Som of you may recognize some of the features from the boxed set and that was my goal- to make something that hinted at the old core class abilities.
Let me know what you think. I have include one new feat at the bottom of the PrC specifically for this class, with more to come in the near future.
Keeper of the Guarded Land
“Long has the Land suffered! We, its guardians, were killed, hunted, or forced to break our bond of guardianship. But like the forest that is destroyed in an wildfire, we have returned, stronger, and we will not betray our trust again.”
-Derik Split-tree, Master Keeper
Ages ago, the land was green and lush, giving its bounty to all freely. Then came Rajaat and his Champions, with their twisted magic that ripped the life from the land, leaving behind barren, sterile, lifeless ash. The land was almost helpless against the destruction and its peaceful caretakers, the druids, were hunted like rabid animals and slaughtered by the War-Bringer’s hoards.
After millennia of abuse and uncaring warfare, the once green hills and deep oceans are gone, replaced with silt and lifeless ash. Dying, the once mighty and peaceful Spirits of the Land have been reduced to shadows of their former selves as they cling to the few areas of life left within the earth. In an attempt to regain the proper balance of nature, the remaining Spirits have called out to some, finding those who care for the land and weep at its destruction.
These special few are shown special places where the Spirit’s power resides like water deep under the earth, and after offering up oaths, blood, and life to defend the land against those who would rob it of its energy for power, the Spirit of the Land imparts a portion of its being to the oath-taker, forging them into a Keeper of the Guarded Land, a tool for protection, rebirth, and retribution against those who would defile the land.
In most cases, only druids follow the path of a keeper of the guarded lands, thought there have been cases where a ranger has taken a small step down the druidic path to meet the requirements. Keepers as they are sometimes called, remain relatively neutral toward most visitors to his guarded lands, observing them and their behavior for a time before deciding whether to reveal his presence or drive them off. As they lead semi-hermitic lifestyles, a keeper of the guarded land will sometimes approach those he has watched within his guarded lands to find out the current goings on outside of his lands. All Keepers react with distrust toward any arcane spellcaster and will seek to kill or drive off any defiler who enters their lands. Keepers are sometime encountered outside of their lands, though rarely due to their increasing need to remain within the boundaries of their guarded lands as they grow in power.
Hit Dice: d8
Requirements:
To qualify to become one of the keeper of the guarded land, a character must fulfill the following criteria.
Feats: Great Fortitude
Skills: Knowledge (nature) 10
Spells: Able to cast 4th level divine spells.
Special: Must have the wild empathy and wild shape class features.
Class Skills:The keeper of the guarded land’s class skills (and key ability for each skill) are Animal Handling (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Knowledge (geography) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Search (Int), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis). Skill points at each level: 3+ Int modifier.
My druid player will certainly like this!
Bravo!
Other than some minor typos very nice
Really? Damn spellchecker failed me again! I cannot find them so if you could point them out to me that would be swell.
Well then so far so good then- I was initially worried about power balance issues, as they do gain some pretty powerful abilities, but I think that over all they are balanced against the lost of some spell progression and the fact that the most powerful they become the less time they can be gone from their lands and some of their abilities are kind of weaker when they are away. I also think that this makes a nice prelude to the SotL AB and for those characters who decide not to advance with psionics.
Really? Damn spellchecker failed me again! I cannot find them so if you could point them out to me that would be swell.
His bond comes with a price though. A Keeper needs to be within their guarded lands, and as they grow in power and their relationship with the Spirit of the Land gets stronger, the amount of time keeper of the guarded lands can be absent from their lands decreases. At 1st level, a Keeper may be absent from his guarded lands for up to tem weeks, before suffering the effects of being away.
;)
Dunsel- thanks for the praise.
It was kind of strange how I got the itch to do this PrC- I was on-line talking with Pennarin and was bouncing around some suggested fixes my Multicasting feat (which I will post a revised version of today) and when it was fixed I had said that this would be great for a Thri-kreen driud, followed by me also saying that aside from kreen gladiators, kreen driuds are the coolest- which got me thinking about druids and their cool flavor from 2e- hence the Keeper of the Guarded Land was born.
So I hope that you will get some good use out of this PrC- because IMo it not only provides for some cool roll-playing but also role-playing too.Let me know how it works out for you.
Ages ago, the land was green and lush, giving its bounty to all freely. Then there (unecessary word) came Rajaat and his Champions, with their twisted magic that ripped the life from the land, leaving behind barren, sterile, lifeless ash. The land was almost helpless against this (the) destruction and its peaceful caretakers, the druids, were hunted like rabid animals and slaughtered by the War-Bringer’s hoards. (insert paragraph break here)After millennia of abuse and uncaring warfare, the once green hills and deep oceans are gone, replaced with silt and lifeless ash. Dying, the once mighty and peaceful Spirits of the Land have been reduced to shadows of their former selves as they cling to the few areas of life left within the earth. In an attempt to regain the proper balance of nature, the remaining Spirits have called out to some, finding those who care for the land and weep at its destruction.
These special few are shown special places where the Spirit’s power resides like water deep under the earth, and after offering up oaths, blood, and life to defend the land against those who would rob it of its energy for power, the Spirit of the Land imparts a portion of its being with (within?) the oath-taker, forging them into a Keeper of the Guarded Land, a tool of (for) protection, rebirth, and retribution against those who would defile the land.
In most cases, only druids follow the path of a keeper of the guarded lands(,) as the, thought (though) there have been cases where a ranger has taken a small step down the druidic path to meet the requirements. Keepers as they are sometimes called, remain relatively neutral toward most classes, though they are most friendly with rangers. (I think you could write this line better) As they lead semi-hermitic lifestyles, a keeper of the guarded land will sometimes approach those he has watched within his guarded lands to find out the current goings (goings on) outside of his lands. All Keepers react with distrust toward any arcane spellcaster and will seek to kill or drive off any defiler whom (not 100% on this one, but I think this should be who rather than whom) enters their lands. Keepers are sometime encountered outside of their lands, though rarely due to their increasing need to remain within the boundaries of their guarded lands as they grow in power. (Keepers are rarely encounter outside of their guarded lands, as they feel an increasing need to remain within them as they grow in power.)
Spells Known: [Insert: At each level indicated,] A keeper of the guarded land gains a the (remove) spells per day as if he had gained a level in what ever (one word) divine spellcasting class that (unecessary word) he belonged to before he gained the prestige class. If he has more than one divine spellcasting class then he must choose only one to which (which one) to apply the increase [Insert: to]. He does not gain any other benefit that a character of that class would normally gained (gain), such as bonus feats or metamagic feats.
Guarded Land (Ex): A Keeper selects an area of land to protect, which is called a (this is considered his) guaded (guarded) land. It is here that the Keeper will forge his union with the Spirit that resides within this area, (of the Land.) While within his guarded land, a Keeper is infused with energy from his patron spirit, offering their (its) knowledge, heightening their perceptions, and sheltering them from unwanted eyes. At 1st level, a keeper of the guarded lands gains a +1 [Insert: sacred?] bonus to all skill checks made while within the area of their guarded lands. They also gain an additional +3 circumstance bonus to all Spot, Listen, Hide, and Move Silently checks, while in (within) their guarded lands, as the very earth cushions their foot falls, brush thickens where they stand, and the air carries the slightest sound to their ears, making their total bonus for those checks a +4. (I would use parenthesis here rather than a comma.)
Bonded Spirit (Ex): A keeper of the guarded land makes a soul deep pact with the Spirit that inhabits the land they have selected to guard over, extraordinarily (supernaturally) linking then (them) to the very land they have sworn to protect. These pacts are not just words, they are graven upon the every (remove) soul of the keeper and upon (remove) the spirit [Insert: of the land], providing each with power and protection. This bond provides a keeper of the guarded lands with +2 hit points per level within this class (+20 at 10th) [Insert: , ] and a +1 to all saves [Insert: at] every odd level gained (+5 at 9th).
His bond comes with a price though (however). A (The) Keeper needs to be within their guarded lands [Insert: most of the time], and as they grow in power and their relationship with the Spirit of the Land gets stronger, the amount of time [Insert: the] keeper of the guarded lands can be absent from their lands decreases. At 1st level, a Keeper may be absent from his guarded lands for up to ten weeks, before suffering the effects of being away. Every level gained within this class reduces the time they can be away by one week. So at 10th level, a Keeper may not be absent from his guarded lands for more then a week or suffer (before suffering) the adverse effects of being away. (Insert paragraph break here) If a Keeper exceeds the length of time they can be away, their bond with the Spirit of the Land begins to draw off some of (from) their life-force to remind them of their oaths and obligations to the land. This means that for every [Insert: additional] day in excess that (remove) they are absent, the keeper of the guarded land takes one point of temporary Constitution drain which resists all attempt to restore (at restoration) via rest or curative magic. Upon their return to their guarded lands the Constitution damage can be restored through rest of (or) magic.
The (This) bond can be broken by an atonement or break enchantment (Italicize spell names) spell if cast by a spellcaster of a higher level then the Keepers (keeper's) caster level. Doing so breaks the bond and the now ex-keeper of the guarded lands loses all extraordinary class features provide by this class. If the keeper had temporary Constitution damage dealt to him at the time the bond is broken, he must make a Fortitude save DC 25 for each point of temporary damage. Failure results in the loss becoming permanent, though they could be restored with a greater restoration, wish, heal, miracle, (again Italicize spell names) or similar spell(s) or effect(s).
Long Step (Ex): While within their guarded lands, a Keeper is able to merge briefly able to merge (remove) with the Spirit of the Land and move himself almost instantaneously anywhere within his land. Beginning at 2nd level, a keeper of the guarded land can transport himself and up to 50 lbs. per level of gear or other creatures to any place within a total range of 400 [Insert: feet] per day. The range they are able to travel increases to 800 feet at 4th, 1600 feet at 6th, 3200 feet at 8th, and at 10th level they are able to move to any location within their guarded lands at will. Unlike dimension door, teleport (Again italicize spell names) and other travel effect, this ability is not hindered by dimensional anchor or force spells as long as the Keeper has contact with the earth of his guarded lands.
Restoration (Ex): Rather then see their land(s) destroyed by greedy spellcasters, a keeper of the guarded land is will(ing) to sacrifice their life to help insure that the coming generation(s) will witness the glory of the undefiled earth. At 3rd level, while away from his guarded lands, a keeper within a defilers radius may choose to sacrifice 1 hit point per 5 foot radius of land that would normally be defiled as fuel for the spell rather then let the land be destroyed. A keeper within his guarded lands, regardless of where in his lands he is at, is automatically drained by defiler spells, due to the strength of the(ir) bond. As an additional side effect, the Keeper knows the exact location that the defiling spell was cast from, enabling him to find a defiling opponent whenever they cast a spell within the (his) guarded lands.
I've got to go to work, so I'll get to the rest later.
Defiler Bane (Ex): The fury of the Spirit resides within the Keeper, ready to aid him in destroying those who defile the land for power. At 5th level, the Keepers natural weapons and weapon(s) wielded by them gain the bane enchantment (you have an extra space here) against defilers. This power infuses the weapons held by the keeper of the guarded land, but dissipates when the weapon is released.
Command the Beast (Ex): As the Keeper comes closer to the Spirit of the Land, animals recognize this and often aid them in protecting the land. At this level, the keeper of the guarded land gains the ability to command any creature with the animal-type, similar to a cleric(')s ability to command undead. While out(side) of (unecessary word) their guarded lands, a Keeper can command animals as if he was like (unecessary word) a cleric of half his caster level. This power is heightened when the Keeper is within his guarded lands, allowing him to command animals as if he were a cleric equal to his caster level. The animals effected by this command are able to understand directions given to them by the keeper of the guarded lands, but are still limited to their physical ability to perform tasks. The keeper of the guarded lands may command animals up to 4 (+cha modifier) times per day(.) +1 per Charisma modifier they possess. (remove)
Body of the Land (Ex): In a ritual held within the heart of the Keeper’s guarded land, the keeper is fully embraced by the Spirit of the Land, who permanently merges part of its being with the mortal coral (Hunh?) of the keeper. When the Keeper emerges from the ritual, the signs of his devotion to the land are evident upon his flesh, as the Keeper's body has taken on some physical characteristics of his guarded lands. For example, a Keeper may emerge with a stony textured skin like an out cropping of rock and their eyes a deep watery blue like water from a pool that collects at the base of a tree, and their voice reminiscent of the wind whispering through the cave nearby.
The keeper of the guarded land's type becomes Elemental (native) and he gains all of traits of the elemental type. In addition, the Keeper gains two slam attacks with damage based upon their size, a natural armor bonus of +4, and increases to his ability scores as follows: +4 on Strength, Constitution, and Wisdom and a +2 on Dexterity, Intelligence, and Charisma
Feat-
Extended Absence
Requirements: Must have the bonded spirit class feature.
Benefit: This feat allows a person with the bonded spirit class feature to extent the length of time that they are gone from their guarded lands by one day per point of Constitution modifier they possess.
Normal: Depending upon their level, a character with the bonded spirit class feature my (may) only be absent from their guarded lands for at most (remove) one to ten weeks at a time before they begin to incur temport Constitution damage .
However, I did realize that the PrC could be abused as a sort of make sift tree of life. All you have to do is imprison the Druid and keep him alive on his guarded lands. Then you can defile and use his life essense to fuel your spells. Since all characters heal a number of hit points equal to their class level for every day or rest, you could burn that many hit points every day through defiling. If you tended to him and made healing checks you could burn twice as many per day. And that's without the ability to cast healing spells on him. Of course I don't think anyones PCs are that evil, or would really want to abuse that feature, but I thought it was interesting to note.
Guarded Land (Ex): A Keeper selects an area of land to protect: a guarded land. It is here that the Keeper will forge his union with the Spirit of the Land. While within his guarded land, a Keeper is infused with energy from his patron spirit, offering its knowledge, heightening their perceptions, and sheltering them from unwanted eyes. At 1st level, a keeper of the guarded lands gains a +1 bonus to all skill checks made while within the area of their guarded lands. They also gain an additional +3 circumstance bonus to all Spot, Listen, Hide, and Move Silently checks, while within their guarded lands, as the very earth cushions their foot falls, brush thickens where they stand, and the air carries the slightest sound to their ears; making their total bonus for those checks a +4.
What defines a guarded land? There were guidelines in 2e, but maybe you should mention them here or provide new ones. A minimum and maximum number of square miles or a min and max radius would be helpful. This way you don't get people asking to have the Tyr region as their guarded lands or stuck having a 100 sq ft mud pit.
However, I did realize that the PrC could be abused as a sort of make sift tree of life. All you have to do is imprison the Druid and keep him alive on his guarded lands. Then you can defile and use his life essense to fuel your spells. Since all characters heal a number of hit points equal to their class level for every day or rest, you could burn that many hit points every day through defiling. If you tended to him and made healing checks you could burn twice as many per day. And that's without the ability to cast healing spells on him. Of course I don't think anyones PCs are that evil, or would really want to abuse that feature, but I thought it was interesting to note.
I assume that if it was that hopeless a situation, the druid would kill himself/transfer his life energy to athas itself or beter yet drain the tree of all it's energy in a ritual sacrifice and let all of the energy to sip into the land, so that the tree can perhaps be reborn elsewhere.
I humbly suggest trying to modify (at length or in small, specific ways) the class so it can interact with the official Grove Master PrC, which btw has the same ability as yours (Guarded Lands). On another level, you might do the same with my attempt at a druid PrC, the Spirit Incarnate, which also shares one of the Grove Master and Keeper's ability (Sacrifice).
I have to say your fluff paragraphs are the best yet Kal. :D I had strong issues about your former classes' paragraphs, but these are very strong, no need to modify their content. Kudos.
One thing though: The lenght of the abilities is maybe 1/3 too long, you might try and streamline it. One good way of doing that is getting rid of fluff phrases in abilities. A simple introductory fluff phrase, followed by mechanics, ensures its short and sweet.
The fluff is great and really captures the feel of the class.
ut I do have some issue with the class. As Pennarin already pointed out, the keeper has many abilities that are already covered in part by the grove master PrC. The keeper's abilities are more powerful in my opinions, while the requirements are only marginally higher. I think that perhaps the spellcasting progression should be lessened, even with the restriction imposed by staying in the guarded lands.
FYI, here's the 1st sentence from the grove master's guarded lands ability, as an exemple for the area that can be covered by the ability:
Guarded Lands (Su): Grove masters choose a contiguous area of up to 20 square miles to become their guarded lands.
I would like to start out by saying that I had totally forgot about the Grove Master PrC (and I may not even have looked at it besides the first time I went through the Appendix I when it first came out), so the simularity between the two PrCs is totally by accident.
Kal, i'm doubfounded as to how this PrC interacts with the official Grove Master. That class pretty much covers what you are accomplishing with this one.
:embarrass Ya well- see above- totally by mistake.
I humbly suggest trying to modify (at length or in small, specific ways) the class so it can interact with the official Grove Master PrC, which btw has the same ability as yours (Guarded Lands). On another level, you might do the same with my attempt at a druid PrC, the Spirit Incarnate, which also shares one of the Grove Master and Keeper's ability (Sacrifice).
Well as for this, I will say do all fighters wield a sword in the same manner- No! Fighting styles are developed almost on an individual basis, so I do not see why two sect of druids could not evolve to defend the remaining lands of Athas in different manners.
Having read through the Grove Master PrC I can recall why I did not look at this one again- no offence is intended BTW, this is only my own opinion- but the Grove Master really only provided a druid with spell-like abilities and the ability to smite intruders for the most part. I am not really a fan of adding spell-like abilities to spellcasting classes so I chose to go with some features that would capture what I felt was the best flavor from the 2e era and throw in a little bit from my "Do Not Open Box" of ideas
I would love to see what you have for this Spirit Incarnate PrC you are working on BTW.
I have to say your fluff paragraphs are the best yet Kal. I had strong issues about your former classes' paragraphs, but these are very strong, no need to modify their content. Kudos.
I was inspired on this one (and almost half asleep) and I am very happy that this material has passed pretty much untouched from the first draft- baring my many spelling flubs (hey I WAS half asleep!).
One thing though: The length of the abilities is maybe 1/3 too long, you might try and streamline it. One good way of doing that is getting rid of fluff phrases in abilities. A simple introductory fluff phrase, followed by mechanics, ensures its short and sweet.
Well- you more then most know that I love to write more fluff in the things that I put together (remember the first items I made and we passed back and forth). I do this when I DM too- describing the hits, misses, and flow of battle to the players when the dice are rolled- I cannot help it, it is my poetic soul. And I am not really a big fan of dry, bare-bones descriptions. If it was something that Athas.org wanted to add to Appendix II then I could see that they would want to trim a bit to save some space, but IMO it is better with the added bits because it fires up the imagination.
Hey Pennarin- Cycles, man. Cycles.
How did you hair-cut/coffee shop-lady encounter go?
Great work Kal!
The fluff is great and really captures the feel of the class.
ut I do have some issue with the class. As Pennarin already pointed out, the keeper has many abilities that are already covered in part by the grove master PrC. The keeper's abilities are more powerful in my opinions, while the requirements are only marginally higher. I think that perhaps the spellcasting progression should be lessened, even with the restriction imposed by staying in the guarded lands.
FYI, here's the 1st sentence from the grove master's guarded lands ability, as an example for the area that can be covered by the ability:
Guarded Lands (Su): Grove masters choose a contiguous area of up to 20 square miles to become their guarded lands.
Thanks to you too Meth-
To address the power issue, well I do admit that some of the abilities are powerful, but I also think that they are balanced against the restrictions that the class suffers too and they do loose three caster levels whereas the GM gets all 10- I would be willing to go to a total of +6 CL instead of the +7 CL the class has now, but any more and I think that it would cripple the class much the same way that the Metamind PrC does for the psions.
As for the guarded lands area, when I began writing this area I was going to go with something like a minimum of a 1 mile radius but no greater then 50 miles +1 per character level, but really could not decide if that was a good enough description- i am open to anything but believe it should still be a subject that the DM and the player work out between them too.
However, I did realize that the PrC could be abused as a sort of make sift tree of life. All you have to do is imprison the Druid and keep him alive on his guarded lands. Then you can defile and use his life essence to fuel your spells. Since all characters heal a number of hit points equal to their class level for every day or rest, you could burn that many hit points every day through defiling. If you tended to him and made healing checks you could burn twice as many per day. And that's without the ability to cast healing spells on him. Of course I don't think anyones PCs are that evil, or would really want to abuse that feature, but I thought it was interesting to note.
Aahh yes- enter adventure hook.
A dragon could do the same thing, and a psion with a psionocus could too (at least for PSPs).
Oh ya- thanks for all of your spelling corrections- I totally missed them and spellcheck failed. I did have a response I typed last night, but when I went to submit it, I was told the board was down of maintenance.
As for the Restoration ability- I actually forgot a part of it when i wrote it out. The KotGL also has the ability to restore already defiled land but burning his Con- this process is more costly to his due to the land already being defiled, whereas when he is within the defiles radius his ability acts as a buffer that redirects the defilers drawing of life-force into is own body before it effects the plant life. I will get to adding those changes this weekend (but not now as Guild Wars is having a demo weekend for the upcoming expansion and I want to get on and make an Assassin character :D ).
Overall I believed this is one of the best PrCs I have made to date and am happy to have received such a high level of appreciation.
Overall I believed this is one of the best PrCs I have made to date and am happy to have received such a high level of appreciation.
Well, :D I have to agree with you on this and your other points.
Sorry, I'm done worshipping now. But, seriously I like the description in the abilities. It makes them easier to visualize and understand. As far as the restoration ability goes, I hope your planning on making it a very costly and time consuming process. I never liked the idea of *Bing!* defiling removed (except perhaps in the case of an avangion casting an epic spell.)
Actually- I would almost let a KotGL use this ability to revitilize any land- changing a 5' radius of land from one type of lands catagory to the next highest
Oooo- this leads me to some additional feats for this PrC-
Improved Restorationist
Prerequisit- Must have the restoration class feature.
Benefit- By burnig a point of Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution, and spending a day caring for the land you are able to restore a 10' radius of land.
Normal- One point of Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution per 5' radius, and they must spend a day within the area careing for the soil by watering and planting things within the area for each 5' radius section of land is the normal cost and area effected by using this ability.
Greater Restorationist
Prerequisits- Improved Restorationist and Body of the Land class feature.
Benefit- Calling out the the land, you are able to merge with the local spirit of the land, sinking into the every earth. While in this state, you are able to restore a 15' radius of land for every day you spend like this and by burning one point of Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution per day.
These are only rough drafts of the feats- but what do you all think of the concept?
The feats seem fine too, and yeah I don't think this ability would have to be restricted to his guarded lands. Also, I don't think this ability should be capable of restoring a section of obsidian plain, ....but maybe that's obvious and not necessary to note anyway.