Wednesday, June 19, 2013

The Totem Witch Tradition



The tribal societies which gave birth to the shaman know of another divine practitioner – the totem witch. Where a shaman intermediates between his tribe and the spirit world, a totem witch is responsible only to her totem spirit patron. A totem witch may have a closer relationship with her totem than even a shaman of the same totem. A shaman often views a totem witch with suspicion, especially when the witch’s totem may have interests at odds with the shaman’s tribe.

The following is a new Tradition for the Player's Companion Witch class.


Bonus Spells: 1st – detect danger, 2nd – holy chant, 3rd – prayer, 4th – summon animals

1st level:  A totem witch’s patron provides her with a totem animal companion to watch over and protect her. The totem witch gains a totem animal and totem benefit as a shaman.

3rd level:  A totem witch’s survival may depend upon the survival of her totem animal companion. She may cast animal invulnerability to evil once per 8 hours. Each use takes 1 round.

5th level:  A totem witch may shapechange as a shaman.

7th level:  A totem witch may cast animal spirit of healing once per 8 hours. Each use takes 1 round.


New Spells

Animal Invulnerability to Evil
Divine 2 (Totem Witch)
Range: touch
Duration: 1 turn

This spell targets 1 animal or giant animal. Except as noted above, this spell is identical to invulnerability to evil.


Animal Spirit of Healing
Divine 2 (Totem Witch)
Range: 60’
Duration: concentration, maximum 1 round per level

This spell targets animals and giant animals only. Except as noted above, this spell is identical to spirit of healing.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Clerical Orders



Beginning with the conclusion of this post, how to quickly construct a clerical order:

1.       Choose a narrow selection of weapons (Player’s Companion p. 79).
2.       Choose two of three fighting styles.
3.       Choose whether to trade off an unrestricted armor selection for one or two custom powers.
4.       Choose whether to trade off turn undead for two custom powers.
4a. If no, replace any eight spells on the cleric spell list to create the order’s spell list.
4b. If yes, replace up to five spells per spell level on the cleric spell list to create the order’s spell list.
5.       Select custom powers.


The description of the cleric class in the core rulebook mentions the possibility of a Judge specifying particular religious orders in his campaign. Certainly, the Player’s Companion custom class creation system opens the door to extensive campaign class customization. But what if a Judge wants to stay close to the cleric class (most of the time), with limited differences reflecting different deities, faiths or philosophies? Is there a simple template for such differences? This post takes a closer look at the cleric, bladedancer and shaman classes in search of a template for creating different clerical orders.

To begin, the underlying structure of these three classes is the same, as suggested by their 1,500 XP required to reach 2nd level. That underlying structure is Hit Dice 1, Fighting 1a, Divine 2. Hit Dice “is what it is” – there are no differences between the classes.

Fighting 1a is the first element of customization between the classes, in the form of weapon and armor selections. Each of the three classes retains a narrow selection of weapons, but each makes a different choice. Also, each of the three classes retains two of three fighting styles, with the bladedancer choosing two weapon fighting to the cleric and shaman’s weapon and shield. Only the cleric retains an unrestricted armor selection. Both the bladedancer and the shaman trade off their armor selection down to narrow (leather) for two custom powers.

Each of the three classes is Divine 2, providing a full divine spell progression and magical research, as well as a clerical saving throw progression, magic item use, prime requisite, stronghold and followers. The shaman trades off turn undead for two custom powers.

A key element of customization between the three classes is differentiation between their spell lists. How much differentiation is there between the spell lists for the cleric, bladedancer and shaman? One way to measure differentiation is to look at spells unique among these three classes. Comparing spell lists (as of the Player’s Companion), the number of spells unique among these three classes is: cleric 8, bladedancer 8 and shaman 22 (!). See the table below for this comparison (with core spell list changes as of the Player’s Companion noted). The shaman’s trade off of turn undead and dramatically different spell list suggests much greater specialization of the basic cleric structure.

Regarding the selection of custom powers, two custom powers seems to be a recurring unit of customization. I was pleasantly surprised by this because my Templar temples and Solitary orders are (usually) built on two custom powers. For example, I can quickly create an elemental earth cleric by exchanging turn undead for my Earth temple’s special abilities.


Cleric
Bladedancer
Shaman
Command Word
Angelic Choir or Command Word
Command Word
Cure Light Wounds*
Cure Light Wounds*
Cure Light Wounds*
Detect Evil*
Detect Evil*
Faerie Fire
Detect Magic
Detect Magic
Locate Animal or Plant
Light*
Faerie Fire
Pass Without Trace
Protection from Evil*
Fellowship
Predict Weather
Purify Food and Water
Light*
Purify Food and Water
Remove Fear*
Protection from Evil*
Remove Fear*
Resist Cold
Remove Fear*
Resist Cold
Sanctuary
Resist Cold
Trance
Augury
Bless*
Bless*
Bless*
Charm Animal
Charm Animal
Delay Poison
Enthrall or Find Traps
Delay Poison
Find Traps
Hold Person
Holy Chant
Hold Person
Holy Chant
Obscuring Cloud
Resist Fire
Resist Fire
Produce Fire
Righteous Wrath or Snake Charm
Silence 15’ radius
Resist Fire
Silence 15’ radius
Shimmer
Snake Charm
Speak with Animals
Speak with Animals
Speak with Animals
Spiritual Weapon
Swift Sword or Spiritual Weapon
Warp Wood
Continual Light*
Continual Light*
Call Lightning
Cure Blindness
Cure Blindness
Cure Blindness
Cure Disease*
Cure Disease*
Cure Disease*
Feign Death
Glyph of Warding
Detect Curse
Glyph of Warding
Growth of Animals
Eyes of the Eagle
Growth of Animals
Invulnerability to Evil or Locate Object
Growth of Animals
Locate Object
Prayer
Striking
Remove Curse*
Remove Curse*
Water Breathing
Speak with Dead
Speak with Dead
Water Walking
Striking
Winged Flight or Striking
Winged Flight
Create Water
Create Water
Command Animals
Cure Serious Wounds*
Cure Serious Wounds*
Create Water
Dispel Magic
Dispel Magic
Cure Serious Wounds*
Divination
Divination
Dispel Magic
Neutralize Poison*
Neutralize Poison*
Divination
Protection from Evil, Sustained*
Protection from Evil, Sustained*
Fate
Smite Undead*
Smite Undead*
Neutralize Poison*
Speak with Plants
Speak with Plants
Skinchange
Sticks to Snakes
Vigor
Sticks to Snakes
Tongues
Tongues
Summon Animals
Atonement
Atonement
Call Dragon
Commune
Commune
Control Animals
Create Food
Create Food
Control Winds
Dispel Evil
Dispel Evil
Create Food
Flame Strike
Flame Strike
Finger of Death
Insect Plague
Insect Plague
Insect Plague
Quest*
Quest*
Quest*
Restore Life and Limb*
Restore Life and Limb*
Reincarnation
Strength of Mind*
Sword of Fire
Sword of Fire
True Seeing
True Seeing
Summon Weather