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Within the Spirit Wood are the Arboreal Guardians, men and women dedicated to protecting and ministering the living repositories of elf and half-elf spirits. The Guardians are the wood’s first line of defense against outsiders and act as the hands and eyes of the spirit trees, vowing to protect a particular tree with a mystical pledge called a Green Bond. Mystically linked with a chosen tree, an Arboreal Guardian sees the recipient of her Green Bond as the closest member of her family, someone worth dying for. This bond extends to a lesser extent to any other spirit tree. Most Arboreal Guardians are druids or rangers. A
Requirements
To qualify to become an Arboreal Guardian, a character must fulfill the following criteria. Race: Elf or half-elf. A creature of another race who does a great service for the Arboreal Guardians or the spirit trees may be allowed to join this elite society of protectors. Skills: Intuit Direction 5 ranks, Knowledge (nature) 8 ranks, Wilderness Lore 8 ranks. Feats: Great Fortitude, Green Bond, Point Blank Shot. Spells: Able to cast entangle. Patron Deity: Any but Nessek or Orcus.
CHAPTER 1:
ARBOREAL GUARDIAN
few clerics of Galaedros become Guardians, as does the occasional multiclassed barbarian, but only those with close ties to nature consider taking the Green Bond. Arboreal Guardians are a well-known but littleunderstood secret society in the Ghostwalk campaign. While they guide people through the Spirit Wood to the city of Manifest, they are completely ruthless when it comes to dealing with violators of the forest. They may bicker among themselves over the proper way to nurture and preserve the Spirit Wood, but they are united in their oath to preserve it at all cost. Hit Die: d8.
ALL ABOUT GHOSTS
gained a level in a spellcasting class she belonged to before gaining a level as an eidoloncer. She does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained (improved chance of controlling or rebuking undead, metamagic or item creation feats, and so on). This essentially means that she adds the level of eidoloncer to the level of some other spellcasting class the character has, then determines spells per day and caster level accordingly. For example, Lhoga the 4th-level ghost sorcerer gains a level in eidoloncer. Since her only spellcasting class is sorcerer, her eidoloncer level advances the spellcasting ability of her sorcerer class, giving her the spells known and spells per day of a 5th-level sorcerer. She does not improve her familiar’s abilities or gain any other benefits she would have received if she had gained an actual level in sorcerer. When an eidoloncer has a life epiphany, any converted eidoloncer levels must be converted into levels in the spellcasting class she was advancing in. When this occurs, the character gains all other abilities from that class that are not related to spellcasting, in addition to an exact conversion of spellcasting ability. For example, when Lhoga is raised and decides to convert her eidoloncer level into a sorcerer level, her familiar’s natural armor and Intelligence increase to that of a 6th-level sorcerer’s familiar, and it gains the speak with master ability, just as if it had always been the familiar of a 6th-level sorcerer. A ghost cleric/eidoloncer who converted eidoloncer levels would improve her turning ability, a ghost bard/eidoloncer would improve her bardic knowledge ability, and so on.
Class Skills
The Arboreal Guardian’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Animal Empathy (Cha), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Intuit Direction (Wis), Jump (Str), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), and Wilderness Lore (Wis). See Chapter 4: Skills in the Player’s Handbook for skill descriptions. Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier. Class Features
All of the following are class features of the Arboreal Guardian prestige class. Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Arboreal Guardians gain proficiency with shortbows (but not composite shortbows). A druid who becomes an Arboreal Guardian can use a shortbow without violating her
Table 1–3: The Arboreal Guardian Level 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
Base Attack Bonus +0 +1 +2 +3 +3 +4 +5 +6 +6 +7
Fort Save +0 +0 +1 +1 +1 +2 +2 +2 +3 +3
Ref Save +2 +3 +3 +4 +4 +5 +5 +6 +6 +7
Will Save +0 +0 +1 +1 +1 +2 +2 +2 +3 +3
Special Bond’s call, forestwalk Nature’s water, +1 natural armor Unhindered charge, wood speech +2 natural armor Hunter’s mercy, blindsight +3 natural armor Nature’s defender, quench 1/day +4 natural armor Tree stride 1/day +5 natural armor
Spellcasting +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
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