Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Radazim Jan 12, 2005 13:33:55	The gnomish cleric of Baervan Wildwanderer in my homebrew Geoff campaign was looking for a PrC for when he hit 8th level. He wanted to be more nature-focused without infringing on the party's Druid7/Ranger1 niche. I really liked that Baervan has a mischievous giant raccoon companion, so we incorporated that into the PrC. Since clerics don't lose anything from taking a PrC other than their Undead turning (and undead don't feature prominently in this campaign anyway), I didn't want to make the PrC too good - but balance isn't as important as flavor and fun and the abilities aren't exactly overpowering. Basically, at the cost of two caster levels, the PrC provides the non-wildshape druid class abilities over time and a special cohort. (The party also has no rogue, so the cohort could prove quite beneficial.) Baervan's Warden (PrC) Progression (HD, BAB, Saves, etc. as a cleric) Upon entering the PrC, I allowed him to drop his Good domain and replace it with Animal (he also has Travel), which I think is a better fit. Level: Abilities 1: Cohort (see below) 2: Nature Sense, +1 caster level 3: +1 caster level 4: Wild Empathy, +1 caster level 5: +1 caster level 6: Woodland Stride, Trackless Step 7: +1 caster level 8: Resist Nature's Lure, +1 caster level 9: +1 caster level 10: Endurance, +1 caster level The cohort is a celestial raccoon advanced to 3 HD, who advances as a rogue of the same level of the PrC. I used the stats for a tiny monkey, advanced it to 3HD and small size, added the celestial template, and gave it 1 level of Rogue. This works out to an ECL of 6 (if I'm not mistaken) which is an appropriate cohort for an 8th level character. The raccoon has an INT of 3 plus the PrC level and can speak with the Warden - but no other character can understand it without comprehend languages, etc. The cleric loses 2 caster levels, but gains the Druid non-wildshape abilities and a celestial cohort. Is that a fair trade? I worry that the cohort is too weak to be useful. f the cohort starts as a 3HD celestial raccoon (+5 ECL) and gains 1 rogue level for each level the cleric takes in the PrC, it will be ECL 15 when the cleric hits the 10th level of the PrC at {EDIT}level 17{/EDIT}. As a Rogue, however, he'll be 7 levels behind the party and I wonder if that makes him essentially useless. (Of course, the party has no rogue at all, so maybe it's better than nothing?) Any comments about the PrC or suggestions for improving the cohort design would be appreciated. Thanks!
#2 cebrion Jan 13, 2005 4:18:02	Its fine that the cohort is 7 levels behind the rest of the party. Its a cohort, not a character. Emphasis should always be given to the characters and not their henchmen. The cohort design looks like it will function how you want it to. It may be a bit too good as this animal companion seriously puts a paladin's warhorse to shame. A potentially 15th level racoon rogue can hardly be described as under-powered. Baervan's racoon companion is meant to be very unique so I wouldn't make a racoon companion of nearly equal or better ability available to every one of his clerics. I'd cut the racoon's thief level down to a base 1 plus 1 per 2 levels of prestige class the character has gained and take away the celestial template. It should be a more-than-normal racoon rather than an extra-planar racoon. This ability is much more useful than, say Nature Sense or something similar. You might want to rename this ability as Baervan's Buddy or something else, but note that the racoon companion does not count towards the limit on acquired cohorts or other followers- the racoon is always loyal and will be around as long as the cleric has the favor of his god. As to the trade-off of spell casting ability for minor druid abilities I'd say it is pretty well balanced.