I'm looking for some input for alternative class feature for a druid in a Expedition to Castle Ravenloft campaign. In it, it introduces a guild of undead hunters that have alternative class features to aid them against the dead.This is what I've come up with:
Touch of Vitality
The dead seek the life energies of the living. The druid understands the relationship that the living have with nature and the connection they share. Through your studies you have unlocked the means to channel nature to undo the harm caused by the undead.
Level: 1st.
Replaces: You do not gain the ability to spontaneously convert prepared spells into summon nature's ally spells.
Benefit: You can transform the stored energy of a spell you have prepared to rejuvenate the living.
As a standard action you can sacrifice a prepared spell to touch an ally (or yourself) to heal ability damage or remove negative levels. The amount healed is equal to the spell's level for ability damage or one half the spell's level to remove negative levels. You can only use this ability to heal ability damage or remove negative levels caused by undead creatures.
Even if level loss was toned down drastically in 3E, it's still supposed to be one of the scariest attack-forms in the D&D game. Letting a PC negate its effects so freely, any time she wants, is a really bad idea IMO, especially if the druid in question has a sky-high Wisdom and hence, plenty of spells to burn.
I understand your concern but don't feel this ability steps on the cleric's niche. The druid's alternate ability of spontaneous rejuvenation from PHBII grants fast healing and isn't viewed as encroaching on the cleric's role.
A better comparison might be if a cleric with the Animal domain were permitted to give up spontaneous healing, and in return, gain the ability to assume Wild Shape for one round per level of spell they "burned". It's granting the cleric one of a druid's signature powers ... and letting them employ it earlier than the druid can, as many times as they have spells to burn instead of a fixed number of times per day.
What level does a cleric have to be, before he can start casting restoration-spells to remove negative levels? Why should the druid get to do such a thing as soon as she gains her first 2nd level spell, and be better at it than the class that's designed to be the best against the undead? Especially if allowing this will degrade one of the D&D game's most infamous attacks into: "Ho hum, guess I gotta put up with a few -1 penalties until the druid can spare a 2nd level spell...."
Granted, it's just my opinion, and maybe your PCs and/or players are so inexperienced that you feel you need to nerf level-draining to run EtCR at all. But even if that's the case, it's not the best precedent to set, if you ask me: players shouldn't think that they'll always be given the means to undo the consequences of PC impairments like level draining, else they have no reason to be afraid of them.
Alternately, you can let the druid's power give the subject a chance to shed a negative level immediately, rather than after 24 hours. This could be an extra saving throw in addition to the 24-hour one (in which case, any bonus provided should be much smaller), or else it simply forces the determination of the negative level's outcome sooner.
Touch of Vitality
The dead seek the life energies of the living. The druid understands the relationship that the living have with nature and the connection they share. Through your studies you have unlocked the means to channel nature to help undo the harm caused by the undead.
Level: 1st.
Replaces: You do not gain the ability to spontaneously convert prepared spells into summon nature's ally spells.
Benefit: You can transform the stored energy of a spell you have prepared to rejuvenate the living.
As a standard action you can sacrifice a prepared spell to touch an ally in order to grant them a Fort save (DC10+1/2 undead attacker's HD+attacker's Cha modifier) to recover from ability damage or negative levels. If the saving throw succeeds, the touched creature heals an amount of ability damage equal to the sacrificed spell's level or one half the spell's level for the purposes of removing negative levels. This ability only grants a saving throw if the time since the ability damage or negative level effect is equal to or less than one round per druid level. You can only use this ability to grant a saving throw against ability damage or negative levels caused by the special attacks of undead creatures.
Oh, and you might want to note that this can only be attempted once per negative level or ability score that needs restoring. Else, a druid who burns enough spells would be bound to succeed, even if she wasn't granting any bonus to the Fort save.
