Arcane Hierophant is a fancy way of saying "Druid Hipster"

[Snowbluff]

A hierophant is one who interprets esoteric principles. Esoteric is a fancy way of saying obscure.

http://i1295.photobucket.com/albums/b630/Snowbluff/uwy5d_zpsa2lggrwp.jpg

Druid in cat form wearing an arcane hood for extra effect.

[eggynack]

Actually, now that I think about it, "arcane" kinda means that too. Arcane hierophant is a really redundant class name.

Edit: Also, if you think more on it, arcane is clearly the wizard part, which would make hierophant the druid part. Thus, if hierophant connotes hipsterism, then arcane hierophant truly means hipster wizard, rather than hipster druid.

[DrMotives]

I'd tell you about the spells I have prepared, but you probably haven't heard of them.

[Âmesang]

Suddenly I want a bardic arcane hierophant channeling the forces of Earth, Wind, & Fire…

[Uncle Pine]

Arcane Hierophants played shogi with their superintelligent dinosaur companions before it was even cool.

[Snowbluff]

Actually, now that I think about it, "arcane" kinda means that too. Arcane hierophant is a really redundant class name.

Edit: Also, if you think more on it, arcane is clearly the wizard part, which would make hierophant the druid part. Thus, if hierophant connotes hipsterism, then arcane hierophant truly means hipster wizard, rather than hipster druid.

But it's a Druid PrC, not a wizard one. :smalltongue:

[noob]

It is still not hipster enough you need a druid/bard/Fochlucan lyrist/sublime chord/Arcane Hierophant/Hipster.

[Aleolus]

But it's a Druid PrC, not a wizard one. :smalltongue:

Its both! After all, what's good for the Wiz is good for the Druder! (Horrible pun, and I'm ashamed of myself for it

[eggynack]

But it's a Druid PrC, not a wizard one. :smalltongue:
Well, kinda, but you still prolly wanna make your argument "arcane" centered if you seek to make the druid hipster claim. Cause otherwise, you seem to be indicating that "arcane" is pointing to druid, and it is clearly not the druid part of this particular equation.

[DrMotives]

Suddenly I want a bardic arcane hierophant channeling the forces of Earth, Wind, & Fire…

That sounds like a Prestige Bard with a fire-school Shugenja base.

[icefractal]

Binder is the most hipster class though.
"Following a god? How mainstream. I channel these things called Vestiges ... they're pretty obscure, you've probably never heard of them."

[Chronos]

Back in 2nd edition, the highest-level druids were called druid hierophants. They didn't get any more spells, but got a bunch of other special abilities instead. These would, in fact, be druids who study some really obscure stuff, so the name fit.

When 3rd edition rolled around, they wanted a way to replicate this, so they created the hierophant prestige class, which a druid could use to not gain any more spells but instead get other special abilities.

This led later generations of developers to assume that "hierophant" was just a fancy word for "druid", and so we got the arcane hierophant, who's both a druid and a wizard.


The word "theurge" followed a similar path. "Theurge" just means "miracle worker" (you can see the same root "theo" in "theology" and "pantheon"). In the class name "Mystic theurge", the "mystic" refers to the arcane part, and the "theurge" refers to the divine part. But because of that class, the meaning of "theurge" drifted to just mean "mix of two different kinds of casting", and so we ended up with the Eldritch Theurge, mixing warlock and arcane spellcasting, with no divine part at all.

[P.F.]

The definition of Arcane "known or understood by very few; obscure; esoteric." But I'm sure the redundant obscurity is used intentionally, to be ironic.

[noob]

Shadowcaster is even more hipster because it is even less used than binder.