levels 7, 13 and 20? Ideas people, help me out here! :plotting:
OneWinged4ngel 01-26-07, 07:23 PM	Alright....adjust Murderous Intent, push it back a few levels and make it take 3 rounds to 'prepare' and a further 3 rounds to 'kill' the target, who could possibly make a Fort save, Escape Artist check or a Opposed Grapple check to turn the grapple into a normal grapple check....make the Wild Avatar proficient with more varieties of armor.....perhaps a greater variety of weapons or maybe some bonus feats at levels 7, 13 and 20? Ideas people, help me out here! :plotting: What you are describing is not worth getting as an ability, or ever using. I cannot ever imagine that I would want to take 6 rounds to do a save or die, with multiple ways of disabling it (grapple checks, fort save, escape artist), while leaving myself vulnerable. You would do far better just grappling someone and punching them to death. Seriously. What you described just sounds totally useless in every way. It sounds like a good way to get your character killed horribly while being useless to a party.
The_Shaman 01-26-07, 07:53 PM	It's a bit specialized... why not make it a PrC instead?
Threefists 01-27-07, 12:09 AM	It seemed like a good idea on paper....I think I'm just gonna scrap this idea and go back and remake it to be a stealthly(ish) Barbarian with a low-level intelligent magical beast companion. Here we go 'gain! Wild Avatar (Round 2!) BAB as a Fighter/Barbarian/Paladin D10 hit-Dice Proficient with all simple weapons except the Light and Heavy Crossbows, and with the Throwing Axe, Handaxe, Longsword, Flail, Scimitar, Trident, Warhammer, Falchion, Greatclub, Greatsword, Greataxe, Scythe, Longbow and composite version and Shortbow and composite version. Proficient with all Light and Medium Armor and Light and Heavy shields, but not tower shields. 4 Skill-points per level, Skills are Craft (Int), Climb (Str), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Ride (Dex), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis) and Swim (Str). Abilities: Level 1: Spirit Blessed (Supernatural), Lesser Bond of the Spirit Guide, Binding Ties of the Spirit. Level 2: Natural Armor +1. Level 3: - Level 4: Bond of the Spirit Guide. Level 5: My Eyes are Your Eyes (Supernatural). Level 6: Murderous Intent +2, Spirit Made Flesh. Level 7: Tongues of Man (Supernatural). Level 8: Improved Grappling, Natural Armor +2. Level 9: Commune with the Spirits 1/week (Supernatural). Level 10: Gifts of the Spirit. Level 11: Spirit of Two Worlds (Supernatural) Level 12: Murderous Intent +4. Level 13: Greater Bond of the Spirit Guide. Level 14: Death Attack 1/day, Natural Armor +3. Level 15: Spirit of Power (1 Template) (Supernatural). Level 16: Death Attack 2/day. Level 17: Gifts of the Spirit, Supreme Bond of the Spirit Guide. Level 18: Murderous Intent +6. level 19: Death Attack 3/day. Level 20: Commune with the Spirits 1/day (Supernatural), Natural Armor +4. Spirit Blessed The Wild Avatar chooses or is chosen by a Spirit Guide, one of Nine different sorts of animal spirits. This grants the Wild Avatar a certain feat, and also decides which benefits from the Bonds of the Spirit Guide and Gifts of the Spirit he or she will receive. Once 5th level is reached, the Wild Avatar can call forth the Spirit Guide from the 'Spirit World', and the Spirit Guide arrives, in all ways, shapes and form identical to normal members of it's species but with the Magic Creature type and with Int and Cha scores of 12 and Wis score of 14. The Spirit Guide will follow/lead the Wild Avatar to virtually any location, depending upon the quest involved. If the Spirit Guide is 'slain', it immediately is returned, unharmed, to the 'Spirit World', but the Wild Adept takes double the Spirit Guide's damage (all the damage that the Spirit Guide took while in the Material Plane) as Non-Lethal Damage, possibly knocking him or her out cold. The Spirit Guide can be summoned again after a month has passed in which the Wild Avatar has no access to the feats and/or special abilities granted to him/her. To resummon the Spirit Guide requires a complex ritual involving meditating for one day per HD of the Spirit guide and the burning of 10 GP of Incense per HD of the Spirit Guide, all of which is consumed in the last round to form a smoky portal through which the Spirit Guide emerges into the Material Plane once again, unharmed. Binding Ties of the Spirit The choice to walk the path of the Wild Avatar is one that sticks with the Wild Avatar for life. Should the Wild Avatar leave the path to take up another class, he or she retains all class abilities and the Spirit Guide, but cannot advance his or her class again unless the Wild Avatar benefits from a Atonement spell. Lesser Bond of the Spirit Once the Wild Avatar has chosen or been chosen by a Spirit Guide, he or she recieves certain gifts bestowed upon him or her by the Spirit Guide: Eagle: (May be selected/chosen by any Wild Avatar within one step of Chaotic Good alignment.) Low Light Vision twice as far as a Human can see in shadowy light, +2 to Spot checks and the Alertness Feat. Search is always a Class Skill. Owl: (May be selected/chosen by any Wild Avatars within one step of Lawful Good alignment.) Low Light Vision twice as far as a Human can see in shadowy light, +2 on Listen checks and the Alertness Feat. Knowledge [History] is always a Class Skill. Vulture: (May be selected/chosen by any Wild Avatars within one step of Neutral Evil alignment.) Low Light Vision twice as far as a Human can see in shadowy light, and the Great Fortiude and Toughness Feats. Bluff is always a Class Skill. Boar: (May be selected/chosen by any Wild Avatars within one step of Chaotic Neutral.) Gain the ability to rage 1/day as a Barbarian of their Class Level and the Endurance Feat. Heal is always a Class Skill. Wolf: (May be selected/chosen by any Wild Avatars within one step of Neutral.) Low-Light vision twice as far as a Human can see in shadowy light, and gain the Self Sufficient Feat. Sense Motive is always a Class Skill. Stag: (May be selected/chosen by any Wild Avatars within one step of Lawful Neutral.) +2 on Survival checks and the Lightning Reflexes and Run Feats. Diplomacy is always a Class Skill. Rat: (May be selected/chosen by any Wild Avatars within one step of Chaotic Evil.) Dark Vision to 30 feet and the Stealthy and Athletic Feats. Hide is always a Class Skill. Lion: (May be selected/chosen by any Wild Avatars within one step of Neutral Good.) +2 on Intimidate checks and the Dash and Iron Will Feats. Knowledge [Geography]is always a Class Skill. Serpent: (May be selected/chosen by any Wild Avatars within one step of Lawful Evil.) Dark Vision to 30 feet and the Poison Use special ability as per the Ninja/Assassin class except only poisons harvest from snakes and poisonus plants from the Material Plane may be applied safely. Poisons and venoms from other animals or sources have the standard chance of poisoning the Serpent Wild Avatar. Knowledge [Nature] is always a Class Skill. Natural Armor The Wild Avatar slowly grows tougher skin, to the point at level 20 has skin as tough as Hide Armour. Bond of the Spirit Guide By continuing down their path of worship for the spirits of nature, the Wild Avatar is blessed with more gifts from his Spirit Guide. Eagle/Owl/Vulture Spirit Guides: Wild Avatar gains Weapon Focus for any ranged weapon they are proficient with as a bonus Feat. Boar/Wolf/Stag Spirit Guides: Wild Avatar gains Weapon Focus for any melee weapon they are proficient with as a bonus Feat. Lion/Serpent/Rat Spirit Guides: Wild Avatar gains Dodge, Combat Expertise or Power Attack as a bonus Feat. My Eyes are Your Eyes. Further powers are granted to the Wild Avatar, to the point where by sitting in a quiet place and closing his sense off to the outside world, the Wild Avatar may see through the eyes of any animal of his 'type' within a one mile radius of his location. Thus, a Lion Wild Avatar could potentially spot bandits coming if he used this ability to see through the eyes of a member of a pride of lions. The animal gains no saving throw against this ability unless Protection against Good/Evil/Law/Chaos or a similar spell has been cast upon the animal in question, and is under the control of the Wild Avatar for 1 round per 2 class levels. This ability can be used at will, but any animal can only be used thus once per day, with the exception of a corporeal Spirit Guide, wherein this ability may be used indefinitely up to the distance of one mile, at which point both Spirit Guide and ability end, and the Wild Avatar takes damage as if the Spirit Guide had been slain. Spirit Made Flesh The Wild Avatar can undergo the ritual described in Spirit Blessed[B/] to summon his Spirit Guide into the Material Plane. As noted, the Spirit Guide is a Magical Beast with Int and Cha of 12 and Wis of 14, and may speak to the Wild Avatar Mentally, but is otherwise limited to normal animal noises to other beings. [B]Murderous Intent When the Wild Avatar threatens a opponent or opponents, he or she may make a special intimidate check, opposed by either a bluff or counter-intimidate check by the opponent(s). If the check succeeds by more than 5 points, the opponent(s) are shaken for 1 round plus 1 round per point the check succeeded. If the check fails by 5 or more points, the opponent(s) gain a +1 on attack rolls for 1 round plus 1 round per point the check failed. Checks that fall between 4 points either way do not provoke any special responses or actions, the Wild Avatar simply fails to intimidate the targets. At level 6, the Wild Avatar adds a +2 to his or her Intimidate check, at level 12 adds +4 to the check and at level 18 adds +6 to the check. Tongues of Man The Spirit Guide gains the ability to speak in Common and three other languages chosen randomly by the DM. (Note that this speech is audible to everyone, not just the Wild Avatar. Having the Wild Avatar's Wolf Spirit Guide turn to him and say "Can I eat that cat?" Will most definitely freak out your average villagers in the average tavern room.) Improved Grappling The Wild Avatar gains a special form of Improved Grapple feat, in which the Wild Avatar may make a grapple attack as per the Improved Grapple feat, but any unarmed damage is treated as either lethal or non-lethal, at the Wild Avatar’s choice, and if the Wild Avatar has the Improved Unarmed Attack or similar feats, the damage is doubled for the purposes of grappling only. Spirit of Two Worlds By focusing as per the My Eyes are Your Eyes ability, the Wild Avatar gains the ability to turn his Spirit Guide Etherial or Greater Invisibility as per the spell, but only for 1 round per 2 class levels. This ability may be used in conjuction with the My Eyes are Your Eyes ability, and may be used once per day. Commune with the Spirits Functions exactly the same as Commune in the Players Handbook, except at level 9 it's 1/week and at level 20 it's 1/day. All costs must be paid as per the spell. Spirit of Power At this point, the Spirit Guide can assume Celestial, Fiendish, Axiomatic or Archomatic templates, but the choice is permanent, and the Spirit Guide can only assume a single Template that matches it's 'Alignment'. Thus a Eagle Spirit Guide could assume the Celestial or the Archomatic Templates, but not the Feindish or Axiomatic ones. Gifts of the Spirit The Wild Avatar gains the ability to cast spells from the Animal Domain, each spell once per day, under certain conditions: The Wild Avatar must be using any of the armors, shields and weapons mentioned above, and cannot be using any other armors, shields or weapons that are not mentioned above, and the Spirit Guide must be present in the Material Plane to act as a focus for the spells. The Wild Avatar must also have the correct Wisdom score to be able to cast the spells. At level 17, the Wild Avatar is able to cast the spells 3/day for as long as the Spirit Guide is present. The Spirit Guide does not need to remain on the Material Plane for the spells to continue their effects. Greater Bond of the Spirit Guide The Spirit Guide grants ever more power to it's champion. Eagle/Owl/Vulture Spirit Guides: Wild Avatar gains Weapon Specialisation for the same weapon they were granted the bonus Feat for with the Bond of the Spirit Guide ability. If they already have this Feat, they may select Greater Weapon Focus instead. Boar/Wolf/Stag Spirit Guides: Wild Avatar gains Weapon Specialisation for the same weapon they were granted the bonus Feat for the Bond of the Spirit Guide ability. If they already have this Feat, they may select Greater Weapon Focus instead. Lion/Rat/Serpent Spirit Guides: Wild Avatar may choose Mobility if they chose Dodge, Improved Trip if they chose Combat Expertise, or Cleave if they chose Power Attack. If the Wild Avatar already has that feat, they are free to select Spring Attack (If they chose Dodge), Improved Combat Expertise (If they chose Combat Expertise or Great Cleave (If they chose Power Attack). Death Attack When grappling, a Wild Avatar can choose to crush his or her opponent to death by maintaining the grapple for 3 consecutive rounds. The target of the grapple must make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + ½ the Wild Avatar’s class level + Wild Avatar’s Wisdom bonus). If the target fails the save, it’s neck (or other vital area depending upon the DM’s point of view) is snapped or crushed, and the target dies. If the target succeeds, the grapple continues as normal. Note that the Wild Avatar may not use Death Attack after Death Attack: the Target has already suffered that attack once, and will be wise to it in the same grapple. The Wild Avatar can use this special grapple 1/day at level 14, 2/day at , and 3 times per day at level 19. Supreme Bond of the Spirit Guide At this level, the Wild Avatar begins to take on certain physical traits of his Spirit Guide, be it the eyes of a Eagle or the long canines of a Wolf, or even the twitching nervousness of the Rat. Eagle/Owl/Vulture Wild Avatars gain the ability to fly as the Overland Flight spell 3/day, using half their class level as their caster level and a permanent +2 to their Dexterity. Boar/Wolf/Stag Wild Avatars gain the ability to make a special smite attack 3/day, adding their Wisdom bonus (if any) to their attack roll and adding 1 point per 2 class levels to their damage roll, and a permanent +2 to their Strength. Lion/Rat/Serpent Wild Avatars gain the services of a animal of the same type as their Spirit Guide as per the Wild Cohort Feat, and a permanent +2 to their Constitution. Alright, reworked again….ideas? Please, put a little more effort into your replies than “Overpowered” or “Nerf It.”. If I wanted one or two syllable responses, I’d go to the zoo and ask the chimps… Edit: Forgot to post the stats for the Spirit Guides (/Target Unit 'Self', /Cast Vorpal Wedgie) Errata: Spirit Guides function along the same line as Druid Animal Companions, but use 1/3rd the rate of their 'druid' level (Round down), whereas Rangers animal companions advance at 1/2 their 'druid' level. Thus a Eagle Spirit Guide would advance to a maximum of 6 'druid' levels, gaining +4 HD, +4 Natural Armour, +2 to Str and Dex and learning 3 Bonus Tricks, the ability to share spells with the Wild Avatar, the Evasion special ability and the Devotion special ability. The exception to this rule is the Lion Spirit Guide, which starts out with 1 HD and Medium Size, but gains Large size with it's 4th HD, and never gains the Rake special ability. Due to the nature of the Spirit Guide, the Lion mount will refuse to accept the role of mount.