Woodshaper

D&D 3e (3.0/3.5) Rules

by Stunspore

Woodshapers are commonly found in both Silvanesti and Qualinesti civilizations. They serve to guide the living trees to create fantastic structures and features found in cities such as Qualinost, the once-capital of the Qualinesti. While woodshapers are predominantly elves, other races can become woodshapers, provided they have the affinity for it.

Woodshapers also help to maintain the health of the gardens and forests, and sometimes can be found healing sick trees, or fighting other races who seek to harvest wood without authorization or do so with no concern for the environment.
Hit Die: d8.

Requirements

To qualify to become a woodshaper, a character must fulfill the following criteria:

Skills: Knowledge (nature) 5 ranks, Survival 5 ranks.
Feats: Nature's Blood.
Spells: Ability to cast 3rd-level divine spells.

Class Skills

The woodshaper's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), and Swim (Str).
Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the woodshaper.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Woodshapers are proficient with the following weapons: club, dagger, dart, quarterstaff, scimitar, sickle, shortspear, sling, and spear. They are also proficient with all natural attacks (claw, bite, and so forth) of any form they assume with wild shape (see below).

Woodshapers are proficient with light and medium armor but are prohibited from wearing metal armor; thus, they may wear only padded, leather, or hide armor. (A woodshaper may also wear wooden armor that has been altered by the ironwood spell so that it functions as though it were steel. See the ironwood spell description.) Woodshapers are proficient with shields (except tower shields) but must use only wooden ones.

A woodshaper who wears prohibited armor or carries a prohibited shield is unable to cast woodshaper spells or use any of her supernatural or spell-like class abilities while doing so and for 24 hours thereafter.

Spells: The woodshaper chooses an existing divine spellcasting ability and progression to continue.

Natural Empathy: A woodshaper can improve the attitude of a creature with a plant subtype. This ability functions just like a Diplomacy check made to improve the attitude of a person. The woodshaper rolls 1d20 and adds her woodshaper level and her Charisma modifier to determine the natural empathy check result.

To use natural empathy, the woodshaper and the creature must be able to study each other, which means that they must be within 30 feet of one another under normal conditions. Generally, influencing an creature in this way takes 1 minute but, as with influencing people, it might take more or less time.

Woodshaping Secret: Tapping into the elemental magic through his bloodline, the woodshaper is able to utilise abilities relating to plants. He may choose one of the following abilities:

• Nature's Grasp: The woodshaper can entangle as a spell-like ability, once per day per woodshaper class level. The woodshaper's caster level equals his spellcasting level. He may also spontaneously cast entangle, just as a cleric spontaneously casts cure spells. If this ability is selected more than once, the uses per day stack. In addition, the woodshaper's spellcaster level increases by +1 when using his entangle ability.
• Barkskin: The woodshaper's skin hardens like bark. His natural armor bonus increases by +1 (if he has no natural armor, he gains a natural armor of +1). He may select this ability multiple times, and it stacks with itself. Each time this ability is selected for the odd number of times (except for the first time), the woodshaper's natural armour increases by +2 instead of +1.
• Language of the Leaves: The woodshaper can speak with plants as a spell-like ability, with a caster level equal to his spellcasting level. The woodshaper can use this ability once per day for every two woodshaper class levels (round down). He may also spontaneously cast speak with plants just as a cleric spontaneously casts cure spells. If this ability is selected more than once, the uses per day stack. In addition, the woodshaper gains a +1 bonus to Natural Empathy checks, and this bonus stacks with the Language of the Leaves ability.
• Guiding the Wood: The woodshaper can warp wood or wood shape as a spell-like ability, with a caster level equal to his spellcasting level. The woodshaper can use this ability once per day per woodshaper class level. He may also spontaneously cast warp wood or wood shape just as a cleric spontaneously casts cure spells. If this ability is selected more than once, the uses per day stack. In addition, the woodshaper's spellcaster level increases by +1 when using either of these spell-like abilities.
• Living Wood: Prerequisite: able to cast 6th-level divine spells. The woodshaper can animate plants as a spell-like ability, with a caster level equal to his spellcasting level. The woodshaper can use this ability once per day for every two woodshaper class levels (round up), plus a number of uses per day equal to the woodshaper's Charisma modifier (if positive). He may also spontaneously cast animate plants just as a cleric spontaneously casts cure spells. If this ability is selected more than once, the uses per day stack. In addition, the woodshaper's spellcaster level increases by +1 when using his animate plants ability.
• Regrowth: Prerequisite: Aura of Plants ability. The woodshaper's aura radius extends by an additional 1 foot per level, and the woodshaper does not need to concentrate to create the aura. The woodshaper may also have plant growth as a spell-like ability, which can be used a number of times per day equal to the character's woodshaper class levels. If this ability is selected more than once, the uses per day stack, the woodshaper's aura radius increments, and his effective caster level (when using plant growth) increases by +1.
• Wild Nature: The woodshaper may select one of his Woodshaper secrets which have spell-like abilities. He may have that ability be affected by any metamagic feat he possesses. Each time his spell-like ability is modified by this ability, the effective caster level is reduced by the number of spell levels that metamagic feat would have required to modify the spell. The woodshaper can cast the modified spell-like abilities at their normal casting times (unless quickened or otherwise modified. Each time this ability is selected, he may select another Woodshaping Secret to modify.

Woodland Stride (Ex): Starting at 3rd level, a woodshaper may move through any sort of undergrowth (such as natural thorns, briars, overgrown areas, and similar terrain) at his 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 him.

Bonus Feat: At 5th and 9the level, the woodshaper gains a bonus feat that can be chosen from the following list: Animal Affinity, Self-Sufficient, Skill Focus, Toughness.

Aura of Plants: At 7th level, the woodshaper can concentrate to create a strong aura of growth and regeneration. Tiny shoots and moss (these plants grow to only about half an inch) will grow around the woodshaper within a radius of 2 feet per level, centering around the woodshaper if he stands still for 1 round. This occurs even when the ground is incapable of sustaining life (except in lava), though these plants may die if the woodshaper leaves the area. These plants can be used for various plant-affecting spells, though a plant growth is required to enable spells such as entangle. This ability can be used at will.

Ex-Woodshapers

A woodshaper who ceases to revere nature or who changes to a prohibited alignment, loses all spells and woodshaper abilities (including weapon, armor, and shield proficiencies). She cannot thereafter gain levels as a woodshaper until she atones (see the atonement spell description).

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