• The VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!

Water Druids

Dreaddisease

First Post
I have considered making a Marine Druid for a Ocean-based campaign we are starting.

Has there been anything published or something that has been house ruled to take the forest out of the druid? At Second Level The druid gets Woodland Stride (pretty useful when your on a boat or on the shore or pretty much on the water) and Trackless Step (as one player in our party said "We won't have to swab the deck so often"). I was wondering if I could swap these out with more useful abilities that doesn't overpower the character.

I was also wondering how feasible it would be to eventually give Druids the speak with animals ability (either times per day or for free) by swapping out other things.
 

log in or register to remove this ad

AIM-54

First Post
I'm not sure about 3E, but in 2E the Complete Druid's Handbook had all kinds of stuff on non-forest druids. I loved that book because it made Druid's, which I was already a fan of, ten times more interesting. Depending on one's world, one should feel free to switch out different abilities to make the druid appropriate to the setting. It sounds like you've already put some thought into this, so with some careful consideration, perhaps in conjunction with some of your players, you could have a pretty good, setting appropriate variant on the core druid.

Just my $0.02
 

Tonguez

A suffusion of yellow
Actually Druids work pretty well as is (except perhaps for the Trackless Step ability). Woodland stride becomes invaluable when you have Druids swimming through kelp or other entangling seaweeds.

I'd swap out Trackless Step for an 'Orientation' ability:

Orientation: Using their knowledge of swells, cloud formations and other signs a Marine Druid is always able to locate the direction towards the nearest landmass. (NB Skill in Navigation is still required to identify the landmass and to determine distance to reach it)
 

Tonguez

A suffusion of yellow
And here's my take on the Sea Ranger

Hautai (Sea Ranger) – Master Fisherman, Mariners and Navigators the Sea Ranger is the master of the open sea, out beyond the protection of the reef sailing the high seas and casting nets and lines out against sharks and other monsters of the deep.

BAb - as Ranger
Saves – as Ranger

Class Abilities
1. Track, Maritime Skills, Aquatic Combat
2. Endure Elements, Improved Swim
3. Sea Legs, Landfinding, Weather Sense,
4.
5. Landfinding 2, Oceans Bounty
6. .
7. .
8. Improved Aquatic Combat
9. .
10.
11. .
12. Endure Elements 2, Freedom of Movement
13. .
14. .
15.
16. Hold Breath

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The Hautai is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, and light armor

Spells: As Ranger See below

Track: In addition to the standard Track ability the Hautai can also ‘Track’ creatures through the water.
Water Conditions DC: Clear water -2 ,Calm surface –1, Slightly murky water +0, Small waves +0, Medium, choppy waves +1, Large waves +2, Obscuring clouds of silt +2, Storm waves +4
Distance Dc: Within 20' of target 10, 20' to 30' apart 15, More than 30' apart +1/10'

Maritime Skills: Due to the extensive training that the Hautai receives in and around the water, she automatically gains training and competency bonuses to the following skills at 1st level:
Swim+4 Profession (Vaka) +2, Profession (Navigator) +2 (training is assumed)

Aquatic Combat: As master Hunter of Big Game Fish like Sharks the Hautai is trained in the best techniques and methods for surviving combat both when on or in the water. The Hautai gains a bonus to Listen, Move Silently,Sense Motive,and Spot checks when using these skills against creatures found at sea whether deep water or shallows (including shoreline). Likewise, she gets the same bonus to weapon damage rolls against these creatures. Bonus is Deep water+1 Shallows/Shore+2
At Level 8 the bonuses increase to Deep water+2 Shallows/Shore+4
Deep Water refers to anywhere the character can not touch the bottom whilst fully submerged

Endure Elements: Used to the dangers of the Sea the Hautai gains +2 bonus to all Fort saves made against weather effects (cold, wind, heat), drowning and starvation.
At Level 12 this bonus increases to +5

Improved Swim (new feat)– The Sea Ranger is able to swim at ½ their base speed as a move action or at their base speed as a full round action. Additionally they do not suffer the –1 penalty for swimming underwater (but still drown as per usual if they run out of breath)

Sea Legs: A Hautai spends years living and working on the water, and has learned to stay on her feet during fair weather and foul. At 3rd level, a Hautai gains a +2 competence bonus to all Balance checks. Furthermore, a successful check allows a full move instead of a half move. A failed check still means no movement at all.

Landfinding: By reading the combination of swells, prevailing winds, stars and water salinity the Hautai can always locate the direction of and predict the distance (in days of travel) to his home island. The Mariner can also locate the direction (but not distance) of other Islands they have been to for more than 1 day with a Prof Navigator check DC 15
At 5th level with a Prof Navigator check DC 15 the Mariner can locate the direction of any landmass within 50 miles

Weather Sense: With a Successful Wilderness Law check a Sea Ranger can predict the Weather for the next few days. The DC is 10+2 per day (eg weather in 3 days has DC 16 (10+6)).

Oceans Bounty: The Hautai is a Master Fisherman and can find and locate schools of fish as required. The Hautai can also locate drinkable water at sea (often by following rain clouds). The Oceans Bounty requires 1 hour to locate

Freedom of Movement: Starting at 12th level, a Hautai knows how to use her abilities and weapons to their best effect when underwater. As a result, when underwater, she suffers no penalties to movement or attack rolls as if she were the recipient of the freedom of movement spell
This is an Extraordinary ability.

Hold Breath: At 16th level, a Hautai has learned how to survive underwater for extended periods of time. She can hold her breath for a number of rounds equal Constitution x4, instead of double Con as normal

1st-LEVEL SEA RANGER SPELLS
Alarm
Animal Friendship
Delay Poison
Detect Animals or Plants
Detect Snares and Pits
Entangle
Magic Fang
Obscuring Mist
Pass without Trace
Read Magic
Resist Elements
Speak with Animals
Summon Nature's Ally I

2nd-LEVEL SEA RANGER SPELLS
Animal Messenger
Cure Light Wounds
Detect Chaos/Evil/Good/Law
Hold Animal
Locate Object
Protection from Elements
Sleep
Snare
Summon Nature's Ally II

3rd-LEVEL SEA RANGER SPELLS
Cure Moderate Wounds
Greater Magic Fang
Gust of Wind
Neutralize Poison
Plant Growth
Remove Disease
Summon Nature's Ally III
Water Walk
Water Breathing

4th-LEVEL SEA RANGER SPELLS
Sending
Cure Serious Wounds
Freedom of Movement
Nondetection
Polymorph Self
Summon Nature's Ally IV
Wind Wall
 

Hypersmurf

Moderatarrrrh...
Tonguez said:
Actually Druids work pretty well as is (except perhaps for the Trackless Step ability).

Yeah - I'm playing a sailor-druid at the moment, and didn't change anything.

(She got her training on an environmentalist ship picketing naval vessels testing the new and experimental gunpowder technology... she was originally planned as a ditzy blonde hippie chick loosely modelled on Phoebe, but once I saw the party she was joining, I had to do a quick personality shift. Introducing more chaos into that mix would have been dire!)

The campaign's mostly based around a city in the middle of the desert, but we have done some sailing, so she hasn't felt completely out of place :) And she's got a Folding Boat, so she's happy now :)

-Hyp.
 

Richards

Legend
Tonguez - those are pretty cool. As far as published material, Mongoose has a Sea Druid in its 3.0 Seas of Blood and its 3.5 Book of the Sea.

Johnathan
 



morbiczer

First Post
Don't know if this helps even the least, but Dragon 314 has a PrC that you could take a look at. It is called Darkwater Knight, but works actually well for Druids. The only problem is that it is designed with lakes or oceans of the Underdark in mind, not normal waters. But probably you still can get some inspiration from it.

There are also a few feats and some spells in this article, which would work well for water themed druid.
 

Dreaddisease said:
I have considered making a Marine Druid for a Ocean-based campaign we are starting. ..... At Second Level The druid gets Woodland Stride (pretty useful when your on a boat or on the shore or pretty much on the water) and Trackless Step (as one player in our party said "We won't have to swab the deck so often"). I was wondering if I could swap these out with more useful abilities that doesn't overpower the character.

Trackless Step becomes useful with just one minor extension of logic. Normally a creature gets a bonus to track with the scent ability, but a druid cannot be tracked. This means a druid doesn't leave a scent.

Extend Trackless out so that Druids do not register to Scent abilities in the water.


I was also wondering how feasible it would be to eventually give Druids the speak with animals ability (either times per day or for free) by swapping out other things.

Mmmm, just use magic or get one of the items. Consider the Persistent feat. Or get Wildspeak (sp?), the feat that lets a druid speak with similar animals when wildshaped.
 

Remove ads

Top