General Prestige Class : Wavekeeper

"The very currents of the primal abysses answer my call, landwalker. Despoil these waters at your own risk." - Admarin of the Blue Waters, a wavekeeper

The druid is a creature of many habitats, and the average druid is able to make himself at home in the mountain heights as easily as in the depths of the forest. But some druids, particularly the druids of marine races, feel the call of the primal deeps. These druids seek to understand the life patterns that ebb and flow with its currents; they embrace the power of the oceans. The ocean answers the wavekeeper's call, with awesome and devastating results.

In order to become a wavekeeper, a character must be drawn to the sea. This is not the exclusive province of aquatic races - some land-dwellers show more love and concern for the sea than the average aquatic elf or merfolk - but this prestige class is far more common among the aquatic peoples.

Characters with animal companions benefit greatly from this class, so druids and rangers excel as wavekeepers. In the Circle Beneath the Waves, druids make up the majority of this prestige class, although some rangers who have sworn to defend the circle take levels in this class as well.

Requirements

To qualify to become a Wavekeeper, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:

Class Skills

The wavekeeper's class skills are Concentration, Craft, Handle Animal, Heal, Hide, Intimidate, Jump, Knowledge (nature), Listen, Move Silently, Profession, Search, Spellcraft, Spot, Survival, and Swim.

Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Class Features

The following are class features of the wavekeeper.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: You gain no weapon or armor proficiencies.

Masterful Swimmer (Ex): You augment your swimming using the minutest of currents and swimming patterns, granting you a swim speed of 20 feet or increasing your existing swim speed by 10 feet if you have a natural swim speed.

Mysteries of the Sea: You master the powers of nature that make up the oceans. Choose one of the following domains: Blackwater, Ocean, Storm, or Water. The spells of that domain are added to your divine spellcaster class list, and you can prepare them normally. You also gain the granted power associated with that domain.

Beast of the Sea (Ex): Starting at 2nd level, your animal companion continues to advance. Subtract 1 from your class level and add the result to your effective druid level for determining the abilities of your animal companion.

Wave Master (Su): Beginning at 2nd level, when near a body of water you can focus a rush of water at a single creature within 30 feet. This jet of water can bludgeon or push back a creature, at your option.

As a bludgeoning attack, the wave of water deals 1d6 points of nonlethal damage per class level. A Reflex save reduces damage to half (DC 10 + one-half class level + Wisdom modifier).

If you instead choose to push back a creature, treat the wave of water as a bull rush with a bonus on the Strength check equal to 8 + your class level.

Mastery of Breath (Ex): At 3rd level, you adapt to your watery environment, becoming amphibious and able to breathe water or air interchangeably.

Water Breathing (Sp): At 3rd level, you gain the ability to use a water breathing effect once per day, with a caster level equal to your class level and two times the normal duration.

Current Mastery (Ex): At 5th level, you gain the ability to create currents that move the water in your vicinity. The current flows in a direction you specify and affects water within 30 feet of your position. Creatures, including yourself, are moved in the direction the water flows. Your current moves at 10 feet per round. At 10th level, the speed of your current increases to 20 feet per round.

You can use your current mastery to increase or impede the speed of a ship, though if you attempt to impede a ship with sails that ship's speed is only reduced by 5 feet (or by 10 feet for a 10th-level wavekeeper).

Wave Form (Su): At 7th level, you gain the ability to transform into a Small, Medium, or Large water elemental. This otherwise functions as the druid's wild shape ability. In addition to the normal effects of wild shape, you gain all the elemental's extraordinary, supernatural, and spell-like abilities. You also gain the elemental's feats for as long as you maintain the wild shape but retain your own creature type.

Starting at 9th level, you can transform into a Huge water elemental.

Call of the Abyss (Sp): Once per day at 10th level, you can call upon the very powers of the ocean's currents to serve you. An elder water elemental answers your call, a creature made up of the swirling black lightless waters of the deepest abyss, retaining this lightless quality even when called to the surface. It attacks your opponents to the best of its ability.

WavekeeperHit Die: d8
CLBABFortRefWillSpecialSpells
1st+0+2+0+2Masterful swimmer, mysteries of the sea-
2nd+1+3+0+3Beast of the sea, wave master 1/day+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
3rd+2+3+1+3Mastery of breath, water breathing+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
4th+3+4+1+4Wave master 2/day+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
5th+3+4+1+4Current mastery+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
6th+4+5+2+5Wave master 3/day+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
7th+5+5+2+5Wave form+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
8th+6+6+2+6Wave master 4/day+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
9th+6+6+3+6Wave form (Huge)+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
10th+7+7+3+7Call of the abyss, current mastery (20 ft.), wave master 5/day+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class

Playing A Wavekeeper

The wavekeeper is usually a druid who has taken the ocean as a whole as his protectorate, declaring himself the defender of those vast realms that lie beneath the waves. You consider the waves themselves to be a gate that separates the watery realms from the lands above - and you are the gatekeeper.

To that end, most wavekeepers work to keep those realms separated: the civilizations of the surface world must not pollute or influence the oceanic realms and the aquatic peoples must be cautious when dealing with the land. You do not oppose communication or trade between sea folk and land walkers; in fact, you might even encourage it, utilizing your unique powers to enable such interaction. You are simply careful to ensure that the lackadaisical outlook on the natural world that seems to haunt the land folk doesn't infect the peoples of the sea.

Wavekeepers are likely to become adventurers in an effort to carry forth their sworn goals. Whether becoming an ambassador to a nearby human settlement or seeking to stop the plots of a kraken to gain control over the thieves' guilds of a coastal nation, you stand ready to use your talents to keep the sea and the land from tainting one another.

You might or might not be a member of the Circle Beneath the Waves, an organization of like-minded wavekeepers and allied druids and rangers. If you are, you know that you can turn to them to aid you in problems that come to your attention. Likewise, you know that you could be called upon to render aid to others within the organization. If you do not belong to the Circle, you were likely taught the mysteries of the wavekeepers by one of their number, for it is a tradition to teach these mysteries to any who can hear the call of the sea.

Combat

You possess a variety of special techniques for dealing with opponents both aquatic and land-based. Where possible, engage your opponent from the water, especially if that target is on land - you'll find that improved cover from being in the water makes it an especially useful place from which to cast your spells. This is doubly true against enemy spellcasters, since you gain the Reflex saving throw bonus against attacks from land-bound spellcasters.

In the water, you will usually have the advantage of mobility, due to the speed increases from both masterful swimmer and current mastery. Augment your animal companion with current mastery and a spell or two, and you'll find yourself with a truly formidable ally (especially if it gains the Swim-By Attack feat as it advances in HD, enabling it to attack foes while remaining out of their reach). Don't hesitate to take such feats as Dodge and Swim-By Attack in order to take advantage of such things yourself, especially in a combat-focused wild shape.

At higher levels, your ability to assume the shape of a water elemental will go a long way toward aiding you in combat, with its damage reduction and vortex abilities. The sight of a wavekeeper in elemental form, his spell-enhanced shark companion, and an elder water elemental composed of the lightless waters of the ocean trenches has certainly dissuaded many would-be assailants.

Advancement

Many druids or rangers find themselves with the appropriate requirements to become wavekeepers, but not all necessarily hear that call. Those who do wander the ocean depths, delighting in their endless variety. The newly initiated wavekeeper learns the secrets not just of the flow of life in animal and plant but in the very currents of the ocean as the seas open their secrets to him.

As you advance in this prestige class, you should enable yourself to effectively use your magical prowess in all forms, so don't hesitate to take the Natural Spell feat. Additionally, though this class doesn't grant much in the way of additional wild shape advancement, you could take an extra level or so of druid in order to secure this ability, for the sea is full of dangerous creatures whose forms yon can emulate.

Resources

Though you might have to do some convincing, other wavekeepers will assist you in endeavors where you can demonstrate that the failure of your quest could result in damage to the seas and the way of life therein. Members of the Circle Beneath the Waves in particular are likely to assist where they can. Such allies are a very good resource for spellcasting and are likely to perform spellcasting for wavekeepers for a reduced price, or even for free if the need is great.

Most undersea civilizations give at least grudging respect to the wavekeepers and their kin - they recognize the importance of the keepers in the balance of the undersea world, but the keepers are also notorious for coming to undersea civilizations and making demands of them, for the good of the ocean itself. As such, wavekeepers are likely to receive minor assistance or at least partial cooperation from aventi, merfolk, aquatic elves, locathah, sahuagin, and other undersea peoples, but this is likely to be given with some measure of hesitation. Many aquatic folk have learned to tread carefully around the wavekeepers and their demands.

Wavekeepers In The World

The wavekeeper fills the role of a druidic defender of the wilderness for the oceanic realms. They excel in a variety of roles in the campaign, from concerned druids sympathetic to PC aims to crazed, feral spellcasters who oppose all civilizations and intermixing between land and ocean peoples. If you need a druid to come to the PCs asking for help with a threat to the seas, or a reliable guide through lonely and perilous ocean grottoes, or a dangerous menace with vast resources at his beck and call, the wavekeeper fits the bill perfectly.

Organization

Though not all wavekeepers belong to the Circle Beneath the Waves, all acknowledge the Circle as the source for the secrets that make up their power. The Circle Beneath the Waves is dedicated to the defense of the maritime realm. The circle itself is part of the larger over-arching druidic organization, the subaquatic branch of that much larger tree.

The Circle Beneath the Waves is divided into three smaller groups. The People of the Green Waters hold the concerns of the shallow seas as their own, especially where those waters are influenced and possibly endangered by land-dwelling civilizations. The People of the Blue Waters hold the mid-depth seas as their concern, watching the civilizations of the open ocean, as well as assisting the People of the Green Waters where they can. The People of the Black Waters hold the deepest, lightless trenches and depths of the ocean as their concern. It is the least well-known branch of the circle and sometimes mistrusted by the others.

The Circle Beneath the Waves includes druids of many aquatic races. The People of the Green Waters are made up primarily of shoal halflings, locathah, and merfolk as well as a number of surface-dwelling druids who have taken various coasts and islands as their protectorate. The People of the Blue Waters tend to be made up of aventi and aquatic elves, with a few merfolk, malenti, ixitxachitl, and seafaring druids among them. The People of the Black Waters are made up of many strange beings, with sahuagin in the majority, followed by aventi, outcast aquatic elves, and strange merfolk.

A trio of powerful wavekeepers, one representing each of the peoples, leads the Circle Beneath the Waves. These three Keeper Hierophants, called the Green Keeper, the Blue Keeper, and the Black Keeper, do not rule but rather speak on behalf of their respective factions - a representative who ceases to speak for his or her faction in order to pursue a personal agenda soon finds himself or herself replaced. These three do not serve for any particular time and can be replaced with a majority vote of the people they serve.

Daily life as a member of the circle isn't very different from that of the average druid. The Circle's influence is unobtrusive and subtle - members of a people meet with one another informally all the time and take their opinions to the Keeper Hierophant of their group. The three Keeper Hierophants meet once a season to discuss the goings-on in their respective domains.

NPC Reactions

Undersea natives tend to treat wavekeepers with some degree of deference, for the keepers make many sacrifices to keep the oceans and the life within them healthy and free from harm. As such, most aquatic folk are Indifferent or Friendly to wavekeepers. Surface-dwellers who know of the wavekeepers are much more fearful of them, blaming them (often wrongly) for shipwrecks and sea monster attacks; sailors and seafarers are usually unfriendly to wavekeepers.

Wavekeeper Lore

Characters with Knowledge (religion) or Gather Information can research wavekeepers to learn more about them.

Source: Stormwrack

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General Prestige Classes