Loren_and_Kivsith
2006-08-21, 06:16 PM
Nature’s Hand
The ranger Thiadrin hid in the bushes in the thick forest, not making a sound, as he waited for his quarry to come just a little closer. At the same time, he had a funny feeling that something was watching him, as well, but he shook it off as just nerves. He had been tracking his quarry, a giant scorpion, for days. He specialized in hunting vermin, foul creatures that they were, and was proud of each one he exterminated. He aimed his bow, and shot true. Hours later, after a valiant struggle, the creature was dead, and Thiadrin made ready to leave. That’s when a comely woman stepped out of the trees and asked, “Why did you kill that creature?” Her left hand was so completely covered in bandages that not even the form of the hand was apparent, but the bandages showed no trace of blood. “Because it was a filthy vermin, a blight upon the natural order,” Thiadrin replied. The woman then tore off her bandages to reveal a wolf’s paw where her hand should have been, and spat, “You should not speak of the natural order, yourself a blight upon it.” With that, she shoved her claws into a gap in Thiadrin’s armor, and he fought for his life for the second time that day.
Originally formed as a sort of mediator between civilization and wilderness, the Nature’s Hands still keep a strong sense of balance between the two, and tend to see everything as structured, with all things having their place. That said, they are very close to the natural order they serve, and consider themselves a harmonious part of nature. They refuse to wield artificial weapons against any creature in its native habitat, in accordance with their code of honor, and many abandon the use of man-made weapons altogether. As for civilization, Nature’s Hands tend to regard it as a necessary intrusion upon the natural world. After all, civilization is simply creatures doing what they can to make life better for themselves; not that different from the natural world at all. They draw the line, however, when civilized peoples disregard the balance of nature, or cause needless destruction. When that happens, the Nature’s Hands are there to even the score. All Nature’s Hands have a selected environment, of which they are even more fiercely protective. Nature’s Hands get along wonderfully with most druids, barbarians, paladins, and rangers, although a few have been known to hold grudges against rangers for their specialization against specific enemies, a trait which can lead to them hunting those targets almost exclusively, thus disrupting the balance of nature. Obviously, since Nature’s Hands despise meaningless destruction, they hate blighters passionately. Because of their love of order and balance, Nature’s Hands are typically lawful. They also tend towards good, but evil Nature’s Hands are not unknown.
Hit die: d8
Requirements:
To qualify to become a Nature’s Hand, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.
Skills: Knowledge (Nature) 8 ranks, Survival 8 ranks
Special: Must never have killed a creature in its native habitat by any artificial means (ie, with a man-made weapon). If, at any time, a Nature’s Hand breaks this custom, she loses all benefits granted by this prestige class
Special: Able to cast level 3 divine spells
Class Skills:
The Nature’s Hand’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Knowledge (Nature) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str)
Skill Points at Each Level: 4+Int. modifier
Level BAB Fort. Ref. Will Special Spells per day/spells known
1 +0 +0 +2 +0 Hand of the Wild (1d4) +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
2 +1 +0 +3 +0 - +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
3 +1 +1 +3 +1 Native Habitat +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
4 +2 +1 +4 +1 Hand (1d6) +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
5 +2 +1 +4 +1 Owl's Sight -
6 +3 +2 +5 +2 Healing Spell/Heal the Land +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
7 +3 +2 +5 +2 Hand (1d8), Master of all Lands +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
8 +4 +2 +6 +2 Senses of the Wild +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
9 +4 +3 +6 +3 Native Habitat (2) +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
10 +5 +3 +7 +3 Hand (1d10), Divine Defender -
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Nature's Hands gain no proficiency with any weapon or armor
Animal Companion: Nature's Hand levels stack with druid or ranger levels for purposes of determining an animal companion. In addition, the Nature's Hand's effective druid level for determining her animal compainion is increased by 3 if her animal companion's environment matches her favored habitat.
Hand of the Wild (ex): The Nature’s Hand’s off hand becomes that of any creature she chooses, giving her a 1d4 natural attack (the animal chosen makes no difference, except in appearance and later in the environment selection for the Native Habitat ability, and later still in the domain options of the Divine Defender ability). The claws (or hoof, or whatever) of this new limb grow sharper as the Nature’s Hand progresses in level, increasing the damage to 1d6 at level 4, 1d8 at level 7, and 1d10 at level 10. The new hand is a permanent change, and gives the Nature’s Hand a -6 penalty on disguise checks to hide her identity as a Nature’s Hand. Also, because the hand has little in the way of manual dexterity, the Nature’s Hand cannot wield a weapon in two hands, nor can she perform certain other tasks that require both hands, at the DM’s discretion. She does not take the usual penalties for off-hand weapon attacks with her natural weapon (treat it as a weapon in her primary hand), but if she wields another weapon in her primary hand, the usual penalties for two-weapon fighting apply (treat the hand as a light weapon).
Native Habitat (ex): At level 3, a Nature’s Hand gains the environment of the creature whose hand she possesses as her preferred environment (example: Temperate forests). If her creature’s description does not specify an environment, she may choose (warm, temperate, or cold; forest, plain, hills, mountains, marsh, desert, or underground). In this preferred environment, she gains strength and resilience, granting her a +1 bonus on damage rolls and damage reduction 1/-. At level 9, both these bonuses increase to 2.
Owl's Sight (ex): At level 5, a Nature's Hand gains low-light vision
Healing Spell/Heal the Land (su): Once per day, a Nature’s Hand may sacrifice a prepared spell (or a spell slot, if she does not prepare spells) in order to heal a number of hit points equal to the spell’s level. She may use this ability on herself, or on another creature. Alternatively, a Nature’s Hand can use this ability to “heal the land,” causing it to revert back to how it was before it was affected by civilization. Roads vanish, farmland becomes forest or grassland, and drained swampland is inundated with water once more. The area affected is a number of 5-ft squares equal to the level of the spell multiplied by four, arranged in whatever shape the Nature’s Hand desires (as long as the squares are all connected). Objects and creatures not rooted to the ground are unaffected. Buildings are not directly affected, but the land under them is; depending on what the land once was, the buildings may be destroyed anyway. In any case, the bottom floor of the building disappears to make way for the land beneath, but the walls and any upper floors remain intact. The type of environment created by this ability is the DM’s decision.
Master of All Lands (ex): At 7th level, a Nature’s Hand can breathe underwater, travel at her normal speed over natural terrain that would normally slow her down, and does not need to make survival checks to resist hot or cold weather.
Senses of the Wild (ex): At 8th level, a Nature’s Hand gains darkvision out to 60 feet and the Scent special ability.
Divine Defender (su): At 10th level, a Nature’s Hand gains access to a spell domain (and its associated ability), and can spontaneously convert spell energy to cast the spells in that domain (sacrificing a spell of the same level as the one she spontaneously casts). If she already can spontaneously convert spells (as a cleric with cure and inflict spells), she retains the ability. The domains accessible via this ability are as follows (click here (http://www.crystalkeep.com/d20/rules/DnD3.5Index-Spells-ClericalDomains.pdf#search=%22dungeons%20and%20dra gons%20domain%22) for an almost complete list of domains, and here (http://realmshelps.dandello.net/cgi-bin/domainform.pl) for a list of some of the domains that the first list missed):
Domains available to all Nature's Hands:
Animal
Plant
Protection
Balance (PGF, Und)
Life (Eb)
Domains available to Nature's Hands with a cold natural habitat:
Cold (PGF, CDiv)
Domains available to Nature's Hands with a temperate natural habitat:
Storm (PGF)
Domains available to Nature's Hands with a warm natural habitat:
Fire
Domains available to Nature's Hands who have Aquatic as their natural habitat:
Water
Weather
Ocean (PGF)
Moon (PGF)
Purification (CDiv)
Domains available to Nature's Hands who have Deserts as their natural habitat:
Sun
Air
Hunger (DR312)
Time (PGF)
Endurance (BoED)
Sand (Sandstorm)
Thirst (Sandstorm)
Domains available to Nature's Hands who have Forests as their natural habitat:
Earth
Healing
Meditation (Eb)
Fey (BoED)
Illusion (PGF)
Community (BoED, Eb)
Forest (http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=homebrew;action=display;num=11579455 54)
Domains available to Nature's Hands who have Hills as their natural habitat:
Earth
Weather (CDiv)
Sky (RotW)
Celerity (CDiv)
Highland (http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=homebrew;action=display;num=11579455 54)
Domains available to Nature's Hands who have Marshes as their natural habitat:
Water
Pestilence (CDiv)
Decay (Eb)
Scalykind (PGF)
Watery Death (PGF)
Slime (PGF)
Marsh (http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=homebrew;action=display;num=11579455 54)
Domains available to Nature's Hands who have Mountains as their natural habitat:
Earth
Strength
Cavern (PGF)
Sky (RotW)
Highland (http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=homebrew;action=display;num=11579455 54)
Domains available to Nature's Hands who have Plains as their natural habitat:
Travel
Sun
Community (BoED, Eb)
Endurance (BoED)
Celerity (CDiv)
Plain (http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=homebrew;action=display;num=11579455 54)
Domains available to Nature's Hands who have Underground as their natural habitat:
Earth
Death
Cavern (PGF, FR)
Darkness (FR)
Shadow (Eb)
Madness (CDiv, Eb)
The ranger Thiadrin hid in the bushes in the thick forest, not making a sound, as he waited for his quarry to come just a little closer. At the same time, he had a funny feeling that something was watching him, as well, but he shook it off as just nerves. He had been tracking his quarry, a giant scorpion, for days. He specialized in hunting vermin, foul creatures that they were, and was proud of each one he exterminated. He aimed his bow, and shot true. Hours later, after a valiant struggle, the creature was dead, and Thiadrin made ready to leave. That’s when a comely woman stepped out of the trees and asked, “Why did you kill that creature?” Her left hand was so completely covered in bandages that not even the form of the hand was apparent, but the bandages showed no trace of blood. “Because it was a filthy vermin, a blight upon the natural order,” Thiadrin replied. The woman then tore off her bandages to reveal a wolf’s paw where her hand should have been, and spat, “You should not speak of the natural order, yourself a blight upon it.” With that, she shoved her claws into a gap in Thiadrin’s armor, and he fought for his life for the second time that day.
Originally formed as a sort of mediator between civilization and wilderness, the Nature’s Hands still keep a strong sense of balance between the two, and tend to see everything as structured, with all things having their place. That said, they are very close to the natural order they serve, and consider themselves a harmonious part of nature. They refuse to wield artificial weapons against any creature in its native habitat, in accordance with their code of honor, and many abandon the use of man-made weapons altogether. As for civilization, Nature’s Hands tend to regard it as a necessary intrusion upon the natural world. After all, civilization is simply creatures doing what they can to make life better for themselves; not that different from the natural world at all. They draw the line, however, when civilized peoples disregard the balance of nature, or cause needless destruction. When that happens, the Nature’s Hands are there to even the score. All Nature’s Hands have a selected environment, of which they are even more fiercely protective. Nature’s Hands get along wonderfully with most druids, barbarians, paladins, and rangers, although a few have been known to hold grudges against rangers for their specialization against specific enemies, a trait which can lead to them hunting those targets almost exclusively, thus disrupting the balance of nature. Obviously, since Nature’s Hands despise meaningless destruction, they hate blighters passionately. Because of their love of order and balance, Nature’s Hands are typically lawful. They also tend towards good, but evil Nature’s Hands are not unknown.
Hit die: d8
Requirements:
To qualify to become a Nature’s Hand, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.
Skills: Knowledge (Nature) 8 ranks, Survival 8 ranks
Special: Must never have killed a creature in its native habitat by any artificial means (ie, with a man-made weapon). If, at any time, a Nature’s Hand breaks this custom, she loses all benefits granted by this prestige class
Special: Able to cast level 3 divine spells
Class Skills:
The Nature’s Hand’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Knowledge (Nature) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str)
Skill Points at Each Level: 4+Int. modifier
Level BAB Fort. Ref. Will Special Spells per day/spells known
1 +0 +0 +2 +0 Hand of the Wild (1d4) +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
2 +1 +0 +3 +0 - +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
3 +1 +1 +3 +1 Native Habitat +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
4 +2 +1 +4 +1 Hand (1d6) +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
5 +2 +1 +4 +1 Owl's Sight -
6 +3 +2 +5 +2 Healing Spell/Heal the Land +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
7 +3 +2 +5 +2 Hand (1d8), Master of all Lands +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
8 +4 +2 +6 +2 Senses of the Wild +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
9 +4 +3 +6 +3 Native Habitat (2) +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
10 +5 +3 +7 +3 Hand (1d10), Divine Defender -
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Nature's Hands gain no proficiency with any weapon or armor
Animal Companion: Nature's Hand levels stack with druid or ranger levels for purposes of determining an animal companion. In addition, the Nature's Hand's effective druid level for determining her animal compainion is increased by 3 if her animal companion's environment matches her favored habitat.
Hand of the Wild (ex): The Nature’s Hand’s off hand becomes that of any creature she chooses, giving her a 1d4 natural attack (the animal chosen makes no difference, except in appearance and later in the environment selection for the Native Habitat ability, and later still in the domain options of the Divine Defender ability). The claws (or hoof, or whatever) of this new limb grow sharper as the Nature’s Hand progresses in level, increasing the damage to 1d6 at level 4, 1d8 at level 7, and 1d10 at level 10. The new hand is a permanent change, and gives the Nature’s Hand a -6 penalty on disguise checks to hide her identity as a Nature’s Hand. Also, because the hand has little in the way of manual dexterity, the Nature’s Hand cannot wield a weapon in two hands, nor can she perform certain other tasks that require both hands, at the DM’s discretion. She does not take the usual penalties for off-hand weapon attacks with her natural weapon (treat it as a weapon in her primary hand), but if she wields another weapon in her primary hand, the usual penalties for two-weapon fighting apply (treat the hand as a light weapon).
Native Habitat (ex): At level 3, a Nature’s Hand gains the environment of the creature whose hand she possesses as her preferred environment (example: Temperate forests). If her creature’s description does not specify an environment, she may choose (warm, temperate, or cold; forest, plain, hills, mountains, marsh, desert, or underground). In this preferred environment, she gains strength and resilience, granting her a +1 bonus on damage rolls and damage reduction 1/-. At level 9, both these bonuses increase to 2.
Owl's Sight (ex): At level 5, a Nature's Hand gains low-light vision
Healing Spell/Heal the Land (su): Once per day, a Nature’s Hand may sacrifice a prepared spell (or a spell slot, if she does not prepare spells) in order to heal a number of hit points equal to the spell’s level. She may use this ability on herself, or on another creature. Alternatively, a Nature’s Hand can use this ability to “heal the land,” causing it to revert back to how it was before it was affected by civilization. Roads vanish, farmland becomes forest or grassland, and drained swampland is inundated with water once more. The area affected is a number of 5-ft squares equal to the level of the spell multiplied by four, arranged in whatever shape the Nature’s Hand desires (as long as the squares are all connected). Objects and creatures not rooted to the ground are unaffected. Buildings are not directly affected, but the land under them is; depending on what the land once was, the buildings may be destroyed anyway. In any case, the bottom floor of the building disappears to make way for the land beneath, but the walls and any upper floors remain intact. The type of environment created by this ability is the DM’s decision.
Master of All Lands (ex): At 7th level, a Nature’s Hand can breathe underwater, travel at her normal speed over natural terrain that would normally slow her down, and does not need to make survival checks to resist hot or cold weather.
Senses of the Wild (ex): At 8th level, a Nature’s Hand gains darkvision out to 60 feet and the Scent special ability.
Divine Defender (su): At 10th level, a Nature’s Hand gains access to a spell domain (and its associated ability), and can spontaneously convert spell energy to cast the spells in that domain (sacrificing a spell of the same level as the one she spontaneously casts). If she already can spontaneously convert spells (as a cleric with cure and inflict spells), she retains the ability. The domains accessible via this ability are as follows (click here (http://www.crystalkeep.com/d20/rules/DnD3.5Index-Spells-ClericalDomains.pdf#search=%22dungeons%20and%20dra gons%20domain%22) for an almost complete list of domains, and here (http://realmshelps.dandello.net/cgi-bin/domainform.pl) for a list of some of the domains that the first list missed):
Domains available to all Nature's Hands:
Animal
Plant
Protection
Balance (PGF, Und)
Life (Eb)
Domains available to Nature's Hands with a cold natural habitat:
Cold (PGF, CDiv)
Domains available to Nature's Hands with a temperate natural habitat:
Storm (PGF)
Domains available to Nature's Hands with a warm natural habitat:
Fire
Domains available to Nature's Hands who have Aquatic as their natural habitat:
Water
Weather
Ocean (PGF)
Moon (PGF)
Purification (CDiv)
Domains available to Nature's Hands who have Deserts as their natural habitat:
Sun
Air
Hunger (DR312)
Time (PGF)
Endurance (BoED)
Sand (Sandstorm)
Thirst (Sandstorm)
Domains available to Nature's Hands who have Forests as their natural habitat:
Earth
Healing
Meditation (Eb)
Fey (BoED)
Illusion (PGF)
Community (BoED, Eb)
Forest (http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=homebrew;action=display;num=11579455 54)
Domains available to Nature's Hands who have Hills as their natural habitat:
Earth
Weather (CDiv)
Sky (RotW)
Celerity (CDiv)
Highland (http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=homebrew;action=display;num=11579455 54)
Domains available to Nature's Hands who have Marshes as their natural habitat:
Water
Pestilence (CDiv)
Decay (Eb)
Scalykind (PGF)
Watery Death (PGF)
Slime (PGF)
Marsh (http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=homebrew;action=display;num=11579455 54)
Domains available to Nature's Hands who have Mountains as their natural habitat:
Earth
Strength
Cavern (PGF)
Sky (RotW)
Highland (http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=homebrew;action=display;num=11579455 54)
Domains available to Nature's Hands who have Plains as their natural habitat:
Travel
Sun
Community (BoED, Eb)
Endurance (BoED)
Celerity (CDiv)
Plain (http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=homebrew;action=display;num=11579455 54)
Domains available to Nature's Hands who have Underground as their natural habitat:
Earth
Death
Cavern (PGF, FR)
Darkness (FR)
Shadow (Eb)
Madness (CDiv, Eb)