The Quintessential Druid
| Author | Robin O. Duke |
| Publisher | Mongoose Publishing |
| Publish date | 2002 |
| OGL Section 15 | qdru |
The material below is designated as Open Game Content
The following chapter outlines a small selection of feats particularly suitable for the druid class. Demonstrating the druid’s diversity and adaptability, the chapter includes five different types of feat. The General feats are available to any character who meets the prerequisites. They follow all the normal rules in the SRD. Characters can only purchase druid feats if they have levels in the druid class. Wild feats are available to any character with the wild shape ability. For this purpose, any special ability with the words ‘wild shape’ in the name (such as lesser wild shape or greater wild shape) counts as wild shape for meeting prerequisites for a Wild feat. The Metamagic feats and Item Creation feats in this chapter can be purchased by any spellcaster that meets the prerequisites.
Anchor Sacred Grove (Druid, Item Creation)
You have the power to call a sacred grove to the material plane and anchor it in one place. Using this feat makes you the seneschal for the sacred grove. You can only be seneschal of one sacred grove at a time.
Prerequisites: Knowledge (nature) 12 ranks, 9th level druid.
Benefit: You can build a powerful spiritual bond with a sacred grove. You may become and use the special abilities of a seneschal outlined in the Otherworld chapter.
Augment Wild Shape (Wild)
You have a more advanced control of your wild shape power than others.
Benefits: You may take any one advanced wild shape ability for which you fulfil the prerequisites. Note that a character could take the extra wild shape advanced ability using this feat but the Extra Wild Shape feat offers a better way to gain extra access to the ability.
Elemental Summoning (Metamagic)
You know how to summon creatures from the elemental planes to aid you.
Prerequisites: Knowledge (nature) 5 ranks or Knowledge (the planes) 5 ranks, one other metamagic feat and the ability to cast at least three summoning spells
Benefit: Choose one of the four elements (air, earth, fire or water). You may use this feat along with any summon monster or summon nature’s ally spell. You apply the appropriate elemental creature template to any creature using the modified spell. A spell prepared using the Elemental Summoning feat is one level higher than normal.
Elemental Creatures
Elemental creature is actually four templates; air creature, earth creature, fire creature and water creature. These templates can only be applied to any corporeal creature with one of the following base types: aberration, animal, beast, magical beast, plant or vermin. The creature’s type changes to elemental with the appropriate elemental subtype – air, earth, fire or water. It uses all the base creature’s statistics and special abilities except as noted here.
Hit Dice: Change to d8.
Speed: An air elemental creature has a fly speed of 100 feet, unless the base creature has a higher fly speed, with perfect manoeuvrability. Earth elemental creatures gain burrow at the base creature’s normal speed or 20 feet, whichever is less, in additional to the normal speed for the base creature. Water elemental creatures gain a swim 90 feet in additional to the normal speed for the base creature.
AC: Earth creatures improve their natural armour by +3.
Special Attack: An elemental creature retains all the special attack of the base creature and also gains the following:
Air Mastery (ex): Air elemental creatures suffer a -1 penalty on attack and damage rolls against an air element creature.
Burn (ex): Those hit by the natural weapons of a fire elemental creature must succeed at a Reflex save or catch fire. The flame burns for 1d4 rounds (see the SRD for more detals on catching on fire). The save DC is equal to 7 + the fire elemental creature’s HD total. Creatures hitting a fire elemental creature with natural weapons or unarmed attacks take fire damage as though hit by the fire element creature’s attacks, and also catch fire unless they succeed at the Reflex save.
Burrow (ex): An earth elemental creature can glide through stone, dirt, or almost any sort of earth except metal as easily as a fish
moves through water; in a manner similar to a Xorn.
Drench (ex): The water elemental creature’s touch puts out torches, campfires, exposed lanterns and other open flames of non-magical origin, if these are of Large size or smaller. The creature can dispel magical fire it touches as dispel magic cast by a sorcerer whose level equals the water elemental creature’s HD total. It gains no benefit or disadvantage against creatures from the elemental plane of fire.
Earth Mastery (ex): An earth elemental creature gains a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls if both it and its foe touch the ground. If an opponent is airborne or water-borne, the earth elemental creature suffers a –4 penalty on attack and damage rolls.
Heat (ex): In addition to the damage from their attacks, fire elemental creatures deal additional fire damage with their natural weapons (including claw, bite, slam, or tail attacks). The amount of damage depends on the HD total of the creatures (see table below)*.
Water Mastery (ex): A water element creature gain a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls if both it and its opponent touch water. If the opponent or water elemental creature is land bound, the water creature suffers a -4 penalty on attack and damage rolls.
Special Qualities: An elemental creature retains all special qualities of the base creature and also gains the following ones:
Elemental: Immune to poison, sleep, paralysis, and stunning. Not subject to critical hits.
Darkvision: Darkvision with range of 60 feet.
Damage Reduction: All elemental creatures receive damage reduction based on their HD (see the table below).
| Hit Dice | Damage Reduction | Additional Fire Damage* |
|---|---|---|
| 1 – 3 | - | - |
| 4 - 7 | - | 1d4 |
| 8 - 11 | 5 / +1 | 1d6 |
| 12+ | 10 / +1 | 2d6 |
Tremorsense (ex): Earth elemental creatures can automatically sense the location of anything within 60 feet that is in contact with the ground. If the base creature already has one or more of these special qualities, use the better value.
Saves: Same as the base creature.
Abilities: Air elemental Creatures modify their abilities as follows: Dex +6; earth elemental creatures modify their abilities as follows: Str +2, Dex -2. All other elemental creatures receive no modifications to their abilities.
Skills: Same as the base creature. If the elemental creature has an intelligence of 4 or greater; it speaks the language of its plane; Ignan for fire elemental creatures, Aquan for water elemental creatures, Auran for air elemental creatures and Terran for earth elemental creatures.
Feats: Same as base creature.
Climate / Terrain: Any land or underground.
Organisation: Same as the base creature.
Challenge Rating: Up to 3 HD, same as the base creature. For 3 HD to 7 HD, same as the base creature +1 and for 8D or more, same as base creature +2.
Treasure: Same as the base creature.
Alignment: Usually neutral.
Advancement: Same as the base creature.
Equipment Master (Wild)
You have control over which items transform when you do.
Benefit: When the druid initiates a transformation, he may declare which items are and which items are not absorbed into his body and rendered inactive. Items may be transformed into some form of clothing suitable for the new body or dropped at the druid’s feet – whichever the druid chooses.
Normal: The type of creature the druid is transforming into determines if the druid’s items are absorbed into the new body and rendered inactive.
Extra Companions (General)
You have more animal and beast companions than normal for your caster level.
Prerequisites: The ability to cast animal friendship.
Benefit: The total hit dice of creatures you can have befriended using a friendship spell is increased by 4 hit dice. This does not increase the maximum hit dice for any one creature you have befriended. This is still limited to twice your caster level but added together, the total hit dice of all creatures, can now exceed this level by 4 hit dice.
Normal: The total hit dice of creatures you can befriend is equal to twice your caster level for the friendship spell.
Special: If you take this feat at 1st level, you can start the game with an extra 4 hit dice of animal companions. This feat can be taken multiple times. Each purchase increases the total number of hit dice of creatures you can have befriended by 4 hit dice.
Extra Wild Shape (Wild)
You can use the wild shape powers more frequently than normal for a druid of your level.
Prerequisites: The ability to use wild shape.
Benefit: Choose one wild shape ability that you have access to. You may use this ability more often. If you choose the animal, beast, plant or vermin wild shape ability, you can use the ability twice more each day. For the other wild shape powers, you can use the power once more each day.
Special: You may choose this ability multiple times. If you wish, you can apply the feat multiple times to the same wild shape ability and stack the effects. If you purchase this feat for a specialised power, you double the effective increase in daily uses when assuming your specialist creature but must use three uses of the power to assume the form of any other creature of that type.
Fast Wild Shape (Wild)
You can use your wild shape ability faster than other druids.
Prerequisites: Ability to use wild shape, at least two advanced wild shape abilities, Dex 13+.
Benefit: You gain the ability to use the wild shape power as a move-equivalent action. The character can use combination or partial transformations as a standard action instead of a full-round action.
Normal: A druid requires a standard action to use wild shape or a full round action to use a combination or partial transformation.
Fluid Shape (Wild)
You have mastered the art of shifting seamlessly into forms that fuse aspects of various living and undead creatures.
Benefit: You receive a +5 bonus to the Concentration check for partial or combination transformations.
Generation Casting (Metamagic)
You create spell effects that travel down the generations, inflicting generation after generation with the same maladies and benefits.
Prerequisites: Knowledge (nature) 10 ranks, two other metamagic feats.
Benefits: The spell prepared or cast using this feat is so potent that its effects are passed on down the generations. If the duration of the spell is still in effect when one of its targets parents a child, the child is automatically affected by the spell as though he or she were originally in the area of effect or targeted by the originally casting. The child receives no saving throw. This happens every time one of the original targets has a child, no matter how often any one of them has offspring. Depending on how powerful you make the spell, these offspring may also pass the spell onto their children.
A spell prepared or cast using Generation Casting requires a spell slot one or more levels higher than normal. The level increase required by the spell is the number of generations down which the spell will pass. Only spells with long or permanent durations can truly benefit from Generation Casting. Instantaneous effects cannot be passed on down the generations using this feat.
Invest Magic (Item Creation)
You know how to pass magical energies safely into living creatures.
Prerequisites: Knowledge (nature) 9 ranks, Spellcraft 9 ranks, one other item creation feat.
Benefit: The Invest Magic feat is a prerequisite for many of the special magic items outlined in the Living Magic chapter.
Resistant Shapeshifter (Wild)
Your draw on your inner magic and can resist forces that would normally end your wild shape form prematurely.
Prerequisites: Ability to wild shape, Con 15+
Benefits: When confronted with a dispel effect or antimagic effect that would end your wild shape, you can attempt to retain your form with a Concentration check (DC 20). In an antimagic field, the character must make this check every round until he leaves the area of effect.
Sustain Wild Shape (Wild)
You can flick back and forth between various forms with ease.
Prerequisites: Ability to wild shape, must be able to cast 5th level druid spells.
Benefit: When you transform back to your normal form or into another wild shape, you can sustain your previous form using a full-round action. So long as you sustain your previous form, you may return to that shape without it counting as an addition use of the wild shape ability. You cannot sustain more than one wildshape form at one time.
Terrain Focus (Druid)
You have such an intimate connection to a particular terrain that your bond is never completely severed, no matter where you travel or choose to live.
Prerequisites: The character must have spent at least 6 months living in the appropriate terrain.
Benefit: Choose one terrain in which you have spent at least 6 months living. This feat offers two benefits. Firstly, the difficulty for the Wilderness Lore check to successfully adapt to your favoured terrain is only 10. In addition, you may make two Wilderness Lore checks to adapt to your favoured terrain each time you memorise spells. Secondly, by making a Wilderness Lore check (DC 15), you can develop any power from your favoured terrain no matter where you are. This is only useful with certain powers, as outlined in the power’s description.
Normal: A druid can only make one adaptation check each time he prepares his spells and may only develop powers while in the appropriate terrain.
Special: This feat may be taken more than once, its effects do not stack. Each time the druid takes the feat it applies to a new terrain type.
Totem Animal (Druid)
You have opened your mind and soul to the attributes of a chosen animal. At times, you are possessed with almost super human qualities derived from the essence of these chosen animals.
Prerequisites: Knowledge (nature) 5 ranks, Wis 15+.
Benefits: You may choose one skill possessed by one animal from the SRD. This skill is considered a class skill for your druid class. Additionally, once per day, you may draw on the power of the animal to gain a +4 racial bonus to one skill check made for the chosen skill.
Special: This feat may be taken multiple times. Each time the feat is applied to a new skill.
