CHAPTERS : PRESTIGE CLASSES
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the burdens of the humanoid form. Halflings and gnomes rarely become animal lords because of their strong community ties, and half-ores are even less likely to do so because of their typically rapacious attitudes . Though rangers, druids, and barbarians are the most likely characters to adopt this class, some arcane spellcasters (especially bards) choose to become animal lords late in their adventuring careers. A character can choose this prestige class more than once but must select a different group of associated animals and start at 1st level each time. Levels of different animal lord classes do not stack when determining levelbased class features . Eight animal lords are presented here (the DM is free to create others) . The various kinds of animals from the Monster Manual they are associated with are as follows. Apelord : ape, baboon, monkey. Bearlord : black bear, brown bear, polar bear. Birdlord: eagle, hawk, owl, raven. Catlord : cat, cheetah, leopard, lion, tiger. Equinelord : donkey, heavy horse, heavy warhorse, light horse, light warhorse, mule, pony, warpony. Marinelord: crocodile, giant crocodile, octopus, giant octopus, porpoise, shark (all), squid, giant squid, whale (all). Snakelord: constrictor, giant constrictor, viper (all). Wolflord : dog, riding dog, wolf. Hit Die: d8.
Requirements
To become an animal lord, a character must fulfill the following criteria. Alignment : Neutral good, lawful neutral, neutral, chaotic neutral, or neutral evil.
Skills: Animal Empathy 6 ranks, Wilderness Lore 8 ranks, plus 2 ranks in the appropriate skill from the following list: Apelord-Climb ; Bearlord-Intimidate ; Birdlord-Intuit Direction ; Catlord-Move Silently ; Equinelord-Jump ; Marinelord,-Swim ; SnakelordEscape Artist; Wolflord-Hide. Feats : Animal Control and the appropriate feat from the following list: Apelord, Skill Focus (Climb) ; Bearlord, Power Attack ; Birdlord, Improved Flight ; Catlord . Weapon Finesse (any) ; Equinelord, Run ; Marinelord, Skill Focus (Swim) ; Snakelord, Resist Poison; Wolflord . Expertise .
Class Skills
The animal lord's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Animal Empathy (Cha, exclusive skill), Climb (Str), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex;, Intuit Direction (Wis), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), and Wilderness Lore (Wis) . See Chapter 4 of the Player's Handbook for skill descriptions. Skill Points at Each Level : 2 + Int modifier.
Class Features
The following are class features of the animal lord prestige class . Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Animal lords gain no weapon or armor proficiencies . Spells : An animal lord can cast a small number of divine spells . Her spells are based on Wisdom, so casting any given spell requires a Wisdom score of at least 10 the spell's level. The DC for saving throws against these
