Nature themed classes that don't suck

[Heliomance]

In before "Druid".

I want to build a very nature-focused but martial character. One with all the defender of nature flavour of the druid and such, but less magic and more weapons. The Ranger is reasonably close, but 1) it sucks, and 2) the nature bond is nowhere near as strong as with the Druid. So what classes are there around that have this flavour or one that could be easily refluffed? Feel free to suggest from any sourcebook, including epic classes. I'm not looking for a full build here, mainly ideas and classes that are worth looking at.

I'm quite fond of the flavour of Fist of the Forest, but it's only 3 levels long, and it pretty much needs you to be a monk to get the most out of it, and monk doesn't fit the flavour I have in mind at all. I'm kinda thinking of a CN spirit-of-the-hunt feel, the type of guy that runs through the forest with antlers stuck to his head chasing down white harts :P

[Mushroom Ninja]

Isn't there some sort of variant Ranger that gets some kind of wildshape?

[Rei_Jin]

I'd be making a Barbarian/Berserker (Prestige Class from the Deities and Demigods book) for something like that... throw in the Track feat and you're set.

If you're after something as close to nature as a Druid though, you're pretty much out of luck. There's not a lot that can match that.

[monty]

Barbarian? Their fluff is vague enough you could fit it pretty easily.

[Saph]

Isn't there some sort of variant Ranger that gets some kind of wildshape?

Yep, Wild Shape Ranger (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#ranger). Pretty nice class, seems like it'd fit your character fairly well.

- Saph

[Fax Celestis]

Totemist (MoI) would work. A reflavored Duskblade with a new spell list might work. CCham variant ranger might work. Reflavored Dragon Shaman or Dragonfire Adept, maybe. Savage Bard (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#bardVariantSavageBard) ? Druidic Avenger (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#druidVariantDruidicAve nger) (with or without the Hunter Druid (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#druid) stuff)? Wilderness Rogue? (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#rogueVariantWilderness Rogue)

[Epinephrine]

Scout?

I really like scouts. Take some ranger for the free track feat and possibly a level 2 combat style, go Scout for a while (use the Swift Tracker), then head into Forest Reeve for some nice abilities? The Forest Reeve's Camouflage is Camouflage and Hide in Plain Sight combined, and it offers extra speed bonuses, Earth's Defender, Nature's Rejuvenation, and Whispers of the Forest.

[BrainFreeze]

I've always liked the Dagger spell shifter, you get a good combination of the spells and melee fighting.

[shadow_archmagi]

Tiger Claw specialist? I seem to recall a PrC for it that made you grow claws and turn into a feral half-human thing.

[Heliomance]

Eh, I don't understand ToB, and there's no way I'm tackling it - or MoI for that matter - in my current sleep-deprived state. Brain fuctions currently not working well enough to learn new systems.

[Sstoopidtallkid]

Wildshape Ranger/MoMF. You love nature so much you turn into and eat faces.
Barbarian/Bear Warrior. Same.
Shifter Wilderness Rogue. Again, same.

[Proven_Paradox]

My suggestion is to deal with your sleep deprived state and then try and tackle either MoI or the ToB. Totemist sounds like exactly what you're looking for, and you can easily fluff a swordsage or warblade with a focus in Tiger Claw maneuvers to be nature oriented.

[Kizara]

You could even run a frenzied beserker for alot of raw power and the whole "going wild" thing. You don't even have to re-fluff barbarian, just take the fluff from a different angle, as its already a bit wildernessly.

Certinally works as a solo hunter, as you don't want to be around non-spellcasting allies when your enemies run out and your frenzy hasn't. :)


I still have yet to play a FB for longer then a 4-session failed campaign, its on my to-do list. So_much_raw_power....

[Mushroom Ninja]

Barbarian/Bear Warrior/MoMF/Frenzied Beserker

Win.

[The Glyphstone]

Why MoMF? the Bear Warrior's transformation is limited to your number of rages, and you're stuck with Black/Brown/Dire Bear forms anyways...

[Mushroom Ninja]

Why MoMF? the Bear Warrior's transformation is limited to your number of rages, and you're stuck with Black/Brown/Dire Bear forms anyways...

Yeah, I suppose so.

[ChaosDefender24]

The Fist of the Forest is NOT a monk-only PrC. Any build that will have a stratospheric Con modifier and some other excuse for being unarmored will love you for Fist of the Forest. I'm looking at you, Primeval...
which is like Bear Warrior, only more effective, and more flavorful. Wild Shape Ranger is the best way to get into this class, so you win even more.

Swift hunters are nice, as are Beloveds of Valarian.

[Sstoopidtallkid]

Swift hunters are nice, as are Beloveds of Valarian.Isn't that the PrC from BoEF that was accidentally printed in BoED? Girls obsessed with their unicorn 'mount'? Doesn't seem to fit the OP.

Swift Hunter is awesome, though. No clue why I didn't mention Scout.

[ChaosDefender24]

...and part of unicorn love involves living in the woods and making friends with the animals there, according to the flavor text.

[Curmudgeon]

You can go Druid and Fist of the Forest. Just get Improved Unarmed Strike some other way. Bracers of Striking (Magic of Faerûn) only cost 1,310 gp and grant the feat. A more expensive option is a Fanged Ring (Dragon Magic), but that also grants Improved Natural Attack (unarmed strike). You can get another prerequisite for the PrC with an item, too: a Belt of Endurance (Arms and Equipment Guide) grants Great Fortitude. Just be sure to add Wilding Clasps to these things if you want to wild shape.

[sleepy]

...and part of unicorn love involves living in the woods and making friends with the animals there, according to the flavor text.

Can you imagine a samite-clad damsel who glows with fey magic and rides a legendary beast wriggling out of a debris hut in the morning covered in dirt? Or uprooting stalks of dogsbane to prep them for cordage material? Nah, the nature connection is about being very much of this world, Unicorn people are very much of another world.

Plus, playing a member of a girls-only club that venerates something defined by its improbably large, transparently phallic trait just sits wrong with me.

[Fax Celestis]

You can go Druid and Fist of the Forest. Just get Improved Unarmed Strike some other way. Bracers of Striking (Magic of Faerûn) only cost 1,310 gp and grant the feat. A more expensive option is a Fanged Ring (Dragon Magic), but that also grants Improved Natural Attack (unarmed strike). You can get another prerequisite for the PrC with an item, too: a Belt of Endurance (Arms and Equipment Guide) grants Great Fortitude. Just be sure to add Wilding Clasps to these things if you want to wild shape.

Or, uh, just take the feat?

[Starbuck_II]

The Fist of the Forest is NOT a monk-only PrC. Any build that will have a stratospheric Con modifier and some other excuse for being unarmored will love you for Fist of the Forest. I'm looking at you, Primeval...
which is like Bear Warrior, only more effective, and more flavorful. Wild Shape Ranger is the best way to get into this class, so you win even more.

Swift hunters are nice, as are Beloveds of Valarian.

If yout a Dwarf just takethe Racesw of the Stone Dwarf Prc that lets you use Con instead of Dex.

If you aren't a Dwarf pretend you are by taking the other Prc in Races ofthe Stone (you get to choose which race, but Dwarf works for example).

[Curmudgeon]

Or, uh, just take the feat?
I thought that went without saying, so I didn't. :smallamused:

Druids don't get bonus feats, and have a virtual requirement to take Natural Spell, so that would seriously boost the level at which most Druids could enter FotF with its 3 feat requirements. Listing ways a Druid could get into this PrC earlier seems in the spirit of answering the OP's request for nature-themed classes that don't suck (such as by being hard to enter at low levels).

[Sstoopidtallkid]

Plus, playing a member of a girls-only club that venerates something defined by its improbably large, transparently phallic trait just sits wrong with me.As I said, it was obviously supposed to be printed in BoEF and they just got confused. :smallwink:

[mangosta71]

It really depends on how much shifting ability you want to have. If you only want to turn into one specific animal, you can just make a lycanthrope. Werebear or weretiger would be appropriate. A ranger variant would be good in this case (Scent + Track = win for hunting). Or you could reflavor a monk so that you meditate in a meadow instead of in a monastery, since you won't be able to wear much in the way of armor anyway, and extra attacks with bonus damage with your claws. And then you can add Vow of Poverty...

[Sstoopidtallkid]

Or you could reflavor a monk so that you meditate in a meadow instead of in a monastery, since you won't be able to wear much in the way of armor anyway, and extra attacks with bonus damage with your claws. And then you can add Vow of Poverty...He said doesn't suck. Doesn't. :smallwink:

[NEO|Phyte]

Why MoMF? the Bear Warrior's transformation is limited to your number of rages, and you're stuck with Black/Brown/Dire Bear forms anyways...

Actually, Bear Warrior is less limited than one might think. The only limit on its use is the number of times you enter a rage or frenzy. With the proper assistance (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/rage.htm), this can prove to be whenever you damn well please. Of course, this means that if you're running off of a wand, your rage buddy has to concentrate on maintaining the effect if you want it to last any reasonable amount of time, but it can be a fun trick for a high-level caster, being able to give your buddy an extra shot of bear form during an encounter, should the first (and likely shorter) one not prove sufficient.

[mangosta71]

*shrug* I tend to build characters more in terms of role-playing than optimization. A guy that spends all his time out in the forest, away from civilization...how much loot is he going to have, really? Besides, there's some nice synergy between lycanthropes and monks, and since most of their stuff would be destroyed or rendered unusable by shifting, VoP can work, especially since monks are so dependent on having lots of high stats. That said, I would probably go with the ranger variant anyway, in which case the lycanthrope template is less useful.

[ChaosDefender24]

If yout a Dwarf just takethe Racesw of the Stone Dwarf Prc that lets you use Con instead of Dex.

If you aren't a Dwarf pretend you are by taking the other Prc in Races ofthe Stone (you get to choose which race, but Dwarf works for example).

Better yet, do both :D

[Heliomance]

Not sure how much I want in the way of actual shapechange, but thanks for all the suggestions!
Totemist looks good, haven't read ToB yet. I don't particularly want a rage character though - aside from Barbarian and Totem Rager, what other classes are worth visiting for a Totemist?

[Fax Celestis]

Not sure how much I want in the way of actual shapechange, but thanks for all the suggestions!
Totemist looks good, haven't read ToB yet. I don't particularly want a rage character though - aside from Barbarian and Totem Rager, what other classes are worth visiting for a Totemist?

More totemist. No, seriously.

[Heliomance]

And through into Epic?

[Fax Celestis]

Epic Totemist.

I'm really not kidding. Totemists are pretty much like druids and ToB classes--you don' need no steenkin' PrCs to make them awesome.

[Heliomance]

Surely you start running out of places to bind yoour soulmelds to at epic levels?

[Fax Celestis]

Well, okay. Totemist gets all but Heart and Soul binds, which you can access with epic feats. Three levels of cleric or druid and then Sapphire Hierarch will get you some expanded options. Taking levels in Incarnate or Soulborn (more likely the former) will expand your essentia pool, give you things like Expanded Chakra Capacity, etc. But really, there's nothing wrong with continuing Totemist and using the Epic progression for it in the back of the book.

[Blackfang108]

And remember, everything still functions if it isn't bound.

you'll just be missing a few extra bits.

for instance:

The soulmeld My charater refrenced earlier grants an addition to your natural armor while it is shaped.

If it is bound to the waist, you also get the "Awesome Blow" feat(MMs and SS) as 1 size larger than you are. Nifty, but not necessary, at least for my purposes.

EDIT: So once you get to the point where you can't bind everything you can shape, OR where you have a magic item better than anything you could bind to that chakra, it becomes a game of "which of these secondary effects is the most useful for me?" and/or "which bound effects are least useful to me?"