Shadoweir [Archive] - Wizards Community - Pages Merged by Solauren

Shadoweir [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
mcJoker
07-03-07, 04:26 AM Here is a question that I placed in Candlekeep for Eric L. Boyd...am looking forward to his answer. :cool: In the meantime I would like to know what the rest of you think.

In Faiths & Avatars the Shadoweir are briefly mentioned as being druid/rangers of Mielikki yet in the FR Compendium Eric mentions them as being priest/rangers (which I take for cleric/ranger mostly since they have clerical abilities...having forgotten that druids and clerics were the sub-classes of priest :embarrass: :doh: ). Since they appear to be more detailed in the Compendium (FR Compendium v. 3.0, page 43; his mention of them is from 1993), which is considered canon? Or could it be that both are possible?

My theory is that the information from the Compendium would be more likely since it is stated in Faiths & Pantheons that almost all clerics of Mielikki multiclass as rangers. Of course not all cleric/rangers or druid/rangers would/could be Shadoweir as it is an elite, secretive group.

For those who do not know the FR Compendium :shocked: :
The Forgotten Realms Compendium started out in 1992 as a collection of email messages edited from the Forgotten Realms Mailing List and the rec.games.frp.dnd newsgroups. Those messages were reformatted and compiled into a collection called the Forgotten Realms Notebooks. After a two years of various realeases and volumes of the Notebooks, the first edition of the Compendium was created. This was a compilation of all previous Notebooks into one single text. The text was released in text, Word Perfect, Microsoft Word, and PostScript file formats across various sites on the Internet. The last version of this compendium was the 3rd edition which was compiled in May 1999. It doesn't seem to be to familiar and there are a lot of arguments if information from it could be considered useable as canon, since quite a bit was written by Eric himself. For those asking: No, it does not have the FR logo on it...keep in mind that it was never put in print.

To give an idea of my dilemna in incorporating this into a 3E environment (mostly due to disagreements of ranger/druid, ranger/cleric or both) I've gone ahead and pasted the text involving the Shadoweir PrC. Some of it includes information no longer used in 3E, however I wanted to keep the text unchanged (except for minor spelling corrections and markup for better legibility).

Shadoweirs
Named for the greatest trees of the forests, the shadowtops and the weirwoods (see September 1987 Dragon), this is a highly secretive branch of the faith that originated in the northern reaches of the High Forest. Its members consist solely of half-elven multi-classed priest/rangers, and its membership has spread beyond the High Forest, throughout all of Faerūn.

The Shadoweirs serve as a sort of religious knighthood of the woods. Unlike the Arms of the Forest or even the Needles, the Shadoweirs serve as an activist and proselytizing order who are willing to go on the offensive in the behalf of their sacred forests. In a sense, the Shadoweirs serve as a sort of woodland paladin. Moreover, they seek to advance the regrowth of ancient forests reduced by civllization. Many shadoweirs are adventurers, wandering the Realms with missionary zeal. They seek to halt the endless assault of civilization on their ancient homelands.

Any character taking this specialty priest kit/class must be a half-elf of NG alignment. Advancement follows the normal rules for a multi-classed priest/ranger.

SHADOWEIR
Portfolio: Knight of the Forests (Worships Mielikki)
Requirements: Strength 13, Dexterity 13, Constitution 14, Wisdom 14, Charisma 12
Alignment: NG
Weapons Allowed: any; prefer swords, bows, spears, lances, and quarterstaff
Armor allowed: any; prefer chain mail, elven chain mail, studded leather
Major Spheres: All, Animal, Combat, Healing, Plant, Weather, Sun
Minor Spheres: Divination, Elemental, Protection
Magical Items Allowed: as priest or ranger

Granted Powers & Requirements:

Shadoweirs may not turn or command undead.
Shadoweirs gain all the abilities of rangers.
Shadoweirs must follow the ranger experience point progression in both their ranger and priest classes. Their bonus hit points due to constitution are calculated as if they are warriors (i.e a shadoweir with a 17 Constitution will get +3 hp/level).
Shadoweirs gain proficiency in both elvish and common at no cost.
All shadoweirs may cast a variant of the first level priest spell analyze magic (ToM) at will. This ability works only on forested areas (not characters, creatures, or objects). Through the use of this ability shadoweirs are able to detect if the ecology of a forested area is seriously disrupted. Shadoweirs are obligated to attempt to correct the imbalance, even if this requires them to go against the local law of the region Shadoweirs are obligated to use this ability at any time they think a region could be ecologically out of balance.
Before advancing in level as a priest and a ranger, Shadoweirs must correct an ecological imbalance of significance proportional to their level (as decided by the DM).
As with druids, shadoweirs can pass through overgrown areas (thick thorn bushes, tangled vines, briar patches, etc.) without leaving a trail and at a normal movement rate after reaching third level in both classes.
As with paladins, shadoweirs may call for a war horse upon reaching 4th level in both classes, or anytime thereafter. This faithful steed need not be a horse; it may be whatever sort of creature is appropriate to the character (as decided by the DM). Note female shadoweirs often receive a unicorn for a mount, assuming they are of acceptable status to the unicorn. A shadoweir's war horse is a very special animal, bonded by fate to the warrior. The shadoweir does not really ~call~ the animal, nor does the horse instantly appear in front of him. Rather the character must find his war horse in some memorable way, most frequently by a specific quest.
As with druids, shadoweirs are immune to charm spells cast by woodland creatures (dryads, nixies, etc.) after reaching 7th level in both classes.
As with druids, a shadoweir gains the ability to shapechamge into a reptile, bird, or mammal once per day after reaching 9th level in both classes. The size can vary from that of a bullfrog or a small bird to as large as a black bear. Upon assuming a new form, the shadoweir heals 10 to 60 percent of all damage he has suffered (round fractions down). The shadoweir can only assume the form of a normal (real womd) animal in its normal proportions, but by doing so he takes on all of that creature's characteristics its movement rate and abilities, its Armor Class, number of attacks, and damage per attack. The shadoweirs clothing and one item held in each hand become part of the new body; these reappear when the shadoweir resumes his normal shape.
The items cannot be used while the shadoweir is in animal form.

Raiment:
Shadoweirs prefer suits of gleaming chainmail or studded leather armor. Many powerful forest knights wear ancient suits of elven chain mail they have been given by elven lords for their efforts in defending the forests. During ceremonies, they wear chainmail and deep forest green cloaks weaved by dryads from the leaves of the great trees. Their symbol is of a giant shadowtop tree with a pair of crossed swords ovemaying (over?) it.

New Spells:
In addition to their normal complement of priest spells, when selecting their spells, Shadoweirs may also select from the following list: call woodland beings and commune with nature.

Now as you can tell the PrC involves being two classes and is not a class on it's own...though I guess that could be modified. So...looking forward to your ideas/concepts!:cool:
MerrikCale
07-04-07, 11:12 PM Whatever is published is canon, that is F&A. However, as you point out, while not completely compatible here, druids were priests in 2e (I never did like the 2e)
mcJoker
07-06-07, 12:29 PM That part I understand...of course with the splitting done in 3.xE, it makes it a bit difficult to decide if they should continue to be limited to druid/ranger or in fact now be cleric/ranger or both.

Of course making the Shadoweir a full PrC would be interesting...yet I like the general split-classes concept above.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
mcJoker 07-03-07, 04:26 AM	Here is a question that I placed in Candlekeep for Eric L. Boyd...am looking forward to his answer. :cool: In the meantime I would like to know what the rest of you think. In Faiths & Avatars the Shadoweir are briefly mentioned as being druid/rangers of Mielikki yet in the FR Compendium Eric mentions them as being priest/rangers (which I take for cleric/ranger mostly since they have clerical abilities...having forgotten that druids and clerics were the sub-classes of priest :embarrass: :doh: ). Since they appear to be more detailed in the Compendium (FR Compendium v. 3.0, page 43; his mention of them is from 1993), which is considered canon? Or could it be that both are possible? My theory is that the information from the Compendium would be more likely since it is stated in Faiths & Pantheons that almost all clerics of Mielikki multiclass as rangers. Of course not all cleric/rangers or druid/rangers would/could be Shadoweir as it is an elite, secretive group. For those who do not know the FR Compendium :shocked: : The Forgotten Realms Compendium started out in 1992 as a collection of email messages edited from the Forgotten Realms Mailing List and the rec.games.frp.dnd newsgroups. Those messages were reformatted and compiled into a collection called the Forgotten Realms Notebooks. After a two years of various realeases and volumes of the Notebooks, the first edition of the Compendium was created. This was a compilation of all previous Notebooks into one single text. The text was released in text, Word Perfect, Microsoft Word, and PostScript file formats across various sites on the Internet. The last version of this compendium was the 3rd edition which was compiled in May 1999. It doesn't seem to be to familiar and there are a lot of arguments if information from it could be considered useable as canon, since quite a bit was written by Eric himself. For those asking: No, it does not have the FR logo on it...keep in mind that it was never put in print. To give an idea of my dilemna in incorporating this into a 3E environment (mostly due to disagreements of ranger/druid, ranger/cleric or both) I've gone ahead and pasted the text involving the Shadoweir PrC. Some of it includes information no longer used in 3E, however I wanted to keep the text unchanged (except for minor spelling corrections and markup for better legibility). Shadoweirs Named for the greatest trees of the forests, the shadowtops and the weirwoods (see September 1987 Dragon), this is a highly secretive branch of the faith that originated in the northern reaches of the High Forest. Its members consist solely of half-elven multi-classed priest/rangers, and its membership has spread beyond the High Forest, throughout all of Faerūn. The Shadoweirs serve as a sort of religious knighthood of the woods. Unlike the Arms of the Forest or even the Needles, the Shadoweirs serve as an activist and proselytizing order who are willing to go on the offensive in the behalf of their sacred forests. In a sense, the Shadoweirs serve as a sort of woodland paladin. Moreover, they seek to advance the regrowth of ancient forests reduced by civllization. Many shadoweirs are adventurers, wandering the Realms with missionary zeal. They seek to halt the endless assault of civilization on their ancient homelands. Any character taking this specialty priest kit/class must be a half-elf of NG alignment. Advancement follows the normal rules for a multi-classed priest/ranger. SHADOWEIR Portfolio: Knight of the Forests (Worships Mielikki) Requirements: Strength 13, Dexterity 13, Constitution 14, Wisdom 14, Charisma 12 Alignment: NG Weapons Allowed: any; prefer swords, bows, spears, lances, and quarterstaff Armor allowed: any; prefer chain mail, elven chain mail, studded leather Major Spheres: All, Animal, Combat, Healing, Plant, Weather, Sun Minor Spheres: Divination, Elemental, Protection Magical Items Allowed: as priest or ranger Granted Powers & Requirements: Shadoweirs may not turn or command undead. Shadoweirs gain all the abilities of rangers. Shadoweirs must follow the ranger experience point progression in both their ranger and priest classes. Their bonus hit points due to constitution are calculated as if they are warriors (i.e a shadoweir with a 17 Constitution will get +3 hp/level). Shadoweirs gain proficiency in both elvish and common at no cost. All shadoweirs may cast a variant of the first level priest spell analyze magic (ToM) at will. This ability works only on forested areas (not characters, creatures, or objects). Through the use of this ability shadoweirs are able to detect if the ecology of a forested area is seriously disrupted. Shadoweirs are obligated to attempt to correct the imbalance, even if this requires them to go against the local law of the region Shadoweirs are obligated to use this ability at any time they think a region could be ecologically out of balance. Before advancing in level as a priest and a ranger, Shadoweirs must correct an ecological imbalance of significance proportional to their level (as decided by the DM). As with druids, shadoweirs can pass through overgrown areas (thick thorn bushes, tangled vines, briar patches, etc.) without leaving a trail and at a normal movement rate after reaching third level in both classes. As with paladins, shadoweirs may call for a war horse upon reaching 4th level in both classes, or anytime thereafter. This faithful steed need not be a horse; it may be whatever sort of creature is appropriate to the character (as decided by the DM). Note female shadoweirs often receive a unicorn for a mount, assuming they are of acceptable status to the unicorn. A shadoweir's war horse is a very special animal, bonded by fate to the warrior. The shadoweir does not really ~call~ the animal, nor does the horse instantly appear in front of him. Rather the character must find his war horse in some memorable way, most frequently by a specific quest. As with druids, shadoweirs are immune to charm spells cast by woodland creatures (dryads, nixies, etc.) after reaching 7th level in both classes. As with druids, a shadoweir gains the ability to shapechamge into a reptile, bird, or mammal once per day after reaching 9th level in both classes. The size can vary from that of a bullfrog or a small bird to as large as a black bear. Upon assuming a new form, the shadoweir heals 10 to 60 percent of all damage he has suffered (round fractions down). The shadoweir can only assume the form of a normal (real womd) animal in its normal proportions, but by doing so he takes on all of that creature's characteristics its movement rate and abilities, its Armor Class, number of attacks, and damage per attack. The shadoweirs clothing and one item held in each hand become part of the new body; these reappear when the shadoweir resumes his normal shape. The items cannot be used while the shadoweir is in animal form. Raiment: Shadoweirs prefer suits of gleaming chainmail or studded leather armor. Many powerful forest knights wear ancient suits of elven chain mail they have been given by elven lords for their efforts in defending the forests. During ceremonies, they wear chainmail and deep forest green cloaks weaved by dryads from the leaves of the great trees. Their symbol is of a giant shadowtop tree with a pair of crossed swords ovemaying (over?) it. New Spells: In addition to their normal complement of priest spells, when selecting their spells, Shadoweirs may also select from the following list: call woodland beings and commune with nature. Now as you can tell the PrC involves being two classes and is not a class on it's own...though I guess that could be modified. So...looking forward to your ideas/concepts!:cool:
MerrikCale 07-04-07, 11:12 PM	Whatever is published is canon, that is F&A. However, as you point out, while not completely compatible here, druids were priests in 2e (I never did like the 2e)
mcJoker 07-06-07, 12:29 PM	That part I understand...of course with the splitting done in 3.xE, it makes it a bit difficult to decide if they should continue to be limited to druid/ranger or in fact now be cleric/ranger or both. Of course making the Shadoweir a full PrC would be interesting...yet I like the general split-classes concept above.