Bound Guardian [Base]

[Stratovarius]

Bound Guardian
"This is my home, and I shall keep it."
- Lariel the Silent, Elven Bound Guardian

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Making a Bound Guardian
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Abilities: Strength, Constitution.

Races: Bound Guardian usually appear only amongst nature-aligned races.

Alignment: Bound Guardian are unaligned.

Table 1: The Bound Guardian

Level  BAB   Ref   Fort  Will  Abilities                             
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1      +1    +2    +2    +2    Risen Land, Bound to the Land, Resilience(+1, +0)
2      +2    +3    +3    +3    Homeland Knowledge, Listen to the Beasts
3      +3    +3    +3    +3    Resilience(+1, +1), Say and Be Heard
4      +4    +4    +4    +4    Homeland Knowledge, Listen to the Plants
5      +5    +4    +4    +4    Resilience(+2, +1), Commune with March
6      +6    +5    +5    +5    Camouflage, Listen to the Earth
7      +7    +5    +5    +5    A Stronger Land, Resilience(+2, +2)
8      +8    +6    +6    +6    Protector, Travel the Earth
9      +9    +6    +6    +6    Resilience(+3, +2), One Stride Later
10     +10   +7    +7    +7    Move the Earth, Become Sanctuary
11     +11   +7    +7    +7    Resilience(+3, +3), A World Apart
12     +12   +8    +8    +8    Unified Land, Plant Guardian
13     +13   +8    +8    +8    Resilience(+4, +3), Lord's Gift
14     +14   +9    +9    +9    Land in Bloom, Trust the Wind
15     +15   +9    +9    +9    Resilience(+4, +4), Freedom of the Land
16     +16   +10   +10   +10   Risen World, Lay Not Still
17     +17   +10   +10   +10   Resilience(+5, +4), Always There
18     +18   +11   +11   +11   Earth's Work, Unwelcome Arrival
19     +19   +11   +11   +11   Resilience(+5, +5), I Am Become
20     +20   +12   +12   +12   Land Awakened, Challenge the Arisen

Game Rule Information
Bound Guardian have the following game statistics.

Alignment: Any
Hit Die: d12
[Starting Gold: 5d4 x 10 (125 gp)
Starting Age: Complex (as Paladin)

Class skills (4 + Int modifier): Climb, Gather Information, Hide, Intimidate, Jump, Knowledge (Architecture and engineering, History, Geography), Listen, Move Silently, Ride, Spot, Survival, Swim, Warcraft (if available)

Class Features
All the following are class features of the Bound Guardian class.

• Weapon and Armour Proficiency: Bound Guardian are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, and light, medium and heavy armour, as well as shields.
  
• Bound to the Land (Ex): A Bound Guardian establishes a territory, called a march, which is his to defend against all threats. This march is an area 5 miles per guardian level in a radius from a central point — usually the center of a village or town, but sometimes an unusual place, such as a sacred grove or a waterfall. To consider a location for his march, a guardian must know the terrain exceptionally well. While a guardian is within his march, he gains all the additional abilities and bonuses of the class as specified below. If a Bound Guardian chooses to establish a new march, he must first create familiarity with the location by living there for a month. Once he has become accustomed to the area, the guardian can designate the locale as his march, but the benefits of the march are not fully vested immediately. The first week a Bound Guardian occupies his new march, he has only the benefits of a 1st-level guardian. During the second week, the benefits due a 2nd-level guardian activate, and so on each week, until the maximum benefits of the guardian's own level function. The moment a guardian establishes a new march, he loses all benefits in the old one. A Bound Guardian is tied to the land that he protects, and does not leave it willingly, although he recognizes that at times he must. At 1st level, he can leave his bound region for one week without losing any benefits of the class. At 5th level, this increases to two weeks. 10th, three weeks. 15th, four weeks. If he does not return within that time, he loses all benefits of this class until he re-establishes a march.
  
• Risen Land (Ex): While within the boundaries of his march, a Bound Guardian has permanent access to a number of followers and animals who assist him in defending the march. This is represented by the Bound Guardian permanently controlling a total number of hit dice of animals, magical beasts, plants, and humanoids, all of whom must be native to his march, equal to his class level times two. No creature controlled through this ability can have a CR more than 1/3rd the class level of the Bound Guardian. Thus at 1st level, the Bound Guardian could have two 1/3rd CR animals as his risen land. It is sometimes necessary to advance the risen land creatures as the Bound Guardian gains levels (a Bound Guardian can choose to have a large number of much lower CR creatures, if desired). Humanoids advance by using the NPC classes, while animals, magical beasts, and plants gain hit dice. Humanoids come equipped with gear appropriate to an NPC of their level and class, and use the normal array. Any creatures lost from this total are replenished one week later. Risen land members act on the Bound Guardian's initiative. No more than one in five creatures can be a spellcaster (minimum one). If the guardian leaves his march, only half of his risen land follows him, the other half remaining behind to defend the march.
  
• Resilience (Ex): For a bound guardian, his first duty is always to his march, and to those who reside within it. Even if they fight by his side. As such, he teaches them a form of combat that is defensive in nature. The bound guardian gains these benefits after the first time he has been wounded in combat, or affected by a harmful spell or ability. At 1st level, he gains a +1 bonus to armor and damage reduction 1/-. At 3rd level he gains a +1 bonus on all saves. For every four levels after 1st this ability grants a further +1 bonus to his armor and increases the damage reduction by 1, to a maximum of +5 armor and 5/- damage reduction at 17th level. For every four levels after 3rd this ability an additional +1 bonus to the guardian's saves, to a maximum of +5 at 19th level. Members of his risen land also get Resilience, using their hit dice in place of the guardian's class level. Once the bonuses are gained, they last until the end of the encounter.
  
• Homeland Knowledge (Ex): Things within the bounds of his territory rarely pass outside the knowledge of a bound guardian. He gains a bonus on Hide, Knowledge (nature), Listen, Move Silently, Spot, and Survival checks while within his march. This bonus is equal to his class level. He also does not suffer any movement speed penalty for traveling through natural difficult terrain or other natural obstacles that would slow his speed inside of his march. At 4th level, members of the guardian's risen land gain these benefits as well, at the same bonus as the bound guardian.
  
• The Land Speaks: There is nothing that happens in nature without the guardian learning about it.
  
  • Listen to the Beasts (Sp): Even the smallest squirrel has information about the health of the land. The guardian may cast speak with animals at will.
    
  • Say and Be Heard (Sp): Sometimes it is the guardian that must speak, and the land that must listen. He may use the message spell at will to send a message to all members of his risen land, or to one other resident of his march.
    
  • Listen to the Plants (Sp): Sometimes it is the mighty trees that see the most. The guardian may cast speak with plants at will.
    
  • Commune with March (Sp): The land will speak to the bound guardian whenever he asks. A guardian can gather information about his entire march once per day as if he had cast the commune with nature spell.
    
  • Listen to the Earth (Sp): The land itself may speak, when it is asked in the right way. The guardian may cast stone tell at will.
    
  • Travel the Earth (Sp): All of nature is a passageway, if you know where to look. The guardian may cast tree stride or swamp stride at will.
    
  • Move the Earth (Sp): The bound guardian can reshape the world within his march, if he must. The guardian may cast move earth at will.
    
  • Plant Guardian (Sp): Nature rises to the command of the bound guardian. He may cast liveoak at will, except that it can affect any tree within his march.
    
  • Trust the Wind (Sp): The world may have a say outside of the bound guardian's march, but within it his word is law. The guardian may cast control weather at will.
    
  • Risen World (Sp): The march defends the guardian as the guardian defends the march. The guardian may cast animate plants at will.
    
  • Earth's Work (Sp): Nature changes as it must to suit the needs of the guardian. The guardian can cast shadow landscape at will.
    
  • Challenge the Arisen (Sp): The guardian makes the world arise, as the world must. The guardian may cast nature's avatar at will.
    
• Camouflage (Ex): At 6th level, a guardian can use the Hide skill in any sort of natural terrain, even while being observed.
  
• A Stronger Land (Ex): The risen land now has a total number of hit dice of equal to his class level times three, and the maximum CR is 1/2 the class level of the Bound Guardian.
  
• Protector (Su): A guardian must at all times know the location of his flock. His senses are honed so finely that he is aware of the location and status (as with the status spell) of all members of his risen land, regardless of the range, even if they are not within sight.
  
• One Stride Later (Ex): Whenever a creature within the bound guardian's march says a special passphrase, the bound guardian can appear at that creature's location as if taken there by a word of recall spell. He knows who is saying the phrase, and the bound guardian can choose not to be transported if he desires. The bound guardian need simply make the phrase widely known in the march for people to employ it. Animals, magical beasts, and plants who do not speak can still trigger the phrase if they have Intelligence of 3 or greater. Triggering this is a standard action on behalf of the creature summoning the bound guardian. The guardian must be within the march for this ability to function.
  
• Become Sanctuary (Ex): Those who would impune the safety of the march must do so with great difficulty. The entirety of the bound guardian's march is affected by a zone of peace spell. This ability never prevents the bound guardian from drawing his weapon, and he can (as a standard action) designate creatures to be immune to this effect. He may revoke the designation as an immediate action.
  
• A World Apart (Su): The entirety of the Bound Guardian's march becomes affected by a hide the path spell, as if cast at the bound guardian's class level. The bound guardian is the focus for the spell. This ability never prevents the bound guardian from viewing his march, and he can (as a standard action) designate creatures to be immune to this effect. He may revoke the designation as an immediate action.
  
• Unified Land (Ex): All members of an Bound Guardian's risen land now pool their hitpoints into a single great mass. None of them die until the pool is emptied, at which point they all die.
  
• Lord's Gift (Su): Members of the risen land begin to take on aspects of the bound guardian, learning to protect the land as he does. They gain the Homeland Knowledge, Camouflage, Listen to the Beasts, Listen to the Plants, and Say and Be Heard abilities.
  
• Land in Bloom (Ex): The risen land now has a total number of hit dice equal to his class level times four, and the maximum CR is 1/2 the class level of the Bound Guardian.
  
• Freedom of the Land (Su): A bound guardian can slip out of bonds, grapples, and even the effects of confining spells easily. This ability duplicates the effect of a freedom of movement spell, except that it is always active.
  
• Lay Not Still (Su): Untimely demise has no place within the march of the bound guardian. The bound guardian can cast true resurrection once per day on any creature native to or resident within his march. The creaure must have been resident in the march for a number of weeks equal to its hit dice for this ability.
  
• Land Awakened (Ex): The risen land now has a total number of hit dice equal to his class level times five, and the maximum CR is 1/2 the class level of the Bound Guardian.
  
• Always There (Su): As a swift action, the Bound Guardian can teleport without error to any location within his march. When he is outside of his march, he may teleport without error to his march as a ceremony taking ten minutes.
  
• Unwelcome Arrival (Su): The area of the bound guardian's march is affected by a teleport cage. When a caster outside the march attempts to teleport into the march, this ability redirects their destination to another random location reachable by the teleport spell. For example, if a 9th-level wizard attempted to teleport into the march, the teleport cage would cause him to appear at another random location within 900 miles of the place where he cast the spell. This ability never prevents the bound guardian from teleporting, and he can (as a standard action) designate creatures to be immune to this effect. He may revoke the designation as an immediate action.
  
• I Am Become (Su): The bound guardian has become one with the creatures of his march, and all those who dwell within it. He may shapechange into any creature native to or resident within his march. The creaure must have been resident in the march for a number of weeks equal to its hit dice for this ability.