[PF] Prestige Class: Keeper of the Guardians

[Calinero]

So, I am in an interesting situation in my campaign right now. As part of the setting, there are a group known as Keepers. My original description of them was "A group of mysterious druids among the halfling. They are a very secretive order marked by a sash they wear around their forehead." Since their introduction, more has been learned about them.

Keepers are very important in halfling society. Most of them are actually 'Keepers-in-training', learning the ways of nature and how best to guide their society. However, a select few Keepers are bonded to a Guardian. Guardians are ancient beings of great plot significance, and there are only about ten of them. This bond is marked by a gem in the Keeper's forehead that matches the one that naturally grows in the Guardian. The two are then bonded until one of them dies--usually the Keeper, as the Guardians are very long lived.

My problem is this. One of my players, who plays a halfling Ranger, has expressed an interest in taking levels of Keeper. I had originally intended it to be a Druid based prestige class, but that's not such a big deal--after all, Rangers also get divine spells, and most of the class features that might be used as a prerequisite. I would have no problem with most rangers taking levels in Keeper. The problem is that this Ranger is using the Trapper archetype, and therefore has no spells.

So, I am left with two tasks. One is to actually create the prestige class. On that count, I already have a good idea of what I want (d6 or d8 hit die, 3/4 BAB, good Fort/Will saves, 4 + Int skill ranks, class skills that include Survival, Handle Animal, and Knowledge (Nature)). The second task, though, is figuring out how to make this class somehow accessible to this player.

I am tempted to just say that his character doesn't fit, and leave it at that...but then it will just go unused, and it opens up interesting story potential to let him join them. The 'worst case scenario' I can think of would be requiring him to take a single level of Druid before he can multiclass...or perhaps three levels, to meet a "Can cast 2nd level divine spells" requirement. However, that might be a dealbreaker for him. Maybe the requirement, rather than magic, could be the Animal Companion / Wild Empathy abilities...

So, in short, I need advice on accessibility, as well as advice on special abilities that would be cool for the class. Also, a third issue is how to differentiate bonded Keepers from unbonded ones.

[Xerlith]

Why not let it have the same disclaimer the Pathfinder War Mind has?


If the war mind previously had manifesting in the Psychic warrior class, instead of gaining the war mind’s exclusive psionic manifestation abilities, he can choose to instead increase his Psychic warrior manifesting level. If he does so, the war mind gains additional power points per day and access to new powers as if he had also gained a level in Psychic warrior.

Essentialy make it so that if it's entered by a class with a spell progression, it progresses it, but otherwise it's got it's own, preferably Druid 1-6 spell level (maybe slightly accelerated) progression over 10 levels.

[Calinero]

That is what I was planning if the class had spells, with every level or so of the class adding one level to the character spells per day as if they had taken a level of Druid or Ranger, depending on which they started with. My problem is that the guy is a Ranger with no spells at all.

[iTookUrNick]

I think Xerlith meant a separate spell progression, so having no spells is not detrimental (expected, even). Another option could be adding spell slots rather than simply progressing as normal. It was done in a Bard PrC before.
Campaign-wise, you could conceivably have two orders, one for guardians and another for more martially oriented keepers.

Eg:
Requirement: cast divine spells, nature bond, Bab +5

Spells: can prepare spells from both the ranger and the Druid, at the same level as the original.

Spell slots: add the following spell per day. In addition, you gain extra spell slots for a high Wisdom as normal.
{table=head]Lvl|0|1|2|3|4|5|6
1|2|1|-|-|-|-|-
2|2|2|1|-|-|-|-
3|3|2|2|-|-|-|-
4|3|2|2|1|-|-|-
5|3|3|2|2|-|-|-
6|3|3|2|2|1|-|-
7|3|3|3|2|2|-|-
8|3|3|3|2|2|1|-
9|3|3|3|3|2|2|-
10|3|3|3|3|2|2|1
[/table]
Have things stack with ranger levels (WE, nature bond, whatnot).

All in all, an Inquisitor archetype would fit the bill much more easily, but then this is meant to enable a player, not to be published.

[Xerlith]

I think Xerlith meant a separate spell progression, so having no spells is not detrimental (expected, even). Another option could be adding spell slots rather than simply progressing as normal. It was done in a Bard PrC before.

Exactly. Except that if entered by a character WITH a druid/ranger spell list it behaves like any other spellcasting-progressing PRC and instead of its own casting it gives +1 existing spellcasting class level.

[Yakk]

Give it its own spell casting progression, maybe even a 20 level 1.

For each level in Keeper, you can give up 1 level of Druid or 2 levels of Ranger spellcasting progression to gain another level of Keeper spellcasting progression.

As your Ranger has no levels in Ranger spellcasting progression, this does not apply.

Now, this is overly harsh to a Druid10/Keeper 1 who has to drop down to Druid 9. Not sure how to patch that.

Alternatively, simply create a custom PrC that grants Druid spellcasting progression for non-spellcasting Keepers, or a custom PrC for Keepers that grants SLA instead of spellcasting for non-spellcasting Keepers.

[Calinero]

Would it be legitimate to drop the spellcasting prerequisite, then have levels of the Keeper class grant levels of Druid spellcasting?

For example, the first level of Keeper adds one to the character's effective Druid level for purposes of spellcasting, so that Druid 10 / Keeper 1 is a level 11 Druid for purposes of spells. However, a Ranger 10 / Keeper 1 is a level 1 Druid for purposes of spells.

If I wanted to be nicer to potential spellcasting Rangers, I could change "+1 Druid level" to "+1 divine spellcasting level".

[Xerlith]

That's exactly what I've been trying to tell you. Do it so every variant gets the ability to go into the class.
Maybe make one of the prerequisites:
"Able to cast 3rd lvl druid spells OR BAB +5"