Prestige Class Help

[Blackhawk748]

Im designing a prestige class, the Knight of the Wilds, and i need some help with its abilities. At levels 1, 3, and 5 of the prestige class you gain a Secret of the Wilds, which is a Manuever, Stance, or a Spell Like ability unique to the class. Now my problem is, is that im not sure what the abilities should be, i have names but not mechanics. So without further ado here are the names ive come up with so far.

Howling Fury
Screaming Cacophony
Earth Hewer
Mountain Shield
Crushing Roots

Im pretty good with names, not as good with mechanics so any help is appreciated. The class is designed around martial characters (obviously) and uses fighting styles based off of things in nature. (i got the idea for this when i was playing LOTR Third Age, Hadhod's powers and Murder of Crows gave me this idea)

[sideswipe]

a few crucial things.

what are the prerequisites for the class? need to know to know what they will have.

what does it progress? and what are the "intended" classes and abilities going in?

all of this will tell me what the character should gain.

i already have a few ideas.

[Chaosvii7]

I'm definitely getting a Barbarian feel from this prestige class; Reading that feature it feels like it'd be the best mechanical fit for something like a Barbarian, who doesn't get really anything besides it's Rage. Which isn't bad, but this could be like a divine version of the Runescarred Berserker, and with the right effort could make the class really blossom into a good T3 equalizer for the Barbarian.

If that's the case, I think making these akin to Rage Powers from Pathfinder, except that they ignore the restriction of the "can't concentrate or think" aspect of Raging; If that's the case, perhaps have them emulate things that could trigger solely through combat actions as opposed to having to pause to have the character actually consider it's options.

For example, say a Barbarian with levels in this class chose the Mountain Shield ability; While the Knight of The Wilds is enraged, his swings bring down such wild might with them that they cleave the earth around them, giving the Knight a shield of earth. As a full-round action, the Knight may make one attack at his highest base attack bonus. On a successful hit, he deals weapon damage as normal and calls up a wall of stone spires in a number of spaces equal to his melee reach with his chosen weapon, except for those occupied by enemies or allies. For a number of rounds equal to their class level, the Knight gains the benefit of partial concealment(20% miss chance) from all targeted attacks made through or within the phalanx of rocks, as the Knight is woven between the earth and his target. While this ability persists, enemies and allies can move through and beyond the rocks, but treat each square as difficult terrain for the purposes of movement, consuming twice the distance of movement speed to pass through.

Just an example; Not a playtested one, probably not balanced, and probably still horridly inefficient, but an example nonetheless. I also generalized because I don't know if it's a 5- or 10-level prestige class(I assume 5 given the precision of the number of Secrets of The Wilds you get.)

[sideswipe]

I'm definitely getting a Barbarian feel from this prestige class;

possibly, but with manoeuvres and stances I'm guessing this must have a tome of battle root somewhere.

a few things since we have no information,

taking a paladin (imho a fighting class, oh look a couple of spells....)

examples can be,
Howling Fury - you gain uses equal to cha times a day of smite (enemy of nature). this works the same way a killorens aspect of the destroyer works except that it has no hourly use limit.
Screaming Cacophony - you gain the ability to rebuke animals and magical beats as an evil cleric would rebuke undead. this is not evil. it is a manifestation of your control of nature. if you have a turn or rebuke class feature from another class you add the effective level of your previous classes turn or rebuke ability to your level in knight of the wilds to determine your rebuke level for screaming cacophony only. you may also use the turn or rebuke attempts of your other turn or rebuke class features to use your screaming cacophony.
Earth Hewer - 1/day you can use a standard action to smash at the earth and imbue it with power. this creates an earth elemental with hd equal to your's. if you have less than 8 hd the elemental is medium size, 8-15 large size, and 16+ huge size. (see monster manual)
Mountain Shield - you may spend a screaming cacophony attempt to instead speak to nature around you. nature responds to your call and all nearby rocks and stones fly to your aid and swirl around you. giving you a 50% miss chance for all attacks made against you for minutes equal to your level of knight of the wilds. when the duration ends the stones fall to the ground harmlessly
Crushing Roots - 3/day you may ask nature to aid you in battle further. when used you designate a target and that target is attacked from all sides by roots. each round the target has to make a grapple check against your ECL + knight of the wilds level + cha mod. if they fail then roots constrict them for that round and they can make no actions that require movement (freedom of movement spells and equivalent effects still allow them to move but they are still constricted). each round they are constricted they take (knight of the wilds level x cha mod) damage and start suffocating. if they ever break the constriction or the spell ends they no longer suffocate. creatures who do not have to breath are not suffocated.
the effect lasts for minutes equal to your level of knight of the wilds.

i would say at each one of the 5 levels you would gain each of these in order. if you only want 1,3 and 5 then
1. howling fury and screaming cacophony.
3. earth hewer and mountain shield.
5. crushing roots.

of course this is only for paladiny classes. i chose paladin at random.

[Blackhawk748]

Dont know what was going on in my head last night that i forgot to put the intended classes :smalltongue:

Heres the Prereqs

BaB +5
Knowledge Nature 4 Ranks
Survival 4 Ranks

As for what it progresses it acts like Legacy Champion at levels 2-5 (and yes it is only a 5 level PrC) because while my current Warblade is designing the fighting style its very open.

Also thanks for the ideas, they're very helpful.

[sideswipe]

so it would be intended for a ranger then?

[Blackhawk748]

Ranger definitely has the easiest time entering, but just about any martial character can enter, it just hurts some a lot more than others on the skills. For example my Warblade is founding this order.