Does a Blighter give up Druid spells?

The book Masters of the Wild sort of implies that the Blighter no longer gets his/her druidic spells with the statement: The character must be an ex-Druid.... So, no Druid spells? How about Druid class abilities? I'm assuming no, but thought I'd better check.

I just want to run my villain properly. Nothing worse than a weakened villain! :D

TIA.
 

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I think he does give up all druid spells and class abilities. That's why the blighter gets some very good abilities and a number of them over it's 10 levels.
 

Crothian said:
I think he does give up all druid spells and class abilities. That's why the blighter gets some very good abilities and a number of them over it's 10 levels.
Thanks, Crothian!

This Blighter is only 3rd, but my goodness! Burning Hands as often as desired? Bring on the marshmellows!
 

Since when are the blighters abilities any good at all?? They're one of the worst PrC's I've ever seen. Terrible spells, the ability to shift into the weakest creature available, all backed up by a requirement that must be fulfilled or you lose your crappy abilities!

Maybe I'm reading something wrong here - what is precisely so powerful about them (beyond a first level spell at will).
 

Defoerestation, while not powerful is cool. Burning hands at will is pretty good, and it can be turned on and stay on. Susteneance is great for campaigns that actually has people worry about such things. Undead Wildshape is powerful in it's defensive abilities, not so much offensive ones. Contagion touch is nice as is plague. Unmbond is cool if you are going against a Druid or Ranger. The spells are pretty good, and what other prestige class grants up to 6th level spells? Most go to fourth.

This is not a min maxer class. This is a concept class. It is very cool and a good DM can spread fear with one through the PCs. Thankfully, Wizards is writing prestige classes that aren't about power.
 

Saeviomagy said:
Since when are the blighters abilities any good at all?? They're one of the worst PrC's I've ever seen. Terrible spells, the ability to shift into the weakest creature available, all backed up by a requirement that must be fulfilled or you lose your crappy abilities!

Maybe I'm reading something wrong here - what is precisely so powerful about them (beyond a first level spell at will).
For me, it's not about powers (for this villain). I play a lot (as a player) in a region of Greyhawk inhabited by forest lovers. So, playing a villain whose only purpose is to destroy the forest is a lot of fun to role play. I don't think the PCs will be able to "get into" the Blighter's mindset. Why would anyone want to destroy the beautiful forest? is probably what they'll think.

If you're into powers, at high levels there's Contagious Touch. Save or lose ability points--mostly temporary, but that does help a lot in the immediate combat, and Slimy Doom has a chance for permanent Con drain. Or pick on a spell-caster, and pick Mindfire for the Contagious Touch. It's a Fort save, and typical mages won't have a good one. The 1d4 Int loss can really hurt. Now do it three times to the same mage. Or Slimy Doom three times on a mage, with his/her typical low Con score. Unbond - separate a master from its familiar/mount/animal companion. Hmmm, love that 10th level Plague-y goodness (like Contagious touch, but no attack required and it affects all creatures in a 20 ft. radius)... And with a decent AC, you're hard to hit. And after you've used up all your spells (Vampiric Touch, Finger of Death, Firestorm....) and other class abilities, you can do Burning Hands 4800 times in an 8-hour period. Who couldn't have fun using those against players?

Admittedly, against four or six fighter-types, a single Blighter doesn't stand a chance. But the forest is large. And imagine a network of Blighter eco-terrorists....

I assume this Blighter will not live. But if s/he does, the party can meet it later, when it's had time to grow more powerful. And angrier.
 

Crothian - I agree that it's good for a prestige class to have a good concept. I also agree that power isn't everything. HOWEVER I have a problem with a prestige class which significantly reduces the power of someone who takes it (compare with blackguard, the only other PrC I know of requiring you to be an Ex-something), and furthermore does not add anything new.

Everything which a blighter can do can be done by another class.

Bad guys do one of two things (and usually both of them):
a) Make messes that the PC's must clean up.
The blighter's powers all do this. Unfortunately the powers of almost any spellcasting class are sufficient for this, and the powers of most of them surpass him.

b) Face up to the PC's.
The blighter fails on this one. He's got 5 levels wasted on being a druid, which gives him powers he can no longer use, and which he recieves no recompense for. Furthermore the class abilities gained do not compare favourably with those that a comparable spellcaster would have. At the level that the party will be when they meet a blighter (6th+ IIRC), skeletons are not scary, nor is 5d4 damage.

The blighter was a nice concept, but it needs to be useful and worthwhile at the same time. Changing the undead animal/undead form stats would be a good starting point (replace them with animals with the skeleton template from WoTC's website for instance). Giving some recompense for the wasted druid levels would be another (either by giving him the casting ability for those levels back, or somehow allowing it to stack with his own).
 

I was going to use a blighter as a villain in my game, and came to the conclusion that an 8th Druid was going to be a much bigger challenge than a 5th ex-druid, 3rd Blighter, so I abandoned the idea.

I love the concept of the class though, and a thought has just occured to me which might be worth following up.

Blighter is to Druid, as Blackguard is to Paladin.

i.e. give the blighter bonuses for levels of "corrupted" druid which are sacrificed in the process. The more paladin levels a blackguard had before becoming a BG, the bigger the benefits

Cheers
 

Plane Sailing said:
I was going to use a blighter as a villain in my game, and came to the conclusion that an 8th Druid was going to be a much bigger challenge than a 5th ex-druid, 3rd Blighter, so I abandoned the idea.

Of course, couldn't you just make him a 5th ex-druid, 4th Blighter? or 5th Blighter? or however many levels of blighter it takes to make him the right challenge for the party? Is there some absolute need for the character to be 8th level?
 

Blighter is actually the one character I'm DREAMING of to be able to play in my new group at university this year.... and to be precise I found the ultimate race for a blighter...

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/mm/mm20020112a

That race and then a blighter.. the coolness.. aaahhh euphoria!

(and here fot those with bad con or to lame to go to the site it self here is the ultimate BLighter race :D)

"Over there, Scout. That's her." Miala pointed at the enchantingly beautiful creature seated in the clearing. The fairy -- for surely that was what it must be -- sat surrounded by four human males in their early twenties, each clearly bewitched. "See the twisted trees on the far side of the clearing? She causes that. She's some kind of nymph."

"So why didn't you just kill her?" Scout asked, drawing an arrow from her quiver. "It seems easy enough, if she's just a nymph."

"My powers are considerable now, but with those louts fawning at her feet, I would have been in over my head when it came to blows. I left the dogs behind so I could move quietly. And I don't have your gift for archery -- you know that."

Scout fitted the arrow to her bow, then drew the string back and took aim from behind the brush. Her clothing made her six-foot frame meld with the brush, and Miala's leaf armor caused her to actually appear to be part of the bush. Taking careful aim, Scout said, "After we kill it, will the forest return to normal?"

"I don't know; I've never run into one of these. I was able to tell that she was causing the corruption only by observing her for more than a week. And she's not dead yet, friend. . . ."

At that moment, Scout let the arrow fly. The twang of the bowstring echoed through the woods as the arrow sped toward its target. Suddenly, one of the men around the nymph turned and interposed himself between the arrow and its target. As he fell screaming, the others produced clubs and swords, and turned towards the two women in the brush. Scout and Miala drew their own weapons and readied themselves. Miala said, "It's getting to the 'after' that's always hard for us."

Nymph, Unseelie
Medium-Size Fey
Hit Dice: 3d6 (10 hp)
Initiative: +1
Speed: 30 ft.
AC: 11 (+1 Dex)
Attacks: Dagger +1 melee
Damage: Dagger 1d4
Face/Reach: 5 ft. by 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Corruption of nature, corruption of beauty, spell-like abilities
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, SR 16
Saves: Fort +1, Ref +4, Will +5
Abilities: Str 10, Dex 13, Con 11, Int 16, Wis 15, Cha 19
Skills: Bluff +10, Diplomacy +12, Hide +7, Intimidate +6, Knowledge (nature) +9, Listen +10, Move Silently +7, Sense Motive +8, Spot +10, Climb +10* (forest nymph only) or Swim +10 (aquatic nymph only)
Feats: Ability Focus (corruption of beauty), Ability Focus (charm), Alertness, Dodge
Climate/Terrain: Forest, marsh, or aquatic
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 5
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Always neutral evil
Advancement: 4-9 HD (Medium-size) or by character class

As beautiful as nymphs, unseelie nymphs are their exact opposites in outlook and temperament. They delight in the corruption of all that is beautiful and good in nature.

Unseelie nymphs can be found in both forest and aquatic environments, working their destruction. Each has a chosen terrain that it prefers; forest unseelie nymphs live only in forests, and aquatic unseelie nymphs live only at lakeshores or in lakes. They will not willingly live in other terrain; even forest unseelie nymphs will not live near a lakeshore that is contained within the home forest.

An unseelie nymph's beauty rivals, but does not quite equal, the beauty of a good nymph. However, few get the opportunity to compare them side-by-side, and so the subtle differences are not apparent. Unseelie nymphs resemble young human or elven women with perfect features and thick, luxurious hair. Forest unseelie nymphs tend toward brown or black hair, while water-dwelling individuals have blond or a greenish-blue hair that looks just as lovely and appropriate as the more normal hair colors. This beauty hides a heart as corrupt and evil as can be found in the natural world, and the sardonic or hard glints in these creatures' eyes are so fleeting that almost no one sees them. An unseelie nymph never betrays her evil tendencies overtly, always maintaining an appearance of innocence. Because of this, they are often confused with nymphs who have turned off their unearthly beauty's deadly effects.

Unseelie nymphs speak Sylvan and Common.

Combat

Unseelie nymphs avoid combat, relying on their love-stricken companions to defend and protect them. When bereft of such servitors, they seek to escape combat unscathed. Though they are spiteful about destroying the beauty of others, they prize their own beauty too highly to risk it in combat.

Charm (Sp): Any creature who sees the unseelie nymph must make a Will save (DC 17) or fall in love with her. This ability works as the charm person spell cast by a 7th-level sorcerer. If the creature is male, he treats the unseelie nymph as the love of its life, the center of his universe, and will do anything short of ending his own life, or violating his basic ethos, to please the unseelie nymph. Those charmed by an unseelie nymph will not leave her side while the charm is in effect for any reason, and will defend her to the death. (Note: Defending one's love to the death is different than throwing oneself off a cliff simply because the beloved wished one to do so.)

Corruption of Nature (Su): An unseelie nymph can twist and corrupt nature itself. For every week that an unseelie nymph lives in an area, she twists, deforms, and kills the plants, and fouls the water. Fouled water cannot support life, so fish in a lake that becomes fouled by the unseelie nymph die the following week. The unseelie nymph first affects the area around her designated "home," and extends her influence in circular patterns of increasing size. Each week the unseelie nymph can corrupt a circle of radius 150 feet, but successive weeks' circles add on to the first. Thus, in the first week the unseelie nymph corrupts a circle of radius 150 feet centered on her home. The following week, the circle of area affected grows to a radius of 300 feet, and in the following week the circle of effect grows to a radius of 450 feet. The maximum area that can be affected by a single unseelie nymph is a circle with radius 2 miles, and this takes 71 weeks to accomplish. Any plant in the area that is sentient and self-willed or controlled by another creature, such as a druid's oak or a treant, can make a Fortitude save (DC 11) to resist the effect each week that it remains in the area. Creatures that make this saving throw cannot identify the source of the effect simply from being attacked by it.

Corruption of Beauty (Su): Once per week, an unseelie nymph can permanently drain one point of Charisma and one point of Constitution from any creatures under the effects of its charm ability. The range of this ability is 30 feet, and the affected creatures can make a Fortitude save (DC 17) to resist this effect. Males receive a -2 circumstance penalty to this saving throw, as they would willingly give the unseelie nymph anything it requests.

Spell-like Abilities (Sp): Unseelie nymphs can use dimension door once per day as cast by a 7th-level sorcerer.

*Terrain-Dependent Skill: Unseelie nymphs who have chosen water as their home have ranks in the Swim skill, and those who have chosen the forest as their home have ranks in the Climb skill. Unseelie nymphs receive a +4 racial bonus on checks using their terrain-dependent skill.

Ability Focus

Choose one of your special attacks. This attack becomes more potent than normal.

Benefit: Add +2 to the Difficult Class for all saving throws against the special attack you select to focus on.

Special: You can gain this feat multiple times. Its effects do not stack. Each time you take the feat, it applies to a new special attack.
 

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