Quetzocoatl
First Post
I posted this on another board a while ago, but I wanted to see what sort of responce it would get here. Comments wanted.
Ally of the Leaf and Branch
A slight breeze ruffled the leaves of the Torram Trees in the warm summer morning. Khal looked up at the great canopy and sighed. These were grand trees, taller than any building back at home, older than the oldest elves. They had stood here for thousands of years, watching over this great forest like great monarchs presiding over their kingdoms. Khal smiled. He was here to cut them down.
Hefting his ax over his shoulder, the woodsman strode forward slowly, taking in the majesty he was about to destroy. He couldn't believe his luck in being the first to get this grove; Torram wood was highly prized back home, and he would make a killing off so much wood. He motioned his men forward, they advanced on the trees, their axes glinting in the pillars of sunlight coming through the canopy.
'All right boys, chop em' down!' he bellowed, lifting his ax.
That's when everything went wrong.
His ax came down, striking the great tree. There was a loud 'crack', and for a moment, Khal though he had felled the great tree in one swing. No such luck. The crack had been from his ax haft, splintering into pieces. The other woodsman were staring in astonishment at him. Khal was the greatest lumberjack of all time (or as far as they knew), and his prized ax had been in his family for years. Khal was taken aback too, but he wasn't about to let his men see his surprise. 'Damn elven wood!' he swore loudly 'Can't trust 'em for anything'. Grabbing the nearest woodsman's ax, he swung the blade back for another try. Right as he was about to hit the tree once again, one word pierced trough the forest's silence, making him halt the ax's swing.
'Stop!' The voice was commanding, loud while soft.
Whirling around, Khal was infuriated by the insolence of one of these boys telling him what to do. 'Who said that?' he roared.
'I did'. A slight human girl stepped out from the trees. Clad in hide, she held a wooden staff. Brown hair, green eyes, the girl couldn't be more than fifteen. 'You must not harm these trees. They have stood here for many years, you have no right to-'
'And who gives you the right to order me around, little girl?' he interrupted. He had seen her kind before, activists that were all talk and no action, claiming to protect nature while they comfortably lived in a wooden house, with wood furniture wearing animal furs. 'Why don't you run off to your mother before you get hurt in the big, scary, woods'.
'Who gives me the right, you ask? The trees.'
Following the girls gaze up at the marvelous tree trunks, Khal stepped back in fright.
The trees had faces.
The Allies of the Leaf and Branch is a secret organization dedicated to protecting and preserving the trees of the forest against the onslaught of civilization. Using their extraordinary powers granted by their extreme dedication to this cause, they fight back against the ever increasing incursions of mankind upon their woodland home. Although they are protective of all aspects of the forest, they care especially for the trees. The Allies teach that trees give all things life and thus should be respected. However, they are not against cutting down one tree for a good cause if it is replaced by the seeds of many others. In fact, as a rite of passage into the allies, a prospective member must carve a wooden staff and carry it with them at all times.
Druids are overwhelmingly the most common allies of the leaf and branch, their already strong bond with the woodlands making them perfect candidates. Rangers make fine allies for much the same reason. Clerics of Ehlonna and Obad Hai can become allies of leaf and branch, focusing their god's love of nature on trees rather than animals and other plants. Members of other classes are rare allies indeed.
Requirements
Alignment: any non evil
Knowledge (nature): 9 ranks
Wilderness Lore: 6 ranks
Craft (woodcarving): 4 ranks
Feat: Alertness, Sanctum Spell (T&B)
Spellcasting: Must be able to cast Tree Shape
Special: In order to gain entrance into the order, a prospective member must carve a wooden staff or cudgel (depending on the size of the character). Carving it requires a craft (wood carving) check (DC 15) and two days. Another ally of leaf and branch (of at least seventh level) must then bless it with an ironwood spell. When used in this manner, the spell is permanent. This is the only weapon the ally can ever wield. If he wields another weapon ever, he loses all class abilities until a seventh level or higher ally of leaf and branch casts an atonement spell on him.
In addition, the prospective member must spend a day planting saplings and seeds in an area that is sparse in trees.
HD: d8
BAB: As druid
Saves: As druid
Skill points: 4 + Int mod
Skills: Climb, concentration, craft, diplomacy, heal, hide, intimidate, intuit direction, knowledge (nature), listen, move silently, spot, scry, and wilderness lore
Class Features:
Level…Special…………………………
1…Strength of Wood 1/level/day, Oath of the Leaf &Branch.
2…Strong Tree 10'/+1/5, Towering Oak
3…If a Tree Falls in the Forest
4…Strong Tree 20'/+2/10, Eternal Oak
5…Break Not a Twig, Friend of the Forest
6…Strong Tree 30'/+3/15, Tough Oak
7…Ritual of Awakening 1/week
8…Strong Tree 40'/+4/20, Oak Body
9…Ritual of Awakening 2/week
10..Strong Tree 50'/+5/25, Changestaff
Level--Spells Per Day
-------1/2/3/4
1------1/-/-/-
2------2/-/-/-
3------3/0/-/-
4------4/1/-/-
5------4/2/-/-
6------4/3/0/-
7------4/4/1/-
8------4/4/2/0
9------4/4/3/1
10-----4/4/4/2
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The ally of leaf and branch is proficient only in his special staff (see special section of requirements) as a weapon. He has the same armor and shield restrictions as the druid.
Oath of the Leaf and Branch: At first level, the ally must take the Oath of the Leaf and Branch. If the ally ever breaks this oath on purpose, she loses all the features of this class forever. If it is broken inadvertently, she may atone to another ally of at least seventh level (see the atonement spell). The oath states that the ally must never harm a tree unnecessarily, and if she does ever cut down a tree with good reasons, she must plant the seeds of at least three other trees in its place. She may never wear metal, and may never wield a weapon other than her specially crafted staff. Although most allies never leave their forest, a few do adventure, planting trees in areas devoid of woodlands.
Spells: Starting at first level, the ally can cast a small number of divine spells from his own spell list. These spells are cast in the same manner that a druid cast spells. The key ability modifier for these spells is wisdom.
Strength of Wood (spell-like): Once per day per level, the ally of the leaf and branch can magically alter his staff to become a shillelagh, as per the spell of the same name cast by a druid of the ally's level.
Strong Tree (su): At second level, the ally of the leaf and branch can protect nearby trees against loggers, fires, and other such threats. This ability can be used a number of rounds per day equal to the ally's level x his wisdom modifier (so a third level ally with a +4 wisdom bonus could use this ability 12 rounds a day). These rounds need not be used all at once. When activated (as a free action) all trees (not wooden objects) within the listed radius from the ally gain the listed bonus to hardness and the listed resistance to fire. Deactivating this ability is a free action as well.
Towering Oak (Ex): In order to protect his forest, the ally must often rely on scare tactics to avert hunters and woodsman. He adds his level to all intimidate checks when in a forest setting.
If a Tree Falls in a Forest…(supernatural): At third level, the ally can tell when his tree friends are in danger. Whenever a tree within a one mile radius from the ally falls because of unnatural reasons (even if no one is around to hear it), the ally's special staff glows green and points towards the fallen tree. This is a supernatural ability.
Eternal Oak (Ex): At fourth level, the trees begin to reward the ally by bestowing their longevity upon the ally. He reaches his maximum age for death at twice their normal age of death.
Friend of the Forest: At fifth leve, the ally can draw strength from the trees, empowering her magic. For the purposes of the feat sanctum spell, all woodland areas are now considered the ally's 'sanctum'.
Break Not a Twig (extraordinary): The ally is now adept at moving through woodlands without disturbing the environment. This is identical to the druidd woodland stride and trackless step, applicable only in forests. In addition, she gains a +5 competence bonus when moving silently and hiding in such areas.
Tough Oak (Ex): At sixth level, the great trees impart some of their incredible toughness upon the Ally. He gains +1 natural armor, 3 bonus HP, and +1 on fortitude saves.
Ritual of Awakening (spell-like): The listed number of times per week, the ally can awaken trees to human like sentience by going through a day-long ritual. This is otherwise exactly like the spell Awaken cast by a druid of the ally's level, except she can awaken up to a number of trees equal to her wisdom modifier. The ally must pay 250 XP for each tree so awakened.
Oak Body (Sp): At eigth level, the ally can actually become a part tree- part person form once per day. Activating this power is a full round action that provokes AoOs. It lasts for one minute per AotL&B level. In this form, the ally gains the wood elemental template (see bottom of post).
Changestaff (spell-like): At tenth level, the ally can cause her staff to become a treant up to a number of times per day equal to her wisdom modifier (minimum 1). This is in all other ways like the druid spell Changestaff cast by a tenth level caster, except that the special staff is the one indicated in the special section, and once killed, the treant simply turns back into the staff it was made from. However, if this happens (the staff treant is killed) this power cannot be used for the rest of the day.
Ally of Leaf and Branch Spell List:Level 1: Barkskin, Brambles (DotF), Tree Shape, Warp Wood
Level 2: Control Plants, Plant Growth, Snare, Spikes (DotF), Rusting Grasp, Quench
Level 3: Atonement, Commune With Nature, Fire Seeds, Ironwood, Liveoak, Tree Stride, Wall of Thorns, Repel Metal and Stone
Level 4: Antipathy, Command Plants, Shambler, Sympathy, Word of Recall
Wood Element Template (From Manual of the Planes)
Wood element creatures dwell on the Elemental Plane of Wood or similar hospitable domains, includeing the Material Plane. They have the same general form as material plane beings but are made entirely of wood, branches, and leaves. They have ebon, opaline spheres for eyes, and their clawlike hands end in jagged splinters.
Creating a Wood Element Creature
'Wood Element' is a template that can be added to any corpereal creature of the following types: aberation, animal, beast, magical beast, or vermin (the Ally is the one exception to this rule). THe creatue's type changes to 'Elemental (wood)' if your campaign has the elemental plane of wood. If not, its type is 'Plant'. It uses all the creature's statistics and special abilities, except as noted here.
Hit Dice: change to d8
AC: +2 natural armor
Speed: Normal (ground) speed is halved. All other types of movement (swim, fly, climb) are unaffected.
Special Attacks: A wood element creature retains all the special attacks of the base creature and also gains the following:
If the wood element creauture already has one of the special qualities listed above, he uses the better value.
Saves: No change
Abilities: No change
Skills: Same as base creature. If the wood element creature hasan Intelligence of 4 or greater,it speaks Sylvan and the language of Treants.
Feats: No change
-------------------------------------------
Climate/Terrain: Any land and underground
Organization: Same as base creature.
CR: Up to 3 HD, same as base creature. 3-7 HD, same as base creature +1. 8+ HD, same as base creature +2.
Treasure: Same as base creature.
Alignment: Usually neutral.
Advancement: Same as base creature.
Ally of the Leaf and Branch
A slight breeze ruffled the leaves of the Torram Trees in the warm summer morning. Khal looked up at the great canopy and sighed. These were grand trees, taller than any building back at home, older than the oldest elves. They had stood here for thousands of years, watching over this great forest like great monarchs presiding over their kingdoms. Khal smiled. He was here to cut them down.
Hefting his ax over his shoulder, the woodsman strode forward slowly, taking in the majesty he was about to destroy. He couldn't believe his luck in being the first to get this grove; Torram wood was highly prized back home, and he would make a killing off so much wood. He motioned his men forward, they advanced on the trees, their axes glinting in the pillars of sunlight coming through the canopy.
'All right boys, chop em' down!' he bellowed, lifting his ax.
That's when everything went wrong.
His ax came down, striking the great tree. There was a loud 'crack', and for a moment, Khal though he had felled the great tree in one swing. No such luck. The crack had been from his ax haft, splintering into pieces. The other woodsman were staring in astonishment at him. Khal was the greatest lumberjack of all time (or as far as they knew), and his prized ax had been in his family for years. Khal was taken aback too, but he wasn't about to let his men see his surprise. 'Damn elven wood!' he swore loudly 'Can't trust 'em for anything'. Grabbing the nearest woodsman's ax, he swung the blade back for another try. Right as he was about to hit the tree once again, one word pierced trough the forest's silence, making him halt the ax's swing.
'Stop!' The voice was commanding, loud while soft.
Whirling around, Khal was infuriated by the insolence of one of these boys telling him what to do. 'Who said that?' he roared.
'I did'. A slight human girl stepped out from the trees. Clad in hide, she held a wooden staff. Brown hair, green eyes, the girl couldn't be more than fifteen. 'You must not harm these trees. They have stood here for many years, you have no right to-'
'And who gives you the right to order me around, little girl?' he interrupted. He had seen her kind before, activists that were all talk and no action, claiming to protect nature while they comfortably lived in a wooden house, with wood furniture wearing animal furs. 'Why don't you run off to your mother before you get hurt in the big, scary, woods'.
'Who gives me the right, you ask? The trees.'
Following the girls gaze up at the marvelous tree trunks, Khal stepped back in fright.
The trees had faces.
The Allies of the Leaf and Branch is a secret organization dedicated to protecting and preserving the trees of the forest against the onslaught of civilization. Using their extraordinary powers granted by their extreme dedication to this cause, they fight back against the ever increasing incursions of mankind upon their woodland home. Although they are protective of all aspects of the forest, they care especially for the trees. The Allies teach that trees give all things life and thus should be respected. However, they are not against cutting down one tree for a good cause if it is replaced by the seeds of many others. In fact, as a rite of passage into the allies, a prospective member must carve a wooden staff and carry it with them at all times.
Druids are overwhelmingly the most common allies of the leaf and branch, their already strong bond with the woodlands making them perfect candidates. Rangers make fine allies for much the same reason. Clerics of Ehlonna and Obad Hai can become allies of leaf and branch, focusing their god's love of nature on trees rather than animals and other plants. Members of other classes are rare allies indeed.
Requirements
Alignment: any non evil
Knowledge (nature): 9 ranks
Wilderness Lore: 6 ranks
Craft (woodcarving): 4 ranks
Feat: Alertness, Sanctum Spell (T&B)
Spellcasting: Must be able to cast Tree Shape
Special: In order to gain entrance into the order, a prospective member must carve a wooden staff or cudgel (depending on the size of the character). Carving it requires a craft (wood carving) check (DC 15) and two days. Another ally of leaf and branch (of at least seventh level) must then bless it with an ironwood spell. When used in this manner, the spell is permanent. This is the only weapon the ally can ever wield. If he wields another weapon ever, he loses all class abilities until a seventh level or higher ally of leaf and branch casts an atonement spell on him.
In addition, the prospective member must spend a day planting saplings and seeds in an area that is sparse in trees.
HD: d8
BAB: As druid
Saves: As druid
Skill points: 4 + Int mod
Skills: Climb, concentration, craft, diplomacy, heal, hide, intimidate, intuit direction, knowledge (nature), listen, move silently, spot, scry, and wilderness lore
Class Features:
Level…Special…………………………
1…Strength of Wood 1/level/day, Oath of the Leaf &Branch.
2…Strong Tree 10'/+1/5, Towering Oak
3…If a Tree Falls in the Forest
4…Strong Tree 20'/+2/10, Eternal Oak
5…Break Not a Twig, Friend of the Forest
6…Strong Tree 30'/+3/15, Tough Oak
7…Ritual of Awakening 1/week
8…Strong Tree 40'/+4/20, Oak Body
9…Ritual of Awakening 2/week
10..Strong Tree 50'/+5/25, Changestaff
Level--Spells Per Day
-------1/2/3/4
1------1/-/-/-
2------2/-/-/-
3------3/0/-/-
4------4/1/-/-
5------4/2/-/-
6------4/3/0/-
7------4/4/1/-
8------4/4/2/0
9------4/4/3/1
10-----4/4/4/2
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The ally of leaf and branch is proficient only in his special staff (see special section of requirements) as a weapon. He has the same armor and shield restrictions as the druid.
Oath of the Leaf and Branch: At first level, the ally must take the Oath of the Leaf and Branch. If the ally ever breaks this oath on purpose, she loses all the features of this class forever. If it is broken inadvertently, she may atone to another ally of at least seventh level (see the atonement spell). The oath states that the ally must never harm a tree unnecessarily, and if she does ever cut down a tree with good reasons, she must plant the seeds of at least three other trees in its place. She may never wear metal, and may never wield a weapon other than her specially crafted staff. Although most allies never leave their forest, a few do adventure, planting trees in areas devoid of woodlands.
Spells: Starting at first level, the ally can cast a small number of divine spells from his own spell list. These spells are cast in the same manner that a druid cast spells. The key ability modifier for these spells is wisdom.
Strength of Wood (spell-like): Once per day per level, the ally of the leaf and branch can magically alter his staff to become a shillelagh, as per the spell of the same name cast by a druid of the ally's level.
Strong Tree (su): At second level, the ally of the leaf and branch can protect nearby trees against loggers, fires, and other such threats. This ability can be used a number of rounds per day equal to the ally's level x his wisdom modifier (so a third level ally with a +4 wisdom bonus could use this ability 12 rounds a day). These rounds need not be used all at once. When activated (as a free action) all trees (not wooden objects) within the listed radius from the ally gain the listed bonus to hardness and the listed resistance to fire. Deactivating this ability is a free action as well.
Towering Oak (Ex): In order to protect his forest, the ally must often rely on scare tactics to avert hunters and woodsman. He adds his level to all intimidate checks when in a forest setting.
If a Tree Falls in a Forest…(supernatural): At third level, the ally can tell when his tree friends are in danger. Whenever a tree within a one mile radius from the ally falls because of unnatural reasons (even if no one is around to hear it), the ally's special staff glows green and points towards the fallen tree. This is a supernatural ability.
Eternal Oak (Ex): At fourth level, the trees begin to reward the ally by bestowing their longevity upon the ally. He reaches his maximum age for death at twice their normal age of death.
Friend of the Forest: At fifth leve, the ally can draw strength from the trees, empowering her magic. For the purposes of the feat sanctum spell, all woodland areas are now considered the ally's 'sanctum'.
Break Not a Twig (extraordinary): The ally is now adept at moving through woodlands without disturbing the environment. This is identical to the druidd woodland stride and trackless step, applicable only in forests. In addition, she gains a +5 competence bonus when moving silently and hiding in such areas.
Tough Oak (Ex): At sixth level, the great trees impart some of their incredible toughness upon the Ally. He gains +1 natural armor, 3 bonus HP, and +1 on fortitude saves.
Ritual of Awakening (spell-like): The listed number of times per week, the ally can awaken trees to human like sentience by going through a day-long ritual. This is otherwise exactly like the spell Awaken cast by a druid of the ally's level, except she can awaken up to a number of trees equal to her wisdom modifier. The ally must pay 250 XP for each tree so awakened.
Oak Body (Sp): At eigth level, the ally can actually become a part tree- part person form once per day. Activating this power is a full round action that provokes AoOs. It lasts for one minute per AotL&B level. In this form, the ally gains the wood elemental template (see bottom of post).
Changestaff (spell-like): At tenth level, the ally can cause her staff to become a treant up to a number of times per day equal to her wisdom modifier (minimum 1). This is in all other ways like the druid spell Changestaff cast by a tenth level caster, except that the special staff is the one indicated in the special section, and once killed, the treant simply turns back into the staff it was made from. However, if this happens (the staff treant is killed) this power cannot be used for the rest of the day.
Ally of Leaf and Branch Spell List:Level 1: Barkskin, Brambles (DotF), Tree Shape, Warp Wood
Level 2: Control Plants, Plant Growth, Snare, Spikes (DotF), Rusting Grasp, Quench
Level 3: Atonement, Commune With Nature, Fire Seeds, Ironwood, Liveoak, Tree Stride, Wall of Thorns, Repel Metal and Stone
Level 4: Antipathy, Command Plants, Shambler, Sympathy, Word of Recall
Wood Element Template (From Manual of the Planes)
Wood element creatures dwell on the Elemental Plane of Wood or similar hospitable domains, includeing the Material Plane. They have the same general form as material plane beings but are made entirely of wood, branches, and leaves. They have ebon, opaline spheres for eyes, and their clawlike hands end in jagged splinters.
Creating a Wood Element Creature
'Wood Element' is a template that can be added to any corpereal creature of the following types: aberation, animal, beast, magical beast, or vermin (the Ally is the one exception to this rule). THe creatue's type changes to 'Elemental (wood)' if your campaign has the elemental plane of wood. If not, its type is 'Plant'. It uses all the creature's statistics and special abilities, except as noted here.
Hit Dice: change to d8
AC: +2 natural armor
Speed: Normal (ground) speed is halved. All other types of movement (swim, fly, climb) are unaffected.
Special Attacks: A wood element creature retains all the special attacks of the base creature and also gains the following:
- Spikes (Ex):A wood element creature can release volleys of bark, splinters, or wood shards, up to four such spikes per round, as a standard action. This attack has a range of 120 feet with no range increment. Damage is 1d6 + strength bonus. The wood element creature can launch up to its total HD total in spikes per day.
- Elemental: Immune to posion, critical hits, sleep, paralysis, and stunning.
- Darkvision with a range of 60 feet.
- Damage Reduction (see table).
Hit Dice....Damage Reduction
1-7.........--..............
8-11........5/+1............
12+.........10/+1...........
- Plant: While of the elemental type, a wood element creature is plantlike. In addition to the benefits gained from the elemental type, a wood elemental gains immunity to polymorphing and is not subject to mind-influencing effects.
- Woodsence (Ec}: A wood element creature can automatically sense the location of anything within 60 feet that is in contact with vegatation, even if the wood element creature is not in contact with the same vegatation.
If the wood element creauture already has one of the special qualities listed above, he uses the better value.
Saves: No change
Abilities: No change
Skills: Same as base creature. If the wood element creature hasan Intelligence of 4 or greater,it speaks Sylvan and the language of Treants.
Feats: No change
-------------------------------------------
Climate/Terrain: Any land and underground
Organization: Same as base creature.
CR: Up to 3 HD, same as base creature. 3-7 HD, same as base creature +1. 8+ HD, same as base creature +2.
Treasure: Same as base creature.
Alignment: Usually neutral.
Advancement: Same as base creature.
