Difference between revisions of "Cradled"

Latest revision as of 15:14, 14 December 2012

Background

Long ago, the Fae King created a new plane of existence by combining the essences of the four elemental planes. He and his Queen ruled there in ages untold, creating the fey and magical beasts, along with plants and animals. This Fey Creation came before the Jericho's Creation of the Wold. Some say the Jericho was not aware of the Wold's Cradle when he created the Wold on top of the Fey Creation, putting the fey in jeopardy and causing most to go into a long sleep. After the Fae King was reborn, he awoke his people and the land he created for them, the Cradle of the Wold. Eberyon and his people returned with enthusiasm not seen since the earliest dawn of the Wold. The King rose in anger at his long sleep, and attempted to use Nature herself as a weapon to conquer the Wold. The combined might of the Wold's heroes, aided by Queen Maab, the King's wife (who had been the one to put him to sleep in ages past, some say), was enough to defeat the Fae King. In defeat, the King vowed to reform and atone. As part of his atonement, King Eberyon now offers mortals a deep connection to the magic and power of the fey. Those who accept the power that the Fae King offers are the Cradled.

The King wants many people to accept his hand in friendship, so he has made it easy to be Cradled, and any mortal of any class can join the fey with a modicum of study. Those who seek out fey lore and who learn the fey tongue, Sylvan, can learn to tap fey magic, call on fey folk for favors and friendship, and gain wonderful gifts.

As NPCs, many fey friends live in natural places, especially those where fey folk gather. Others wander, not only through the Wold, but into the fairyland realm of the fey, where time plays tricks. And of course, many NPCs accept the King's gifts and then go on with their lives. Some Cradled are noble, and others are corrupt, but all have a deep fascination with all fey creatures.

Hit Die: d6

Requirements

To qualify to become Cradled, a character must fulfill the following criteria.

• Skills: Knowledge (Nature) 3 ranks, Knowledge (Planes) 3 ranks
• Language: Must be able to speak Sylvan
• Special: The aspiring Cradled must stand in a fairy ring on the Day of the Nymph, which comes once per month, and call out five times the names of the Fae King.

Class Features

Class Skills: The fey friend's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Acrobatics (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Fly (Dex), Knowledge (Geography, Local, Nature, Planes) (Int), Perception (Wis), Perform (Cha), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Stealth (Dex), Swim (Str), Spellcraft (Int), Use Magic Device (Cha).

Skill Points per level: 6 + Int modifier

Ethos: The Cradled think of themselves as emissaries, that is, as people who link the Wold to the Wold's Cradle, offering the friendship of mortals to the fey. Some fey greet the Cradled as long lost cousins, and other fey treat them with amusement or contempt. But Cradled and fey alike recognize that they are all favored of King Eberyon, so they hesitate to attack each other with fatal damage. All Cradled treat all Fey creatures with respect, even those they are forced to oppose or even fight. No Cradled will ever attack a member of Maab's or Eberyon's royal courts except in self defense.

Some Cradled see it as their mission to spread the word of Eberyon's atonement, and his desire to aid the mortals of the Wold. They teach Sylvan to others, and even recruit others to join as new Cradled. But the Fae King himself places no burden of proselytization on his Cradled at all. Spreading the word is optional, although rewarding (see below).

It is worth noting, however, that the Fae King does not require his Cradled to worship him; moreover, he does not object when his Cradled have a devotion to another god or immortal power. In this way, he shows that his desire to reform is sincere.

However he does desire some sign of respect. Those who do not show respect incur a small sign of his anger. The required sign varies with the month in which the Cradled called his name:

1. Month Of Beginnings (Spring). Must plant a seed daily; or suffer -1 caster level the next day.
2. Month Of Flowers (Spring). Must always carry a living plant; or suffer -1 morale penalty on all attacks when not doing so.
3. Month Of Clouds (Summer). Must sleep outdoors; or suffer a -1 sacred penalty on spell DCs the next day.
4. Month Of The Sun (Summer). May not cast a spell that has "Fog" or "Storm" in the name; or suffer -1 morale penalty to damage the next day.
5. Month Of Festivals (Summer). Must throw a party in the Fae King's honor for at least a dozen NPCs before you can advance a Cradled level.
6. Month Of Harvests (Fall). Must give away food daily, to those in need when possible, or suffer -1 morale penalty on saves the next day.
7. Month Of Colors (Fall). Must only wear bright red, yellow, and orange clothing; or suffer a -2 luck penalty on Charisma when not so attired.
8. Month Of The Lady (Winter). Must not kill any animals or plants; or suffer a -1 luck penalty on all skill checks the next day.
9. Month Of Pilgrimage (Winter). Must travel to a sacred grove for a day of contemplation before you can advance a Cradled level.
10. Month Of Endings (Winter). Must not wake anyone from sleeping; or be fatigued the next day.

A DM who does not know the date may roll it randomly with a d10 and a d20 and consulting the official Woldian calendar.

Weapon & Armor Proficiency: The Cradled are proficient in all simple weapons, as well as with all long and short bows (including composite). They are proficient in light armor and all shields (except Tower Shields). Cradled may not use cold iron weapons or armor.

Special Abilities

Fey Magic: The Cradled is imbued with the magic of the fey, which takes one of two forms, as chosen by the Cradled when this ability is gained. Pick one of these choices: Fey Casting: Whenever you cast a spell or use a spell-like ability, add your Cradled level to the caster level that would usually apply, but not higher than 20; also boost the save DC by half your Cradled level (minimum 1); OR Fey Infusion: You gain a bonus equal to half your Cradled level (minimum 1) as an insight bonus vs all enchantments and charms, as well as damage reduction X / cold iron, where X is half your Cradled level (minimum 1).

Fey Gift: At 1st level and every three levels higher than 1st (4th, 7th, and 10th), choose one gift from the Cradled Fey Gifts table. Your level plus Charisma modifier determines which gifts you can choose. You can't choose the same gift twice.

Spread the Word: At 2nd level, whenever you spend a friendly evening (at least three hours) talking to two or more characters about the fey in general and about the Fae King and his desire to help others, all creatures in the conversation gain a +2 divine bonus to their next saving throw. You can engage the same characters in conversation no more than once per module.

Fey Atonement: As a sign that the Fae King is serious about atoning for his misdeeds, he gives his Cradled deep intuition into the motivations and goals of those under his dominion. At 3rd level, you gain a +2 insight bonus whenever you interact with fey creatures, magical beasts and creatures native to the Elemental Planes. This bonus applies to all Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Knowledge, Linguistics, Perception, Sense Motive, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth checks. Interacting with creatures in these categories who have Int scores of 1 or 2, it also applies to Handle Animal, Ride, and Wild Empathy checks. Every three levels after first gaining this power, the bonus rises by +2, to +4 at 6th level and +6 at 9th level.

Cradled Travel: At 5th level, you may cast Plane Shift as a spell-like ability once per day, but only to go to or return from the Wold's Cradle. Use your Cradled level as your caster level. When you travel to the Wold's Cradle, you are protected from the greatest dangers of the plane. No member of Maab's or Eberyon's royal courts will attack you, and such creatures will attempt to save you if you are in danger of dying. Against all other fey encountered in the Wold's Cradle, you are warded as by a Sanctuary spell cast by yourself (DC11 + Chr Modifier) as a spell-like ability. Even if an enemy fey saves, you gain a +4 sacred bonus to AC and saves against attacks by fey creatures. You lose this protection for the rest of the day if you attack a fey creature.

King's Crest: At 8th level, you have earned the honor of wearing the Fae King's token, usually an acorn marked with the "A" glyph for atonement, or "R" for reform. If you wear this token, displaying it proudly, you gain your choice of a +1 luck bonus on attack and damage rolls; or a +1 luck bonus on your saving throws, CMD, and armor class; or a +1 luck bonus to spell penetration checks, concentration checks, and spellcraft checks.

Favored Child: At 10th Level, the Cradled is most favored by Ebyron. Pick one of these choices: Redcap: You can make and wear a magic Redcap (Su), which takes up the hat slot. When wearing your Redcap, you receive a +2 bonus on damage rolls and fast healing 2. These benefits are lost if the cap is removed or destroyed. Caps are not transferable. You can create a new cap to replace a lost cap with 10 minutes of work, although until you take a standard action to dip the cap in the blood of a foe that you helped to kill, the cap does not grant its bonuses. All Redcap fey you meet treat you as Friendly. Or Time Lord: Your understanding of the nature of time grants you the Quicken Spell feat, but a time lord's quickened spell does not use up a higher-level spell slot than the spell's actual level.

Notes on Travel to the Wold's Cradle

Travel to and from the Wold's Cradle is dangerous, not only because the plane is full of tricks, monsters, and hazards, but because time and space are fluid there. When any character travels to the plane, there is no telling where or when you will arrive. When you leave the plane, you may find yourself removed in time and place from your desired destination. In general, you and your party never return to the Wold at an earlier time than you left, with exceptions to this rule possible if it will suit the current adventure, at the DM's choice. Characters separated from their party almost never arrives so distant in time or place that they are effectively written out of the module (possible exception: PCs planning to go walkabout.). Also in general, you never returns to a time and/or place where survival is impossible.

In general, for all methods used to travel away from the Wold's Cradle, roll a d100. On a roll of 1-70, you arrive within 1d12 hours in time and 1d10 miles in distance from your desired destination. On a roll of 71-85, you arrive within 2d12 hours in time and 2d10 miles in distance. On a roll of 86-95, you are off by 3d12 hours and 3d10 miles, and you arrive in a place that is inconvenient or embarrassing. On a roll of 96 to 00, you are off by 4d12 hours and 4d10 miles, and you arrive in a place that is extremely hazardous.

A Cradled character with the Cradled Travel class special ability can subtract his Cradled level from the d100 roll mentioned above. Note that the DM makes all decisions regarding physical and temporal displacement, as well as other dangers.