A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words IV (PrC Contest)

[Zaydos]

SENTINEL OF THE WOODS

”I have released the hounds of war, ready yourself for their fury.”

A Sentinel of the Woods is a guardian of the wild places of the world, a protector of the woodlands against those whowoulddefilethem. A Sentinel of the Woods is not necessarily good by human definitions, some defend the forests from incursions of evil, but others see humanity as just another such evil that must be cleansed.

BECOMING A SENTINEL OF THE WOODS
A Sentinel of the Forest is empowered by a representative of nature’s power, granted a conduit to the phenomenal powers of the woodlands in exchange for protecting them.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
Skills: Hide 5 ranks, Listen 5 ranks, Move Silently 5 ranks, Spot 5 ranks, Survival 9 ranks
Feats: One of Animal Affinity, Endurance, Self-Sufficient, or Track.
Special: Must speak Sylvan.
Special: Must have been empowered by some representative of the forest, potentially simply a fey, treant, or unicorn, but possibly another more impressive spirit or entity.

Class Skills
The Sentinel of the Woods's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (Geography) (Dex), Knowledge (Nature) (Dex), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str), and Tumble (Dex).
Skills Points at Each Level: 4 + int

Hit Dice: d8

{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special

1st|

+1

|

+2

|

+0

|

+2

|Call Wild Defenders, Wild Empathy

2nd|

+2

|

+3

|

+0

|

+3

|Animal Tongue, Low-light Vision

3rd|

+3

|

+3

|

+1

|

+3

|Trackless Step, Woodland Stride

4th|

+4

|

+4

|

+1

|

+4

|Wooden Skin

5th|

+5

|

+4

|

+1

|

+4

|Plant Tongue, Resist Nature’s Lure

6th|

+6

|

+5

|

+2

|

+5

|Beast Tongue, Moderate Fortification

7th|

+7

|

+5

|

+2

|

+5

|Commune with Nature, Photosynthesis

8th|

+8

|

+6

|

+2

|

+6

| Eyes of the Woods, Immunity to Poison

9th|

+9

|

+6

|

+3

|

+6

|Tree Stride
10th|

+10

|

+7

|

+3

|

+7

|Plant Body[/table]

Weapon Proficiencies: A Sentinel of the Woods gains no new weapon or armor proficiencies.

Call Wild Defenders (Sp): A Sentinel of the Woods gains the ability to call wild defenders. This duplicates the effects of a Summon Nature’s Ally spell of a level based on your Sentinel of the Woods’s class level as shown on a table below (Summon Nature's Ally X summons 1d3 Summon Nature’s Ally IX creatures or 1d4+1 lower level ones) except that the summons remain indefinitely, can move up to 500-ft away from you per class level, and become plant type with the augmented subtype unless they are elementals. A Sentinel of the Woods can only have one instance of Call Wild Defenders active at a time, and may use the ability 3 times per day. You are capable of telepathically communicating with your wild defenders.

{table=head]Class Level|Summon Nature's Ally
1|III
2-3|IV
4-5|V
6|VI
7|VII
8|VIII
9|IX
10|X[/table]

Wild Empathy (Ex): A Sentinel of the Woods gains Wild Empathy as a druid of their level. Beginning at 4th level this ability now applies to plants as if they were animals, and beginning at 5th level it applies to Int 6 or lower magical beasts without penalty as if they were animals.

Animal Tongue (Su): A Sentinel of the Woods can speak with animals as the spell of the same name continuously. In addition once per day per class level they may duplicate the effects of a suggestion except only on animals.

Low-Light Vision (Ex): A Sentinel of the Woods gains Low-light Vision if they do not already have it.

Trackless Step (Ex): A Sentinel of the Woods leaves no trail in natural surroundings and cannot be tracked. They may choose to leave a trail if so desired.

Woodland Stride (Ex): A Sentinel of the Woods may move through any sort of undergrowth (such as natural thorns, briars, overgrown areas, and similar terrain) at their normal speed and without taking damage or suffering any other impairment. However, thorns, briars, and overgrown areas that have been magically manipulated to impede motion still affect them. If you already have this ability from another permanent (not a spell or item) source you gain a +10-ft improvement to all natural and extraordinary speeds you possess (not those granted by spells, items, or supernatural effects).

Wooden Skin (Ex): A Sentinel of the Woods’s flesh becomes hard and woody granting them limited armor against attacks. Beginning at 4th level your natural armor bonus increases by your Constitution modifier up to a maximum of your class level.

Plant Tongue (Su): Beginning at 5th level you may also speak to plants as the spell. In addition you may use the suggestion ability granted by Animal Tongue on plants despite their type based immunity to mind-affecting effects (this has no effect on mindless plants or those protected by a mind-blank effect or with another source of immunity than their type).

Resist Nature’s Lure (Ex): A Sentinel of the Woods gains a +4 bonus on saving throws against the spell-like abilities of fey (such as dryads, pixies, and sprites).

Beast Tongue (Su): Beginning at 6th level you may speak with magical beasts with an Int of 6 or lower as if they were animals, and may use the suggestion effect of the Animal Tongue ability on Int 6 or lower magical beasts as if they were animals.

Moderate Fortification (Ex): Beginning at 6th level a Sentinel of the Woods’s body has become more plant-like granting them limited resistance to critical hits and precision damage. Whenever a Sentinel of the Woods would take additional damage from a critical hit or precision damage they have a 50% chance of ignoring this bonus damage.

Commune with Nature (Sp): Beginning at 7th level a Sentinel of the Woods can use commune with nature twice per day with a caster level of their character level.

Photosynthesis (Ex): Beginning at 7th level as long as a Sentinel of the Woods gets at least 2 hours of sunlight in a day they do not need to eat that day, but still require water.

Eyes of the Woods (Su): By spending a standard action concentrating you can extend your senses to a distant plant, animal, or Int 6 or lower magical beast. This plant or creature must be within 10 miles of you per class level and you must specify species. If there is no species at the desired location you instead see out of the nearest member of that species within 1 mile, if there are none within 1 mile this ability fails. Non-animate plants must be trees, bushes, or shrubs to be used for this ability. You can see and hear from this remote location as if you were there, in addition to seeing through yourself as normal. You must spend a standard action each round to maintain this ability, but as long as you do so it is not considered another use of this ability. You may use this ability 3 times per day + your Wisdom modifier.

Immunity to Poison (Ex): Beginning at 8th level a Sentinel of the Woods gains immunity to poison.

Tree Stride (Sp): A Sentinel of the Woods gains the ability to use Tree Stride as a spell-like ability with a caster level equal to their character level three times per day, except all teleportation ranges are multiplied by 10.

Plant Body (Ex): At 10th level a Sentinel of the Woods gains the Plant type and Augmented subtype for their former type, and they gain all the traits that go with the plant type.

PLAYING A SENTINELS OF THE WOODS
A Sentinel of the Woods defends the forest, their bodies slowly becoming more and more a thing of the forest. A Sentinel of the Woods is dedicated to the woods and their protection, moving through them with preternatural ease and summoning forth manifestations of such defense sending them forth as scouts, assassins, and soldiers. A Sentinel of the Woods uses normal animal allies, or minions, as tools to spy on and disrupt enemies, and is able to turn any bush, tree, or bird into a spy and any tree into a door.
Combat: At low levels a Sentinel of the Woods fights much like whatever class they were previously. Their wild defenders provide a noticeable increase in combat ability, granting a relatively powerful melee pet that they can rely upon in battle. Coupled with their increased maneuverability due to woodland stride they can make good archers with their summons keeping enemies at bay and their wooden skin helps protect them should they be forced into melee.
Advancement: Fist of the Forest is a natural next step for a Sentinel of the Woods as is levels in other woodland classes such as Deepwood Sniper.
Resources: Many Sentinls of the Woods have various allies in the woodland fey and magical beasts, as well as elves and other forest dwelling humanoids. Many also keep and train a variety of animals useful as spies and scouts even if not capable of providing a combat threat.

SENTINELS OF THE WOODS IN THE WORLD
"Go to where the great oak grows there you will find the guardian of the forest. Fear not the wooden bears for they are but his servants."

Sentinels of the Woods are perceived in ways similar to a militant druid. They are warriors of nature, ready to protect it and armed with the means to do so. They are friend to the fey and magical beasts, and foes to those corruptions that seek to take root in the forests of the world, although what constitutes a corruption varies from Sentinel to Sentinel.
Daily Life: A Sentinel of the Woods usually lives a solitary life, community dwellers look at those who have an allegiance to the wild stronger than their allegiance to humanity with suspicion. As a Sentinel grows in power they become more and more divorced from their kind, their lives becoming more alienated from humanity as they do so. Living in the wild a Sentinel will often have a simple life, or find themselves dwelling among the fey.
Notables: Andrea Callomwir is a powerful Sentinel of the Forest. Appointed to her position by a dying dryad whose tree had been cut down, Andrea was charged by the dryad to obtain vengeance for her. Andrea found the powers of the forest pleasing, and extracting it revenge exhilarating. Andrea became a blood knight, carving terror into people across the surrounding countryside. She rose to prominence and made pacts with the unseelie court, becoming their agent in the region. Andrea now rules as the Queen of the Shadow Woods served by members of the unseelie court and the elves that still dwell in the region.

Zyk Sankros is another noted Sentinel of the Forest. A hobgoblin, Zyk was a soldier in an attack against a herd of unicorns to gather their horns. The attack failed and Zyk was heavily wounded. He awoke when one of the unicorns healed his wounds. Zyk returned to his clan, and became a voice against further such missions, but they planned another such mission regardless. Zyk left the night before warning the unicorns of the attack, and the herd's leader bestowed upon Zyk his position as a Sentinel. Zyk fought against his brethren driving them back while doing his best to slay as few as possible and stayed in the forest as its protector. Since then Zyk has dedicated himself to the protection and sanctity of all life.

Organizations: The Knights of the Green Wood are an organization of Sentinels of the Woods which are aligned with the Seelie Court of the fey. The Knights of the Green Wood provide a network of communication throughout the border forests of a large elven kingdom. The Knights of the Green Wood were originally founded in response to a powerful necromancer's attempt to lead an army of the undead through the kingdom and even to this day they focus on opposition to the undead and practitioners of the necromantic arts.

In addition to such specialized organizations Sentinels often find themselves joining various druidic sects and orders. Nature gods sometimes include Sentinels in their holy knighthoods, and the fey courts often maintain some organizations of Sentinels.

NPC Reaction
Most humans react to a sentinel suspiciously, as a being with loyalties that do not apply to humanity. Elves and gnomes, especially forest gnomes, react favorably towards sentinels. As a child of the wild, Sentinels are used to ambivalence from city dwellers. When dealing with creatures of the wild Sentinels often find their interactions easier, and many sentinels find themselves allied with druidic groups.

SENTINELS OF THE WOODS IN THE GAME
Sentinels of the Woods do not add any wholly new mechanics. They are likely to demonstrate AC slightly higher than the norm, a difference of about 4 or 5 points which is noticeable but not enough to completely skew numbers. Their plant immunities (mind-affecting effects and criticals) are significant advantages at 16th level when they are gained but not unheard of advantages. Their summoning ability is approximately on par with an animal companion until 15th level where it creeps somewhat stronger.
Adaptation: A Sentinel of the Woods could be changed to a planar knight. Change Summon Nature's Ally to Summon Monster, reflavor Wooden Skin to something elemental, replace animal tongues with a true tongues ability and grant suggestion effects with elementals and outsiders instead of plants and magical beasts, low-light vision becomes darkvision, resist nature's lure is changed to a planar tolerance ability, plant type is traded for elemental (and subtype of choice with swim or fly speed if relevant, fire immunity, or tremorsense if earth), commune with nature becomes contact other plane, tree stride becomes plane shift, and Wild Empathy disappears.
Encounters: This is a place to describe what sort of encounters PC's will have with NPC versions of your class.