Herbal Healer
A Herbal Healer is knowledgeable in the various ancient healing traditions of the tari people. Passed down from generation to generation, the Herbal Healer is educated in the curative arts and wise as to what plants aid in the body’s natural healing process.
Herbal Healers are found mainly among wilderness dwelling tari but is not unheard to find one in the circles of their urban brethren. Most serve as advisors to tari leaders, and in rare instances the leaders themselves.
Druids commonly make the best candidates for this prestige class. However, it is not uncommon to find tari rangers cultured in the customs of the Herbal Healer as well.
RequirementsTo qualify to become a Herbal Healer, a character must fulfill the following criteria.
Race: Tari
Skills: Heal 6 ranks, Knowledge (herbalism) 6 ranks, Survival 4 ranks.
Feats: Skill Focus (Heal)
Class Information
The following information pertains to the Herbal Healer.
Hit Die: 1d6
Class Skills
The Herbal Healer class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are: Concentration (Con), Craft (herbal) (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (herbalism) (Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis)
Skill Points at Each Level: 6 + Int modifier.
[HTML]Table: The Herbal Healer
Lvl BAB FortRef Will Special
1st +0 +2 +0 +2 Healing touch +1, Nurture
2nd +1 +3 +0 +3 Herbal Curative 1
3rd +1 +3 +1 +3 Tempered Healer
4th +2 +4 +1 +4 Remove Disease 1/week
5th +2 +4 +1 +4 Healing touch +2
6th +3 +5 +2 +5 Herbal Curative 2
7th +3 +5 +2 +5 Restore Damage
8th +4 +6 +2 +6 Remove Disease 2/week
9th +4 +6 +3 +6 Healing touch +3
10th +5 +7 +3 +7 Healing Miracle,Herbal Curative 3[/HTML]
Class Features
The following features pertain to the herbal healer.
Healing Touch (Ex): The Herbal Healer receives a competence bonus on Heal checks. At 1st level, the bonus is +1. It increases to +2 at 5th level, and to +3 at 9th level.
Tempered Healer (Ex): When making a Heal skill check, a Herbal Healer of 3rd level or higher may take 10 even if stress and distraction would normally prevent him from doing so.
Nurture (Ex): When making a Heal check for Long-Term Care a successful skill check instead allows for the recipient of the treatment to recover lost wounds and ability points at 3 times the normal rate. This ability does not function without access to herbal ingredients.
Herbal Curative (Su): At 2nd level and higher, the Herbal Healer may treat wounds with a salve made from an admixture of natural ingredients. The Herbal Healer must make a Heal skill check DC 15. Those successfully treated with this salve are restored 1d6 hits points of damage +1 for every two class levels the character has achieved. A living being can only benefit from this healing once per day. At 6th level the healing die increases to 1d8 and again at 10th to a 1d10. This ability does not function without access to herbal ingredients.
Remove Disease (Su): At 4th level, a Herbal Healer can produce a remove disease effect, as the spell, once per week through the use of herbs and twice per week at 8th level. This ability does not function without access to herbal ingredients.
Restore Damage (Su): At 7th level a Herbal Healer can restore some of ability damage. If the Herbal Healer is able to administer aid within 1 minute round of a character taking ability damage that is not in melee, he can make a Heal check DC 25. The Herbal Healer may not take 20 on this check. If the check succeeds, the character regains half the amount that was drained to the drained ability score. This ability functions once per ability score drained and may not be reattempted on a failed check. This ability does not function without access to herbal ingredients
Healing Miracle (Ex): At 10th level, a Herbal Healer can save a character reduced to –10 hit points or lower. If the Herbal Healer is able to administer aid within 3 rounds of the character’s death, he can make a Heal check. The DC for this check is 30, and the Herbal Healer can’t take 10 or take 20. If the check succeeds, the dead character can make a Fortitude save (DC 15) to stabilize and be restored to 0 hit points.
If the Herbal Healer fails the skill check or the treated being fails the save, the dead character can’t be saved.
Good job.
For instance, a 1st level druid can heal more effectively than the herbal curative ability using cure light wounds. And the spells lesser restoration and remove disease come available to a standard druid before the respective herbal variants would, and without the herbal requirements (these spells have V, S components) or limitations on use.
The tempered healer ability is probably also moot by the time the character receives it, since then his Heal check would be about +17 (+9 ranks for 3rd level druid/ 3rd level herbal healer, +3 for Skill Focus(Heal), +3 from high Wis, +2 from Self-Sufficient feat), plus possibly other bonuses. Most of the things that a Heal check can accomplish that would be done under stress have a DC 15 (except for treating poison), so with a +17 bonus a roll is probably unnecessary.
The healing miracle is a neat idea, but it's not enough to make up for 9 levels that leave you behind. I would suggest making this a 5 level class (or even 3 level, if that's still done in 3.5e), and increasing the potency of the other abilities.
I like the class.
Despite the editing mistakes, I like it.
Good job.
Yeah I missed a few. I'm going to have to hire an editor from now on ;)
I like the idea of the class, but it seems very weak compared to what a druid could do if he just advanced as a druid.
Its all about flavor brother. Not everyones a min/maxer. Plus, this PrC gives non-druid/non-spell casters a chance to be healers as well.
For instance, a 1st level druid can heal more effectively than the herbal curative ability using cure light wounds. And the spells lesser restoration and remove disease come available to a standard druid before the respective herbal variants would, and without the herbal requirements (these spells have V, S components) or limitations on use.
Yes a druid can cast healing spells, but with this PrC it allows them to free up spells slots for others non healing spells. Furthermore, if a person was worried about hardcore healing they should be thinking about playing a cleric. Again, it all depends whether your a min/maxer vs. a roleplayer.
The tempered healer ability is probably also moot by the time the character receives it, since then his Heal check would be about +17 (+9 ranks for 3rd level druid/ 3rd level herbal healer, +3 for Skill Focus(Heal), +3 from high Wis, +2 from Self-Sufficient feat), plus possibly other bonuses. Most of the things that a Heal check can accomplish that would be done under stress have a DC 15 (except for treating poison), so with a +17 bonus a roll is probably unnecessary.
Good point, but every bit helps. This ability would also allow a PC to allocate skill points to other skills beyond just Heal.
The healing miracle is a neat idea, but it's not enough to make up for 9 levels that leave you behind. I would suggest making this a 5 level class (or even 3 level, if that's still done in 3.5e), and increasing the potency of the other abilities
I can't take total credit for this ability. Its actually an ability from a PrC in d20 Modern which was given at 7th level. My thought process was that this is pretty hardcore ability to bring a being back to life thru non magical means. Especailly for a non-spell caster. Maybe I could bump it down to 7th level but what would be the 10th level ability?
I liked the idea.. and agree with CSK.. this would be better if it were a 5 levels PrC.
Wouldn't it be sort of broken to jam all those abilities into a 5 level PrC?Especially the Healing Miracle ability?
Herbal Healer
A Herbal Healer is knowledgeable in the various ancient healing traditions of the tari people. Passed down from generation to generation, the Herbal Healer is educated in the curative arts and wise as to what plants aid in the body’s natural healing process.
Herbal Healers are found mainly among wilderness dwelling tari but is not unheard to find one in the circles of their urban brethren. Most serve as advisors to tari leaders, and in rare instances the leaders themselves.
Druids commonly make the best candidates for this prestige class. However, it is not uncommon to find tari rangers cultured in the customs of the Herbal Healer as well.
Requirements
To qualify to become a Herbal Healer, a character must fulfill the following criteria.
Race: Tari
Skills: Heal 6 ranks, Knowledge (herbalism) 6 ranks, Survival 4 ranks.
Feats: Skill Focus (Heal)
Class Information
The following information pertains to the Herbal Healer.
Hit Die: 1d6
Class Skills
The Herbal Healer class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are: Concentration (Con), Craft (herbal) (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (herbalism) (Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis)
Skill Points at Each Level: 6 + Int modifier.
[HTML]Table: The Herbal Healer
Lvl BAB FortRef Will Special
1st +0 +2 +0 +2 Healing touch +1, Nurture
2nd +1 +3 +0 +3 Herbal Curative
3rd +1 +3 +1 +3 Restore Damage, Healing touch +2
4th +2 +4 +1 +4 Remove Disease 1/week
5th +2 +4 +1 +4 Healing Miracle,Healing touch +3[/HTML]
Class Features
The following features pertain to the herbal healer.
Healing Touch (Ex): The Herbal Healer receives a competence bonus on Heal checks. At 1st level, the bonus is +1. It increases to +2 at 3rd level, and to +3 at 5th level.
Nurture (Ex): When making a Heal check for Long-Term Care a successful skill check instead allows for the recipient of the treatment to recover lost wounds and ability points at 3 times the normal rate. This ability does not function without access to herbal ingredients.
Herbal Curative (Ex): At 2nd level and higher, the Herbal Healer may treat wounds with a salve made from an admixture of natural ingredients. The Herbal Healer must make a Heal skill check DC 15. Those successfully treated with this salve are restored 1d6 hits points of damage +1 for every class level the character has achieved. This ability does not function without access to herbal ingredients.
Restore Damage (Ex): At 3th level a Herbal Healer can restore some of ability damage. If the Herbal Healer is able to administer aid within 1 minute round of a character taking ability damage that is not in melee, he can make a Heal check DC 25. The Herbal Healer may not take 10 or 20 on this check. If the check succeeds, the character regains half the amount that was drained to the drained ability score. This ability functions once per ability score drained and may not be reattempted on a failed check. This ability does not function without access to herbal ingredients
Remove Disease (Ex): At 4th level, a Herbal Healer can produce a remove disease effect, as the spell, once per week through the use of herbs. The Herbal Healer must actively treat the diseased character for seven consecutive days in order for this ability to work. This ability does not function without access to herbal ingredients.
Healing Miracle (Ex): At 5th level, a Herbal Healer can save a character reduced to –10 hit points or lower. If the Herbal Healer is able to administer aid within 3 rounds of the character’s death, he can make a Heal check. The DC for this check is 30, and the Herbal Healer can’t take 10 or take 20. If the check succeeds, the dead character can make a Fortitude save (DC 15) to stabilize and be restored to 0 hit points.
If the Herbal Healer fails the skill check or the treated being fails the save, the dead character can’t be saved.
That's a bit better. The class is still weak, but the final benefit is nice and unique, so it's a reason to take the class. I would increase the bonus from Healing Touch though, probably to double what you have listed.
I think I'll leave the bonus the way that it is. On avarage a PC is going to have +14 Heal skill with skill points, skill focus feat, and high Wis entering this PrC.
Again, the PrC is for flavor not a tag on to make a PC a uber-healing god.
Sort of an alternate class to less evolved cultures...
Edit: I'm writting a supplement for DS in which, believe or not, Taris play a important role concerning flavor stuff... May add/use your PrC on my supplement?
Now it got really good, a Five levels Prc cost as much as a real good template (half celestial) and these abilities are really worth in a setting like DS...
Sort of an alternate class to less evolved cultures...
Edit: I'm writting a supplement for DS in which, believe or not, Taris play a important role concerning flavor stuff... May add/use your PrC on my supplement?
I've been slowly working on a Tari's of Athas supplement/write up as well. You might want to take a look at the other things I've written on them as well:
Tari Filth Monger PrC
Tari Time Line
With the Filth Monger PrC you'll need to scroll towards the the end of the thread for the finished product.
If you would like to include any of it be my guest.
I do like the flavor of the class, I think it's a good idea to provide healing abilities via non-spellcasting methods, and the 5 level class does a better job of this.
One question though. What (if anything) is the cost associated to these herbal ingredients, and what constitutes an herbal ingredient? Are the ingredients like a spell pouch or an "herbalist's kit" (like the healer's kit or alchemist's kit)?
Maybe one could use the survival ability to procure them in a wilderness or underground area.
Just to clairify... I'm not a min/maxer, but in D&D things are supposed to be generally balanced, and the first version of the class really wasn't.
I do like the flavor of the class, I think it's a good idea to provide healing abilities via non-spellcasting methods, and the 5 level class does a better job of this.
One question though. What (if anything) is the cost associated to these herbal ingredients, and what constitutes an herbal ingredient? Are the ingredients like a spell pouch or an "herbalist's kit" (like the healer's kit or alchemist's kit)?
Maybe one could use the survival ability to procure them in a wilderness or underground area.
I wasn't trying to imply that you were a min/maxer. Sorry if you took it that way.
I was leaving it up to the DM as to what would constitute as herbal ingredients. My view is that a PC would be procuring the herbs/plants needed thru using their survival skill (as you stated) and stock pile on the needed components.
Perhaps you should change the (su) class features to (ex) class features. In any case I suggest changing the mechanic of the remove disease class ability. As I understand it, the ability should represent the healing of a disease by non-magical means. Then the once-per-week restriction is hard to explain. Perhaps changing it in a way that using the ability requires a full day of rest for the patient and a full day of work for the healer (the disease effects will stop as soon as the healer starts, but the effects will come back if the healing is not completed).
Hmmmm, I should change the abilities to (Ex). I thought I had them that way and for some reason changed them to (Su). I'll go back and edit it.
My thoughts behind the once a week was that the Healer would be tending to one diseased character "off camera" and that there was no need to bog it down with a resting requirement.
I wasn't trying to imply that you were a min/maxer. Sorry if you took it that way.
No harm, I was being too touchy.
I also had an idea that might help the class out. Instead of giving the abilities of herbal curative, restore damage and remove disease, you could base the abilities off the Brew Potion feat. Then as the character advanced as an herbal healer they could create more potions/oils/unguents (from a small select list of druid spells).
Something like
Create Herbal Remedy (Ex): The herbal healer may create certain potions and oils as per the Brew Potion feat with the following restrictions. He may only create potions from a select list of spells from the druid spell list. His caster level for this purpose is his herbal healer level.
At 2nd level the healer may create potions or salves that mimic cure light wounds or goodberry. At 3rd level he may create potions that mimic delay poison or lesser resoration, and finally at 4th level he may mimic cure moderate wounds, neutralize poison or remove disease.
I don't know if this ability is too weak (or too strong), but it seems to accomplish many of the same effects. The major difference is that this introduces a monetary and XP cost to the abilities, while allowing them possibily more frequently and not requiring a Heal check.
Anyway this is just an idea that popped into my head while walking home from the grocery store that I thought I would share.
Ah, OK then. You should explain these thoughts in the PrC entry. Otherwise, the ability might be used like the Paladin's..."You caught a disease?" -hubbeldiwupp- "Cured!"
Alright. I added a line to the ability. "The Herbal Healer must actively treat the diseased character for seven consecutive days in order for this ability to work."
No harm, I was being too touchy.
I also had an idea that might help the class out. Instead of giving the abilities of herbal curative, restore damage and remove disease, you could base the abilities off the Brew Potion feat. Then as the character advanced as an herbal healer they could create more potions/oils/unguents (from a small select list of druid spells).
Something like
Create Herbal Remedy (Ex): The herbal healer may create certain potions and oils as per the Brew Potion feat with the following restrictions. He may only create potions from a select list of spells from the druid spell list. His caster level for this purpose is his herbal healer level.
At 2nd level the healer may create potions or salves that mimic cure light wounds or goodberry. At 3rd level he may create potions that mimic delay poison or lesser resoration, and finally at 4th level he may mimic cure moderate wounds, neutralize poison or remove disease.
I don't know if this ability is too weak (or too strong), but it seems to accomplish many of the same effects. The major difference is that this introduces a monetary and XP cost to the abilities, while allowing them possibily more frequently and not requiring a Heal check.
Anyway this is just an idea that popped into my head while walking home from the grocery store that I thought I would share.
Good abilities, but just not what I was looking to do with this PrC.
Thanks for the suggestions though
I've been slowly working on a Tari's of Athas supplement/write up as well. You might want to take a look at the other things I've written on them as well:
Tari Filth Monger PrC
Tari Time Line
With the Filth Monger PrC you'll need to scroll towards the the end of the thread for the finished product.
If you would like to include any of it be my guest.
Hum.. good.. Tari culture and others aspects of this race would be important for the development of my project.. is there a chance for me to take a look at your write up? As least on the major ideas..
Hum.. good.. Tari culture and others aspects of this race would be important for the development of my project.. is there a chance for me to take a look at your write up? As least on the major ideas..
Well, all I have so far is the time line (see the link above) and the two PrCs. My next step is detailing present day Tari culture.
Well, all I so far is the time line (see the link above) and the two PrCs. My next step is detailing present day Tari culture.
I already had your tari time line.. going to take a more close look at...
BTW an updated version for the healer would be good, could you post it here, again?
I'll post what I have on tari culture in a week or so.
Herbal Healer
A Herbal Healer is knowledgeable in the various ancient healing traditions of the tari people. Passed down from generation to generation, the Herbal Healer is educated in the curative arts and wise as to what plants aid in the body’s natural healing process.
Herbal Healers are found mainly among wilderness dwelling tari but is not unheard to find one in the circles of their urban brethren. Most serve as advisors to tari leaders, and in rare instances the leaders themselves.
Druids commonly make the best candidates for this prestige class. However, it is not uncommon to find tari rangers cultured in the customs of the Herbal Healer as well.
Requirements
To qualify to become a Herbal Healer, a character must fulfill the following criteria.
Race: Tari
Skills: Heal 6 ranks, Knowledge (herbalism) 6 ranks, Survival 4 ranks.
Feats: Skill Focus (Heal)
Class Information
The following information pertains to the Herbal Healer.
Hit Die: 1d6
Class Skills
The Herbal Healer class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are: Concentration (Con), Craft (herbal) (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (herbalism) (Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis)
Skill Points at Each Level: 6 + Int modifier.
[HTML]Table: The Herbal Healer
Lvl BAB FortRef Will Special
1st +0 +2 +0 +2 Healing touch +1, Nurture
2nd +1 +3 +0 +3 Herbal Curative
3rd +1 +3 +1 +3 Restore Damage, Healing touch +2
4th +2 +4 +1 +4 Remove Disease 1/week
5th +2 +4 +1 +4 Healing Miracle,Healing touch +3[/HTML]
Class Features
The following features pertain to the herbal healer.
Healing Touch (Ex): The Herbal Healer receives a competence bonus on Heal checks. At 1st level, the bonus is +1. It increases to +2 at 3rd level, and to +3 at 5th level.
Nurture (Ex): When making a Heal check for Long-Term Care a successful skill check instead allows for the recipient of the treatment to recover lost wounds and ability points at 3 times the normal rate. This ability does not function without access to herbal ingredients.
Herbal Curative (Ex): At 2nd level and higher, the Herbal Healer may treat wounds with a salve made from an admixture of natural ingredients. The Herbal Healer must make a Heal skill check DC 15. Those successfully treated with this salve are restored 1d6 hits points of damage +1 for every class level the character has achieved. This ability does not function without access to herbal ingredients.
Restore Damage (Ex): At 3th level a Herbal Healer can restore some of ability damage. If the Herbal Healer is able to administer aid within 1 minute of a character taking ability damage that is not in melee, he can make a Heal check DC 25. The Herbal Healer may not take 10 or 20 on this check. If the check succeeds, the character regains half the amount that was drained to the drained ability score. This ability functions once per ability score drained and may not be reattempted on a failed check. This ability does not function without access to herbal ingredients
Remove Disease (Ex): At 4th level, a Herbal Healer can produce a remove disease effect, as the spell, once per week through the use of herbs. The Herbal Healer must actively treat the diseased character for seven consecutive days in order for this ability to work. This ability does not function without access to herbal ingredients.
Healing Miracle (Ex): At 5th level, a Herbal Healer can save a character reduced to –10 hit points or lower. If the Herbal Healer is able to administer aid within 3 rounds of the character’s death, he can make a Heal check. The DC for this check is 30, and the Herbal Healer can’t take 10 or take 20. If the check succeeds, the dead character can make a Fortitude save (DC 15) to stabilize and be restored to 0 hit points.
If the Herbal Healer fails the skill check or the treated being fails the save, the dead character can’t be saved.