Geron Raveneye
Explorer
One thing I so love about D&D 3E is the ability to express all the neat old stuff back from my Gazeteer days and really make it shine. I tried my hand on this prestige class, and I wouldn´t mind any comments and constructive criticism. 
I used quite some spells from other sources than PHB, and I´m currently trying to get them nicely scanned in and OCR´d to add them to the document.
Oh, and I had to cut the fancy level-progression table at the end of the document to better fit it in here.
DOH...me stupid. Maybe I should add a short description of what this class was/is in the Mystara background. The merchant-princes are a caste of very successful ship captains/traders who are trained in the magic arts by seafaring elves. Minrothad is an island conglomerate that survives on trading with the nearby coastal nations.
The Merchant-Prince of Minrothad
Requirements
To qualify to become a merchant-prince, a character has to meet all the following requirements.
Race: Only sea elves or humans
Base Attack Bonus: +5
Profession (Sailor): +7
Appraise: +5
Diplomacy: +5
Sense Motive: +5
Special: A character wishing to become merchant-prince must show a trade income of at least 20.000 gp per year.
After a character meets all the requirements, he can enter training with an acclompished merchant-prince.
Class Skills
The class skills of the merchant-prince (and the key abilities for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Intuit Direction (Wis), Knowledge (Int), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Speak Language, Swim (Str) and Use Rope (Dex).
Skill points at each level: 4 + Int modifier
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the minrothad merchant-prince.
Hit Die: d8
BAB: As druid
Saves: As bard
Spell-progression: As druid
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A merchant-prince is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, light armor and shields. The standard armor check penalties apply when armor heavier than leather armor is worn.
Bond with Boat/Ship: At 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th level, a merchant-prince can establish a close bond with a small boat, large boat, small ship or large ship respectively, that resembles that of a familiar. Using this bond, the merchant-prince can target the vessel to which she is bound when casting any spell with personal range, applying the spell´s effect to the ship instead of herself. This ability works for any spell cast by the merchant-prince, regardless of the class that provides it.
To bond to a ship, the merchant-prince must perform a ritual that requires one day for every 25 feet of length of the ship, but at least one day. The merchant-prince must be in contact with the target ship for the whole duration of the ritual. She may eat or drink during the ritual, but may not engage in combat, spellcasting or even animated conversation or sailorwork. Sleep is also forbidden to the merchant-prince, who must make a Willpower saving throw at the beginning of each new day with a DC of 15 + the number of unrested nights to keep herself from falling asleep and break the ritual. An unsuccessful bonding ritual may be repeated once every week.
The merchant-prince may only be bonded to one vessel at a time, but may drop an existing bond at will.
For the purposes of this ability, a small boat is one less than 25 feet long, a large boat is between 25 and 50 feet long, a small ship is 50 to 100 feet long and a large ship is any ship over 100 feet long.
Spells: Beginning at 1st level, the merchant-prince gains the ability to cast divine spells. The spells are selected from the list of merchant-prince spells given below and are prepared and cast similar to druidic spells. The merchant-prince must have a Wisdom of at least 10 + the spell level to be able to cast a specific spell.
Bond Advantages: Merchant-Princes of sufficient level have learned to use the bond between them and their ship to fullest advantage. At 2nd, 5th and 8th level, they may choose one of the bond advantages described below.
Maximization: Whenever a merchant-prince casts a spell with personal range on his ship rather than on himself, he can treat this spell as if it was cast with the Maximize Spell feat, without having to pay the cost for the maximization in spell slots.
Shared damage: Whenever the merchant-prince takes damage, he can choose to transfer half of that damage to his ship. Conversely, he can choose to take half of the damage his ship would take from a successful hit.
As one with the ship: The merchant-prince shares his saving throw values with his ship, effectively rolling the saving throws instead of his ship when it is affected by something that requires a saving throw, like a spell or a spell-like effect.
Steer with the mind: The merchant-prince gains such control over his bondship that he can steer it with his mind alone, without having to stand behind the steering wheel. He can use this ability from anywhere on his ship. Should the wheel be manned, the merchant-prince has to win a contested wisdom check vs. the strength of the man at the wheel to steer the ship. For the purpose of this ability, the merchant-prince may apply the bonus from the feat Iron Will to this check, provided he has the feat.
Eye of the storm: With this ability, the merchant-prince can treat her ship as a calm, peaceful place no matter what the true circumstances are. She can for example prepare spells or rest, move about freely and use any of her skills unpenalized for slippery footing or very rough heaving, e.g. during a storm. This also applies to unusual circumstances, like her ship being lifted by a huge elemental.
Strengthen the Bond: This ability lets the merchant-prince place spells on her ship that have a range of Touch in addition to those with a range of Personal.
To gain one of these advantages, the merchant-prince has to repeat the bonding ritual with his ship to deepen the bond in the wished direction. All the described conditions for the bonding ritual apply.
Aquatic Wild Shape: At 3rd level, once per day the merchant-prince may wild shape, just as a druid, but is limited to medium-sized aquatic animals. At 6th level the merchant-prince may shapeshift twice per day and can take shapes of small to large aquatic animals. At 9th level his aquatic wild shape is raised to thrice per day and can take the shapes from tiny to huge aquatic animals. All the other rules for wild shape from the druid class apply.
Merchant-Prince Spell List
0th level – clearwater 4), create water, dancing lights, detect magic, light, mending, purify food and drink, ray of frost, sea eyes 4)
1st level – alarm, animal messenger, animate rope, buoyancy 4), buoyancy net 3), call aquatic animal I 3), charm person or animal, command, compass 4), comprehend languages, detect animals or plants, eagle eyes 5), endure elements, expeditious retreat, faerie fire, grease, hold portal, jump, obscuring mist, shield, shocking grasp, spider climb, swift water 3), true strike, unseen servant
2nd level – animal trance, arcane lock, call aquatic humanoid I 3), charm monster, chill metal, cold snap *, darkvision, daylight, detect thoughts, fog cloud, hold animal, identify, invisibility, locate object, protection from arrows, resist elements, speak with animals, warp wood, whispering wind, wood shape, zone of truth
3rd level – call aquatic animal II 3), call lightning, continual flame, create food and water, dispel magic, dominate animal, gaseous form, gust of wind, lightning bolt, message in a bottle 4), pressure sphere 3), protection from elements, shrink item, speak with plants, stinking cloud, touch of the eel 3), underwater sense 4), water breathing, water walk, wind wall
4th level – air walk, call aquatic monster 3), compass curse 4), control water, detect scrying, diminish plants, discern lies, freedom of movement, hold monster, improved invisibility, improved water breathing 4), live wood 3), locate creature, quench, repel vermin, ship snare 3), sleet storm, solid fog, tongues
5th level – call aquatic humanoid II 3), call celestial/fiendish aquatic monster 3), cloudkill, commune with nature, cone of cold, control winds, dolomar´s limited liquification 3), fabricate, find the path, greater command, ice storm, iron wood, mislead, sending, transmute water to ice 1), transmuter ice to water 2), true seeing
1) Similar to Transmute mud to rock
2) Similar to Transmute rock to mud
3) Spell from Relics&Rituals, Clark Peterson
4) Spell from Seafarer´s Handbook, Fantasy
Fantasy Flight, Inc.
5) Spell from Spells and Spellcraft, Fantasy
Flight, Inc.
I used quite some spells from other sources than PHB, and I´m currently trying to get them nicely scanned in and OCR´d to add them to the document.Oh, and I had to cut the fancy level-progression table at the end of the document to better fit it in here.
DOH...me stupid. Maybe I should add a short description of what this class was/is in the Mystara background. The merchant-princes are a caste of very successful ship captains/traders who are trained in the magic arts by seafaring elves. Minrothad is an island conglomerate that survives on trading with the nearby coastal nations.
The Merchant-Prince of Minrothad
Requirements
To qualify to become a merchant-prince, a character has to meet all the following requirements.
Race: Only sea elves or humans
Base Attack Bonus: +5
Profession (Sailor): +7
Appraise: +5
Diplomacy: +5
Sense Motive: +5
Special: A character wishing to become merchant-prince must show a trade income of at least 20.000 gp per year.
After a character meets all the requirements, he can enter training with an acclompished merchant-prince.
Class Skills
The class skills of the merchant-prince (and the key abilities for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Intuit Direction (Wis), Knowledge (Int), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Speak Language, Swim (Str) and Use Rope (Dex).
Skill points at each level: 4 + Int modifier
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the minrothad merchant-prince.
Hit Die: d8
BAB: As druid
Saves: As bard
Spell-progression: As druid
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A merchant-prince is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, light armor and shields. The standard armor check penalties apply when armor heavier than leather armor is worn.
Bond with Boat/Ship: At 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th level, a merchant-prince can establish a close bond with a small boat, large boat, small ship or large ship respectively, that resembles that of a familiar. Using this bond, the merchant-prince can target the vessel to which she is bound when casting any spell with personal range, applying the spell´s effect to the ship instead of herself. This ability works for any spell cast by the merchant-prince, regardless of the class that provides it.
To bond to a ship, the merchant-prince must perform a ritual that requires one day for every 25 feet of length of the ship, but at least one day. The merchant-prince must be in contact with the target ship for the whole duration of the ritual. She may eat or drink during the ritual, but may not engage in combat, spellcasting or even animated conversation or sailorwork. Sleep is also forbidden to the merchant-prince, who must make a Willpower saving throw at the beginning of each new day with a DC of 15 + the number of unrested nights to keep herself from falling asleep and break the ritual. An unsuccessful bonding ritual may be repeated once every week.
The merchant-prince may only be bonded to one vessel at a time, but may drop an existing bond at will.
For the purposes of this ability, a small boat is one less than 25 feet long, a large boat is between 25 and 50 feet long, a small ship is 50 to 100 feet long and a large ship is any ship over 100 feet long.
Spells: Beginning at 1st level, the merchant-prince gains the ability to cast divine spells. The spells are selected from the list of merchant-prince spells given below and are prepared and cast similar to druidic spells. The merchant-prince must have a Wisdom of at least 10 + the spell level to be able to cast a specific spell.
Bond Advantages: Merchant-Princes of sufficient level have learned to use the bond between them and their ship to fullest advantage. At 2nd, 5th and 8th level, they may choose one of the bond advantages described below.
Maximization: Whenever a merchant-prince casts a spell with personal range on his ship rather than on himself, he can treat this spell as if it was cast with the Maximize Spell feat, without having to pay the cost for the maximization in spell slots.
Shared damage: Whenever the merchant-prince takes damage, he can choose to transfer half of that damage to his ship. Conversely, he can choose to take half of the damage his ship would take from a successful hit.
As one with the ship: The merchant-prince shares his saving throw values with his ship, effectively rolling the saving throws instead of his ship when it is affected by something that requires a saving throw, like a spell or a spell-like effect.
Steer with the mind: The merchant-prince gains such control over his bondship that he can steer it with his mind alone, without having to stand behind the steering wheel. He can use this ability from anywhere on his ship. Should the wheel be manned, the merchant-prince has to win a contested wisdom check vs. the strength of the man at the wheel to steer the ship. For the purpose of this ability, the merchant-prince may apply the bonus from the feat Iron Will to this check, provided he has the feat.
Eye of the storm: With this ability, the merchant-prince can treat her ship as a calm, peaceful place no matter what the true circumstances are. She can for example prepare spells or rest, move about freely and use any of her skills unpenalized for slippery footing or very rough heaving, e.g. during a storm. This also applies to unusual circumstances, like her ship being lifted by a huge elemental.
Strengthen the Bond: This ability lets the merchant-prince place spells on her ship that have a range of Touch in addition to those with a range of Personal.
To gain one of these advantages, the merchant-prince has to repeat the bonding ritual with his ship to deepen the bond in the wished direction. All the described conditions for the bonding ritual apply.
Aquatic Wild Shape: At 3rd level, once per day the merchant-prince may wild shape, just as a druid, but is limited to medium-sized aquatic animals. At 6th level the merchant-prince may shapeshift twice per day and can take shapes of small to large aquatic animals. At 9th level his aquatic wild shape is raised to thrice per day and can take the shapes from tiny to huge aquatic animals. All the other rules for wild shape from the druid class apply.
Merchant-Prince Spell List
0th level – clearwater 4), create water, dancing lights, detect magic, light, mending, purify food and drink, ray of frost, sea eyes 4)
1st level – alarm, animal messenger, animate rope, buoyancy 4), buoyancy net 3), call aquatic animal I 3), charm person or animal, command, compass 4), comprehend languages, detect animals or plants, eagle eyes 5), endure elements, expeditious retreat, faerie fire, grease, hold portal, jump, obscuring mist, shield, shocking grasp, spider climb, swift water 3), true strike, unseen servant
2nd level – animal trance, arcane lock, call aquatic humanoid I 3), charm monster, chill metal, cold snap *, darkvision, daylight, detect thoughts, fog cloud, hold animal, identify, invisibility, locate object, protection from arrows, resist elements, speak with animals, warp wood, whispering wind, wood shape, zone of truth
3rd level – call aquatic animal II 3), call lightning, continual flame, create food and water, dispel magic, dominate animal, gaseous form, gust of wind, lightning bolt, message in a bottle 4), pressure sphere 3), protection from elements, shrink item, speak with plants, stinking cloud, touch of the eel 3), underwater sense 4), water breathing, water walk, wind wall
4th level – air walk, call aquatic monster 3), compass curse 4), control water, detect scrying, diminish plants, discern lies, freedom of movement, hold monster, improved invisibility, improved water breathing 4), live wood 3), locate creature, quench, repel vermin, ship snare 3), sleet storm, solid fog, tongues
5th level – call aquatic humanoid II 3), call celestial/fiendish aquatic monster 3), cloudkill, commune with nature, cone of cold, control winds, dolomar´s limited liquification 3), fabricate, find the path, greater command, ice storm, iron wood, mislead, sending, transmute water to ice 1), transmuter ice to water 2), true seeing
1) Similar to Transmute mud to rock
2) Similar to Transmute rock to mud
3) Spell from Relics&Rituals, Clark Peterson
4) Spell from Seafarer´s Handbook, Fantasy
Fantasy Flight, Inc.
5) Spell from Spells and Spellcraft, Fantasy
Flight, Inc.
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