WIZARD - ENCHANTER Naturalist Kit Description: From youth, the unbridled curiosity of Naturalists has led them to a fascination about every living thing that inhabits the world, particularly the observation of such beings in their natural wild habitats. Their studies include the identification and classification of such creatures and their characteristics and extends to interactions of natural forces like weather, climate, and the natural flow of magical energy through the world and how that affects living creatures. Naturalists often study the history of interrelations between sentient races and the natural creatures with whom they share the world. Perhaps more than anything else, a Naturalist delights in the study of new plants and animals. A Naturalist would think nothing of venturing into a haunted forest to observe a rare circle of toadstools or visiting a dragon's den to observe firsthand the miracle of hatching. A Naturalist will only rarely interfere with the object of his or her study, preferring to observe and sketch or catalog rather than bringing home live (or dead) specimens. Naturalists often undertake adventures out of sheer curiosity. This presents a familiar role for many NPC Naturalists: doddering sages or brash young know-it- all students seeking to observe some rarity and seeking the protection of an armed party of professional adventurers en route, perhaps hiring a party to escort them on a dangerous scientific mission, to independently verify a rumor or theory in the field, or to retrieve some unusual item for direct examination (or to protect a natural area or habitat from exploitation or destruction by others). Requirements: Naturalists must be patient and in good health in order to dedicate themselves to the profession, requiring at least 14 Constitution, 15 Intelligence, and 12 Wisdom, though unlike other Enchanters they have no minimum Dexterity requirement. Naturalists may be of any alignment and may be humans, elves, half-elves, or gnomes. Weapon Proficiencies: As a standard Enchanter, save that a Naturalist can also become proficient in axe (hand, hatchet), bow (short), lasso, net, or whip. Special Benefits: Naturalists are experts in the realms of Animal Lore and Herbalism, beginning with free proficiency in each and gaining a +1 bonus to their proficiency score for every five levels of experience (rounding up). Their expertise in dealing with animals and plants of all sorts also renders them somewhat resistant to natural animal or plant poisons, gaining a +2 bonus to saving throws against such poison. In addition to these mundane areas of knowledge within the field of Naturalism, Enchanters of this type gain the following special abilities: Magic Sense: As a standard Enchanter. Natural Empathy: Naturalists are adept at dealing with trained and wild plant and animal creatures, similar to a Ranger's Animal Empathy ability. If a Naturalist carefully approaches or tends to any natural animal or plant creature (including giant-sized animals), he or she can try to modify the creature's reactions. When dealing with domestic or non-hostile animals, a Naturalist can approach an animal and befriend it automatically. He or she can easily discern the qualities of a creature (e.g., spotting the best horse in the corral or seeing that the runt of the litter actually has great promise). Likewise, a Naturalist can automatically determine the type, condition, maturity, and health of any natural plant. When dealing with a wild animal, an animal trained to fight, or any sort of plant creature, the creature is entitled to a save vs. rods with a -1 penalty for every three levels of the Naturalist (rounding up). If the creature saves, it resists the Naturalist's overtures of friendship and behaves normally. If it fails, however, its reaction can be shifted by one step in the direction chosen by the Naturalist (note that it is possible to use this ability to make an animal more agitated and prone to attack, though it is usually used to pacify a hostile creature). In order to use Natural Empathy, a Naturalist must be at least 10' from any other humanoid creatures and the animal(s) to be affected must be able to see and hear the Naturalist. The soothing effects of Natural Empathy begin at once, but the Naturalist must continue calmly speaking and gesturing to the targets for 5-10 (1d6+4) rounds, -1 round for every three levels of experience (rounding up, minimum of 1 round) in order to make the reaction adjustment permanent; otherwise, the affected animals will revert to their previous reaction as soon as the Naturalist stops soothing them. If any creature take offensive action against an animal while a Naturalist is using this ability, the effects of Natural Empathy are immediately and permanently disrupted. Unintelligent and highly intelligent animal types cannot be affected; an animal must have intelligence from Animal to Low (1-7) in order to be susceptible to Natural Empathy. Some non-intelligent plants can be affected, but not molds, slimes, and similar growths. Natural Enchantment: Naturalists can learn and cast all spells dealing with or affecting plants or animals, regardless of school or Realm, gaining a +25% bonus to their Chance to Know spells of this type. This category includes summoning and shape-changing spells that can but do not always bring animals or plant creatures (e.g., monster summoning I, which can bring giant rats but can also bring orcs or other non-animal monsters; polymorph self would also fall into this area). A Naturalist can also attempt to learn Priest spells from the Animal, Nature, and Plant spheres, treating these as if they were wizard spells in a Major FOS. He or she must study with a priest capable of casting a desired spell and make a learn spells roll (with no bonus) in order to successfully translate the priestly incantation into a form suitable for wizardly use. Such spells count against his or her maximum number of spells of each level, as if they were wizard spells. In addition, Naturalists do not need to memorize spells, as their intimate and detailed knowledge of magical energy patterns and reservoirs or sources of power that exist throughout nature allow them to tap into this ambient magical energy to empower their spells, selecting enchantments as the need arises and then summoning up the needed energy to cast them from the environment. They use the same spell progression table as other Wizards in terms of how many spells of each level they can cast, but they need not preselect which spells they will have available. When a Naturalist wishes to cast a spell, he or she simply decides upon a spell he or she knows and then begins to gather in ambient life energy. To determine how long this gathering must be performed in order to summon the power to cast the spell, roll 1d10 for each level of the spell, modifying the results as follows: Modifier Condition/Terrain -3/die Wilderness (ancient forest, mountain peak, river source)* -2/die Wilderness (forest, mountain, river, coast) -1/die Wilderness (other) no modifier Rural (scattered settlements) +1/die Suburban (village/town) +2/die Urban (city) +3/die Urban (large city--e.g., Waterdeep, Suzail, Calimport, Huzuz, Greyhawk, Dyvers) * including within a 'mythal', regardless of the degree of urbanization or development present or the base terrain type No roll can be reduced below 1, but a roll can be increased beyond 10. Once the result has been adjusted for terrain type, the Naturalist should subtract his or her own level from the total, doubled if the Naturalist is casting a plant- or animal-related Wizard spell (but not a translated Priest spell). This total should then be divided by ten. The result indicates the number of rounds that must be spent gathering energy. Any leftover decimals equate to an initiative modifier before spellcasting can begin in that round. Once energy has been gathered, the spell can be cast with its normal casting time. If the result is 0 or less, sufficient natural magical energy exists to begin casting immediately, without needing to spend time gathering power. Examples: 1. A 6th level Naturalist wishes to cast fly in a rural area. This is a 3rd level spell so 3d10 are rolled, totaling 18, with no modifier for terrain. Subtracting the caster's level leaves 12, which divided by 10 is 1.2. Thus, one full round must be spent gathering energy. In the following round, the Naturalist suffers an initiative penalty of +2, and then the actual casting of the spell can begin. 2. If the same Naturalist had instead tried to cast monster summoning I, the level modifier would have been doubled to -12 for a result of 6, indicating that the spell could have been cast within the first round, with an initiative modifier of +6 (to gather energy) followed by the spell's casting time of 3. 3. If the monster summoning I spell had been cast within a forested wilderness, the 3d10 roll would have been modified by -2 per die based on the terrain, likely resulting in a -6 terrain modifier. This would produce a net result of 0 for spell-gathering. Thus, the area is so heavy with natural energy that the Naturalist would be able to instantly tap into it and begin casting the spell; energy-gathering essentially requires no time in this case. While gathering energy, a Naturalist can move at his or her full normal movement rate (though cannot run or charge) but cannot attack or use magical items. This gathering is not spellcasting, however, and cannot be disrupted; if a Naturalist is struck for damage while still gathering energy but before the round in which a spell will be cast, gathering proceeds normally and spellcasting is not disrupted. A Naturalist is also capable of prememorizing spells as normal for a wizard; the option of drawing power and selecting spells at the time of casting offers a great deal of flexibility but at the cost of having a set arsenal of spells ready for instant use. It is possible for a Naturalist to memorize some spells while leaving other 'spell slots' available for later use by this energy- gathering method. Priest spells must be cast by gathering energy--they cannot be memorized ahead of time. Spell Storage: As a standard Enchanter, save that a Naturalist's magic-storing devices must be natural artifacts or hand-carved and shaped items obtained from a wilderness area at least a day's travel from civilization. These materials and associated rituals (often including offerings to nature spirits) cost only one-tenth the normal amount. A Naturalist can only use Spell Storage to store Naturalism spells, but he or she can store a number of spell levels equal to his or her experience level (rather than halving his or her level as usual). Special Hindrances: Naturalists are interested in studying and cataloguing the wonders of nature, particularly focusing on the living bounty of the plant and animal world. Though they faithfully record their observations and their theories and often keep extensive libraries of their own research and that of others, they have little interest in the cloistered laboratory study and experimentation practiced by most Enchanters. As a result, unlike all other Enchanters, a Naturalist does not require a laboratory of any sort. Of course, if he or she wishes to perform spell research or magical item creation at some point during his or her career, it will be necessary to gain the use of appropriate facilities, but for the day-to-day practice of his or her craft, learning and casting spells, and use of his or her class abilities, a Naturalist has no need of a lab. The downside of this attitude is that a Naturalist also has no facility with Enchantment Enhancement and Quasimagical Creation--two of the special skills that standard Enchanters have developed and refined through dedicated laboratory work. In a similar vein, Naturalists devote far more of their time to the study of the natural world and magical applications to it than other Enchanters, letting other magical skills 'fall by the wayside'. As a result, though they retain their normal expertise in Enchantment and have special skill with both wizard and priest spells relating to plants, animals, and nature in general, they are much less skilled at other forms of magic than other Enchanters, treating the Realms of Conjuration, Elementalism, and Lore as Minor Fields of Study rather than Major. Bonus Proficiencies: Animal Lore, Herbalism Preferred Proficiencies: Agriculture, Ancient History, Animal Handling, Animal Noise, Artistic Ability, Cartography, Ecology, Fungi Recognition, Language (any), Numeracy, Reading/Writing, Research, Riding (any), Survival, Teaching, Weather Sense ***DISCLAIMER*** As with all postings by me of classes or races, it should be noted that portions of the information contained herein were inspired by or derived from information in published works of TSR, Inc., and may contain references to those works, quotations or passages of text (especially in the area of 'Character Description', where applicable sections from TSR works were often carried over more or less intact into my campaign world), or particular powers or abilities invented by TSR staff writers. No relationship with TSR, Inc., is to be implied by this use, nor is any attempt being made to solicit profit or remuneration of any kind. I have read the TSR Online Policy document, and have tried to accommodate the stipulations contained therein. In instances where I have lifted an essentially complete class or race without significant alteration, I have not included these in my postings but instead have inserted a reference to the appropriate D&D sourcebook for those curious in including it in their campaign. Only variations that include a significant component of original work, alteration, or reformulation (including the compositing elements from various TSR sources into new combinations) of have been included in this set of postings. Jason Eric Nelson < tjaden@u.washington.edu >