Campaign Design - Prestige Class: Warden Arcanist

Warden Arcanist (adapted from the Player's Guide to Rangers and Rogues)

The scouts, warriors, and rogues who make up the bulk of the Wardens of the High Council are justly celebrated as heroes in many parts of the Freeholds. Less well known are the arcane spellcasters who have also joined the organization, and whose magical abilities have contributed to its victories.

Warden arcanists are relatively rare within the organization as a whole. At the same time, arcanists have proven themselves to be invaluable assets when facing certain enemies, especially those who possess spellcasting abilities of their own.

The warden arcanists are in many ways very much like their non-magical counterparts in the Wardens of the High Council. They receive training in wilderness survival and combat. They are expected to move quickly and be able to endure the hardships of outdoor living. The remainder of their skills emphasize their spellcasting abilities, honing their magical prowess to complement their warden training. Like all other wardens, arcanists learn the ways of their enemies in great detail and in combat, that knowledge can be used with great effect. Whereas an ordinary warden would learn the weaknesses of an enemy to better strike with sword and bow, warden arcanists learn to use their spells more effectively - dealing greater damage and making their spells harder to resist.

Despite their relatively small numbers, warden arcanists are more likely to operate farther from the Freeholds than are ordinary wardens. The most significant reason for this is that arcanists are often well-suited to take on solitary missions that demand extensive travel. Such magic wielders seek out ancient lore and explore ruins of the past - all in the name of the High Council's goals. During these travels, some function as ambassadors for the organization, as well as recruiters of other arcanists.

Hit Die: d6.
Luck Die: d2.

Requirements
To become a warden arcanist, one must meet the following criteria:

• Alignment: Any non-evil.
• Skills: Spellcraft 7+ ranks.
• Feats: Endurance, Track.
• Spellcasting: Must be able to cast 2^nd-level arcane spells.
• Special Ability: Favored Enemy.
• Special: Must pass an initiation test and swear an oath of allegiance to the High Council, an oath that is enforced by their fellow wardens.

Class Skills

• The warden arcanist's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft: Any (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge: Arcana (Int), Knowledge: Nature (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession: Any (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str), and Use Rope (Dex).
• Note: Because the Three Worlds campaign uses the Skills by Character house rule, the list of class skills given here is only included for the sake of completeness, and is not used by characters in the campaign setting.
• Skill Points at each level: 4 + Intelligence modifier.

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the warden arcanist prestige class.

• Base Attack Bonus: Average. A warden arcanist gains +¾ base attack bonus per class level.


• Base Fortitude Save Bonus: Poor. A warden arcanist gains +¹⁄₃ base Fortitude save bonus per class level.


• Base Reflex Save Bonus: Poor. A warden arcanist gains +¹⁄₃ base Reflex save bonus per class level.


• Base Will Save Bonus: Good. A warden arcanist gains a +½ base Will save bonus per class level.


• Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: A warden arcanist gains proficiency with all simple and martial weapons. A warden arcanist gains no new proficiency with any armor or shields. Armor of any type interferes with the warden arcanist's arcane gestures, which can cause his spells to fail (if those spells have somatic components).


• Spells per Day: When a new warden arcanist level is gained, the character gains new spells per day as if he has also gained a level in an arcane spellcasting class he also have levels in. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that arcane spellcasting class would have gained (metamagic or item creation feats, and so on). This essentially means that he adds the level of warden arcanist to the level some other arcane spellcasting class the character has, then determines spells per day and caster level accordingly.
  
  
  
  If a character has more than one arcane spellcasting class, he must decide to which class he adds each level of warden arcanist for purposes of determining spells per day when he adds the new level. Levels in this class do stack for the purposes of familiar advancement.


• Warden Spells: Warden arcanists add the spells on the Warden Spell List to their arcane caster spell lists. When the warden arcanist gains new spells, at least one of his new spells at each applicable level must be chosen from this list.


• Favored Enemy Focus (Ex): At 1^st level, the warden arcanist may add +2 to the DC for all saving throws against spells he casts against creatures belonging to any of his favored enemies. The bonus increases to +3 at 5^th level, and +4 at 9^th level.


• Favored Enemy Damage (Ex): At 2^nd level, the warden arcanist may add +1 damage per die to all damage-dealing spells he casts against a creature belonging to any of his favored enemies. Thus, a fireball cast against a favored enemy deals 1d6+1 points of damage per caster level (up to the usual maximum dictated by the spell description). The bonus per die increases to +2 at 6^st level, and +3 at 10^st level.


• Sprint (Ex): At 3^rd level, a warden arcanist may take the charge action to move three times his normal speed.


• Tireless (Ex): At 3^rd level, a warden arcanist learns to endure the hardships and constant travel associated with their training and lifestyle. The DC for their Constitution checks doesn't suffer the normal circumstance penalty when warden scouts run for a number of rounds greater than the Constitution score


• Favored Enemy: At 4^th level, a warden arcanist has served the Council long enough to learn the ways of the Council's most prominent enemies. The warden scout may select a favored enemy from among those given on the Warden Favored Enemies table, or another type of favored enemy approved by the DM. The warden arcanist gains a +2 bonus on Bluff, Listen, Sense Motive, Spot, and Survival checks when using these skills against creatures of this type. Likewise, he gets a +2 bonus on weapon damage rolls against such creatures. At 8^th level, the warden arcanist may select an additional favored enemy from those given on the table. In addition, at such time, the bonus against any one favored enemy (including the one just selected, if so desired) increases by 2. If the warden arcanist chooses humanoids or outsiders as a favored enemy, he must also choose an associated subtype, as indicated on the table. If a specific creature falls into more than one category of favored enemy, the warden arcanist’s bonuses do not stack; he simply uses whichever bonus is higher. This bonus stacks with any similar bonus a warden arcanist may have if he has ranger levels.
  
  
  
  Warden Favored Enemies
  

  Aberration	Magical beast
  Animal	Monstrous Humanoid
  Construct	Ooze
  Dragon	Outsider (air)
  Elemental	Outsider (chaotic)
  Fey	Outsider (earth)
  Giant	Outsider (evil)
  Humanoid (alvari)	Outsider (fire)
  Humanoid (aquatic)	Outsider (good)
  Humanoid (dwarf)	Outsider (lawful)
  Humanoid (goblinoid)	Outsider (native)
  Humanoid (gnome)	Outsider (water)
  Humanoid (halfling)	Plant
  Humanoid (human)	Undead
  Humanoid (orc)	Vermin
  Humanoid (reptilian)



• Great Fortitude: At 7^th level, a warden arcanist gains the Great Fortitude feat as a bonus feat.

Warden Arcanist

Level	Special	Spells per Day
1st	Favored Enemy Focus +2, Warden Spells	+1 arcane spellcasting level
2nd	Favored Enemy Damage +1	+1 arcane spellcasting level
3rd	Sprint, Tireless	+1 arcane spellcasting level
4th	Favored Enemy	+1 arcane spellcasting level
5th	Favored Enemy Focus +3	+1 arcane spellcasting level
6th	Favored Enemy Damage +2	+1 arcane spellcasting level
7th	Great Fortitude	+1 arcane spellcasting level
8th	Favored Enemy	+1 arcane spellcasting level
9th	Favored Enemy Focus +4	+1 arcane spellcasting level
10th	Favored Enemy Damage +3	+1 arcane spellcasting level

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