Originally posted by bengeldorn:
TAREK SHAMAN
“The earth is the mother of all beings. She provides shelter, tools and food. While the earth has many children, the tareks are the ones the earth loves most.” — Tchylo, holy tarek shaman.
Tarek shamans direct the spiritual life of their tribes, act as medicine man and teach tribal legends and traditions. They have a close connection to the element of earth and are seen as divine beings within their tribes. All tarek shamans are earth clerics. Within a tarek tribe, there never more than three shamans, rarely more than one. Tarek earth clerics will travel miles to study for a time at the feet of holy tarek shaman.
Tarek shamans usually live near but outside their tribe. They serve as advisers to their tribal chiefs and leaders, and direct the spiritual life of their tribes.
Hit Die: d8
REQUIREMENTS
To qualify to become an earth dreamer, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.
Race: Tarek
Skills: Knowledge (nature) 5 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 5 ranks, Knowledge (the planes) 5 ranks
Feats: Wastelander, Great Fortitude
Spells: Able to cast 1st-level divine spells.
Special: Must have earth as patron element, and must have studied for at least one year from a holy tarek shaman.
Skill points at each Level: 2 + Int modifier.
LevelBABFortRefWillSpecialSpells per day / Spells Known<br />1st+0+2+0+2Tribal honor, Bless earth weapon+1 existing divine spellcasting class<br />2nd+1+3+0+3+1 existing divine spellcasting class<br />3rd+2+3+1+3Commune with nature+1 existing divine spellcasting class<br />4th+3+4+1+4+1 existing divine spellcasting class<br />5th+3+4+1+4Holy shaman+1 existing divine spellcasting class
CLASS SKILLS
The tarek shaman’s class skill (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (history) (Int), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Knowledge (the planes) (Int), and Spellcraft.
CLASS FEATURES
All the following are class features of the tarek shaman prestige class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Tarek shaman gain no additional proficiency with any weapon or armor, but are restricted to use stone or obsidian weapons.
A tarek shaman who uses a prohibited weapon is unable to cast cleric spells or use any of her supernatural or spell-like class abilities while doing so and for 24 hours thereafter.
Spells per Day / Spells Known: At each level a tarek shaman gains new spells per day (and spells known, if appliciabale) as if she had also gained a level in a spellcasting class to which she belonged before adding the prestige class level. She does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. If she had more than one class before becoming a tarek shaman, she must decide to which class to add each level for the purpose of determining spells per day and spells known.
Tribal Honor: A tarek shaman is eminently respected in her tribe and by other tareks. She gains a bonus equal to her tarek shaman levels to all charisma related checks dealing with other tareks. In addition, a tarek shaman with the feat leadership gains a +1 bonus to her leadership score for every two tarek shaman levels. This bonus only applies for determining the tarek shaman’s companion level and her numbers of followers, but only if the companion or the followers are tareks.
Commune with Nature (Sp): A 3rd level tarek shaman can cast commune with nature (page 211 of the PHB) at will.
Bless Earth Weapon (Su): Once per year you can bless a masterwork stone or obsidian weapon. The blessed weapon gains an enchantment bonus equal to your tarek shaman levels. Blessing a weapon requires a ceremony that lasts 24 hours. The blessed weapon is personalized for a specific being that has to present during the ceremony. As long the creature, the weapon is blessed for, wields the weapon, the weapon is treated as a magic weapon to bypass damage reduction. If the blessed weapon is taken from the creature that is intended to wield it, it slowly looses its enchantment. Every week it looses 1 of its enchantment bonus until the bonus reaches 0 and becomes a normal stone or obsidian weapon. If the indicated creature acquires the weapon again the fading is stopped, but the weapon doesn’t gain its original bonus if it already has lost some of its bonus.
For example, a tarek, for whom a tarek shaman blessed a stone hammer with a +3 enchantment bonus, looses his weapon. After two weeks the weapon’s blessing fades to a +1 enchantment bonus. If that tarek acquires the weapon again, the weapon’s enchantment bonus will remain at +1, but the fading would be stopped.
Holy Shaman (Su): At 5th level a tarek shaman becomes a half-elemental being of earth. She doesn’t change in appearance or type, but she gains the elements immunities against, poison, sleep effects, paralysis, and stunning. In addition she is no longer subject to critical hits and flanking. A tarek shaman still needs to eat, sleep and breathe.
Designer Notes: I’m not sure about the requiremts and the Holy Shaman class feature. Comments and Ideas are allways welcomed.
Originally posted by nytcrawlr:
[quote]Bless Earth Weapon (Su): Once per year you can bless a masterwork stone or obsidian weapon. The blessed weapon gains an enchantment bonus equal to your tarek shaman levels. Blessing a weapon requires a ceremony that lasts 24 hours. The blessed weapon is personalized for a specific being that has to present during the ceremony. As long the creature, the weapon is blessed for, wields the weapon, the weapon is treated as a magic weapon to bypass damage reduction. If the blessed weapon is taken from the creature that is intended to wield it, it slowly looses its enchantment. Every week it looses 1 of its enchantment bonus until the bonus reaches 0 and becomes a normal stone or obsidian weapon. If the indicated creature acquires the weapon again the fading is stopped, but the weapon doesn’t gain its original bonus if it already has lost some of its bonus.
For example, a tarek, for whom a tarek shaman blessed a stone hammer with a +3 enchantment bonus, looses his weapon. After two weeks the weapon’s blessing fades to a +1 enchantment bonus. If that tarek acquires the weapon again, the weapon’s enchantment bonus will remain at +1, but the fading would be stopped.[/quote]
This seems a bit too powerful IMO. Maybe make it a +1 enchantment bonus per every two levels the Tarek Shaman possesses?
Other than that I can’t see any problem other than the spell level requirement seems a little low too. I probably wouldn’t bump that to no higher than 2nd level spells though.
Originally posted by Sysane:
I like the PrC and agree with Nyt on the points he made.
The only problem I have is that it doesn’t seem to “tarek flavored” to me. I feel that any race could enter this PrC. Maybe its just me though.
Originally posted by nytcrawlr:
Yeah, it definitely seems more like a template for any racial shaman as opposed to just being a PrC for Tarek shamans.
Hmmmm…
Maybe something along the lines of helping out their ferocity or musk odor. Or a few more Tarek-like abilities.
I’m kinda drawing a blank right now and don’t want to step on Penn’s toes and what he might have planned for his Tarek PrC though.
Double hmmm, didn’t Tareks have a group fighting mechanic in 2e? I remember that they did because I gave it to them at one point and then we removed it for some reason (probably some weird balance issue that I can’t recall). Maybe make the shaman grant something like that to a group of Tareks defending the homeland or something and as long as they stay within 30 feet of the Shaman. Maybe keep it at no larger than a group of two and increase that as the Shaman progresses in levels.
Originally posted by Sysane:
[quote]Yeah, it definitely seems more like a template for any racial shaman as opposed to just being a PrC for Tarek shamans.
Hmmmm…
Maybe something along the lines of helping out their ferocity or musk odor. Or a few more Tarek-like abilities.[/quote]
I’m working on a paragon class for tarek that stregthens their musk oder to a full-blown stench ability simliar to a troglodyte. I’ll have stats for them up before the end of the weekend.
Originally posted by nytcrawlr:
On the group fighting mechanic I remember just giving them the Teamwork feat at one point. Maybe an ability that gives that to a group of two Tareks or more depending on the level of the Shaman.
As far as the musk odor, I was thinking something more along the lines of reducing it so they can be more effective diplomats, hiders and such if needed, but a paragon class to increase to a more potent and harmful stench is a good idea as well.
Originally posted by kalthandrix:
Maybe something like the good’ol troglodite- something that either produces a sickened or maybe a panicked state.
Of course the muskiness of this race might just come from bad hygiene habits too 
Originally posted by bengeldorn:
Well, I took most of the ideas from the DS-MC2 (p. 107). There is a extra paragraph just for tarek shamans. I agree, that if we talk about general tareks, this PrC wouldn’t do the job, but a tarek tribe is allways influenced by there shamans and they have a very important role in their community. With the stuff given in that paragraph I tried to design a prestige class that would reflect the importance of the tarek shamans role.
For the bless earth weapon ability, I tried to stay as close as possible to the 2nd ed. text. There a tarek shaman was able to bless a weapon once per year. A 3rd level shaman could enchant a weapon with a +1 bonus, a 4th level with a +2 bonus, a 5th level with a +3 bonus and a 6th level shaman with a +4 bonus. I want to stay with those bonuses and increase the bonus by 1 every two levels, I’m going to change the class to 10th level class, but then it could tricky with epich PrC levels. I don’t know how good this ability realy is, because the shaman can use it only once per year.
As far as I can see it, I have these options:
- Keep it as it is.
- Bonus increases by +1 every two levels (5 level PrC -> max. bonus +2)
- Change the class to a 10-level class and increase the bonus by +1 every two levels.
What would you like to see?
For the requirements, I kept it low, because in 2nd ed. a tarek shaman could only become a 6th level earth cleric, and wasn’t able to gain more levels as cleric. That’s why thought, a cleric could become a shaman very early.
While thinking a bit about it, I could change the class to 10-level PrC, increase the requirements, and instead of this half elemental being I could make it a full elemtal being, or at least change the type and subtype. what do you think?
Originally posted by squidfur-:
I had a thought that might keep in line with the 2e stuff…
I’m of the mind that your actually keeping this pretty close to the original concept better with your 5-level scheme. Reason being, in 2e, as you mentioned, they had a 6th level max which could imply 6 stages of social level within the tribe. If we assume that clerics in training make up the first tier, then shamans of progessing levels would fill the other 5. Probably just dumb thinking on my part, but hey, what the hell.
Anyhoo…I am curious where you got the half-elemental idea from, as their is really no hint even, of this happening to the tarek shamans. I’d be much more inclined to further the other abilities in some way, as well as adding more to apply this class specifically to tareks - as mentioned.
And one last thing…the idea of the shaman blessing weapons once a year seems rather weak to me, seeing as how he could do much better by just taking the craft weapons/armor feat. So perhaps, just granting this as a bonus feat would suffice.
Originally posted by bengeldorn:
[quote]I had a thought that might keep in line with the 2e stuff…
I’m of the mind that your actually keeping this pretty close to the original concept better with your 5-level scheme. Reason being, in 2e, as you mentioned, they had a 6th level max which could imply 6 stages of social level within the tribe. If we assume that clerics in training make up the first tier, then shamans of progessing levels would fill the other 5. Probably just dumb thinking on my part, but hey, what the hell.[/quote]
Actually, I’m not quite sure what your position is. Do like to see a 10 level PrC or a 5 level PrC?
Well that would be something that came from my mind, based on the lines, where 6th level shamans are called holy shamans. I just thought it would be a good idea to mix the 2nd flavour with game mechanics.
Well this was something, where the description was very specific with the mechanics. IMHO once a year isn’t that thrilling, that’s why I based the bonus on the shamans level. My first idea was “+1 bonus per 2 shaman levels”, but this seems too weak for doing it once a year. I very much liked the idea of blessing a weapon for specific individual and the fading part, and I don’t realy want to loose that. If i 'd give the shaman the feat this all would be lost.
Originally posted by Sysane:
What about an ability that ties to the tarek’s racial weapon the heartpick? Maybe the shaman could have the ability to smite enemies with a specially crafted heartpick?
Originally posted by bengeldorn:
Somehow I get this feeling that everbody sees the tarek shaman as just a any other tarek, but if I read the 2nd ed. write up, I don’t share this opionion. I rather get the feeling that tarek shamans are the tarek’s neutral pol. IMHO they differ in their bevahiour than common tareks.