Rotomo's page

Rotomo is a giant and massive man standing a full head over six feet, broad shouldered and deep of chest, with a massive corded neck and heavily muscled limbs. His skin is ruddy from constant exposure to the elements and is covered in tribal tattoos that accentuate the hard, dangerous lines of his body. Although he is a big man, Rotomo moves with the grace of a large cat and has the predatory gaze of a wolf. He has smoldering green eyes which are set below a low and broad brow. His gloomy, scarred, almost sinister face is that of a warrior. The Shoanti wears his head shaven like many of his Quah. Rotomo has a loud booming voice like stone breaking. He usually wears furs and hides with a spear and great club close at hand.

Rotomo is at heart a product of the Storval Plateau and tries to keep the old ways, recognizing his ancestor’s spirits in the happenings around him. He also tries to keep the spirit of the hunt alive in his daily undertakings. Often thinking of mundane activities in terms of predator and prey. In spite of this, his Quah's frequent interaction with outlanders has taught him much about civilized ways.

While he is a barbarian there is more to Rotomo then meets the eye. He is open and inquisitive as well as a lover of debate and physical challenges, embracing these as experiences which will please his ancestors. Additionally, he often gives advice in riddles, aphorisms, and metaphors of his people.

The wilds of Varisia are hard and unforgiving lands that have produced hard and self-reliant people. Rotomo is one such product, a Shoanti of the Shriikirri-Quah.

Some Shoanti look inward for strength taking solace in the traditions of their ancestors. While others look to the forests and its beasts for guidance. Still others spend lifetimes travelling outside their Quah’s trying to perfect themselves. Rotomo life was shaped by all of these beliefs in one way or another.

High atop the southern peaks of the Stony Mountains of Avistan overlooking Velashu Uplands, the Curchain Hills and the throat of the Varisian Gulf sits the eyrie of the Shriikirri-Quah, Hawk Clan of the Shoanti. The Shriikirri are a people of great patience. They are animistic and pay homage to the avian creatures of the sky that they dwell among. The Hawk most revered above all others. It is hear the heart of Rotomo’s character is forged.

Raised in a tribe of the Hawk Clan, respect for the natural world was a simple fact in Rotomo's life, but he had always felt a deeper spiritual connection to the natural world then most of his Quah. From an early age he was always looking for meaning in nature’s changes. Always questioning the tribal elders about nature’s fickleness and the signs they saw. All the while, he had grown from a strapping lad to a hulking bear of a man and earned the name Rotomo or Headwind in his tribes tongue.

As all of the Shriikirri-Quah do, Rotomo went on his spirit walk when he came of age. For six months he traveled the wildlands of Varisia communing with nature, feeding his soul. Upon completion of his spirit walk Rotomo was tattooed with the rune Ingir, Beast Heart, and left his Quah and began a journey of discovery, to find a path that would bring honor to his Quah.

To that end, he traveled from his Quah’s lands, seeking follow nature’s signs and learn more about himself. And so he found himself traveling with a caravan, headed for the southern town of Sandpoint.

Toughness - You gain +3 hit points. For every Hit Die you possess beyond 3, you gain an additional +1 hit point. If you have more than 3 Hit Dice, you gain +1 hit points whenever you gain a Hit Die (such as when you gain a level).
Dodge - You gain a +1 dodge bonus to your AC. A condition that makes you lose your Dex bonus to AC also makes you lose the benefits of this feat.

Granted Powers: With power over storm and sky, you can call down the wrath of the gods upon the world below.

Storm Burst (Sp)

As a standard action, you can create a storm burst targeting any foe within 30 feet as a ranged touch attack. The storm burst deals 1d6 points of nonlethal damage + 1 point for every two cleric levels you possess. In addition, the target is buffeted by winds and rain, causing it to take a –2 penalty on attack rolls for 1 round. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Wisdom modifier.

Lightning Lord (Sp)

At 8th level, you can call down a number of bolts of lightning per day equal to your cleric level. You can call down as many bolts as you want with a single standard action, but no creature can be the target of more than one bolt and no two targets can be more than 30 feet apart. This ability otherwise functions as call lightning.

Domain Spells: 1st—obscuring mist, 2nd—fog cloud, 3rd—call lightning, 4th—sleet storm, 5th—ice storm, 6th—control winds, 7th—control weather, 8th—whirlwind, 9th—storm of vengeance.

Alignment: Any neutral

Hit Die: d8

Starting Wealth: 2d6 × 10 gp (average 70 gp.) In addition, each character begins play with an outfit worth 10 gp or less.

Class Skills
The druid’s class skills are Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Fly (Dex), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (geography) (Int), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Perception (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Spellcraft (Int), Survival (Wis), and Swim (Str).

Skill Ranks Per Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies
Druids are proficient with the following weapons: club, dagger, dart, quarterstaff, scimitar, scythe, sickle, shortspear, sling, and spear. They are also proficient with all natural attacks (claw, bite, and so forth) of any form they assume with wild shape (see below).

Druids are proficient with light and medium armor but are prohibited from wearing metal armor; thus, they may wear only padded, leather, or hide armor. A druid may also wear wooden armor that has been altered by the ironwood spell so that it functions as though it were steel. Druids are proficient with shields (except tower shields) but must use only wooden ones.

A druid who wears prohibited armor or uses a prohibited shield is unable to cast druid spells or use any of her supernatural or spell-like class abilities while doing so and for 24 hours thereafter.

Spells

A druid casts divine spells, which are drawn from the druid spell list. Her alignment may restrict her from casting certain spells opposed to her moral or ethical beliefs; see Chaotic, Evil, Good, and Lawful Spells. A druid must choose and prepare her spells in advance.

To prepare or cast a spell, the druid must have a Wisdom score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a druid’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the druid’s Wisdom modifier.

Like other spellcasters, a druid can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. Her base daily spell allotment is given on Table: Druid. In addition, she receives bonus spells per day if she has a high Wisdom score (see Table: Ability Modifiers and Bonus Spells).

A druid must spend 1 hour each day in a trance-like meditation on the mysteries of nature to regain her daily allotment of spells. A druid may prepare and cast any spell on the druid spell list, provided that she can cast spells of that level, but she must choose which spells to prepare during her daily meditation.

Spontaneous Casting

A druid can channel stored spell energy into summoning spells that she hasn’t prepared ahead of time. She can “lose” a prepared spell in order to cast any summon nature’s ally spell of the same level or lower.

Chaotic, Evil, Good, and Lawful Spells

A druid can’t cast spells of an alignment opposed to her own or her deity’s (if she has one). Spells associated with particular alignments are indicated by the chaos, evil, good, and law descriptors in their spell descriptions.

Orisons (Sp)

Druids can prepare a number of orisons, or 0-level spells, each day, as noted on Table: Druid under “Spells per Day.” These spells are cast like any other spell, but they are not expended when cast and may be used again.

Bonus Languages

A druid’s bonus language options include Sylvan, the language of woodland creatures. This choice is in addition to the bonus languages available to the character because of her race.

A druid also knows Druidic, a secret language known only to druids, which she learns upon becoming a 1st-level druid. Druidic is a free language for a druid; that is, she knows it in addition to her regular allotment of languages and it doesn’t take up a language slot. Druids are forbidden to teach this language to nondruids.

Druidic has its own alphabet.

Natures Bond

At 1st level, a druid forms a bond with nature. This bond can take one of two forms. The first is a close tie to the natural world, granting the druid one of the following cleric domains: Air, Animal, Earth, Fire, Plant, Water, or Weather. Druids also have access to a set of Animal and Terrain Domains. When determining the powers and bonus spells granted by this domain, the druid’s effective cleric level is equal to her druid level. A druid that selects this option also receives additional domain spell slots, just like a cleric. She must prepare the spell from her domain in this slot and this spell cannot be used to cast a spell spontaneously.

The second option is to form a close bond with an animal companion. A druid may begin play with any of the animals listed in Animal Choices. This animal is a loyal companion that accompanies the druid on her adventures.

Unlike normal animals of its kind, an animal companion’s Hit Dice, abilities, skills, and feats advance as the druid advances in level. If a character receives an animal companion from more than one source, her effective druid levels stack for the purposes of determining the statistics and abilities of the companion. Most animal companions increase in size when their druid reaches 4th or 7th level, depending on the companion. If a druid releases her companion from service, she may gain a new one by performing a ceremony requiring 24 uninterrupted hours of prayer in the environment where the new companion typically lives. This ceremony can also replace an animal companion that has perished.

Nature Sense (Ex)

A druid gains a +2 bonus on Knowledge (nature) and Survival checks.

Wild Empathy (Ex)

A druid can improve the attitude of an animal. This ability functions just like a Diplomacy check made to improve the attitude of a person. The druid rolls 1d20 and adds her druid level and her Charisma modifier to determine the wild empathy check result.

The typical domestic animal has a starting attitude of indifferent, while wild animals are usually unfriendly.

To use wild empathy, the druid and the animal must be able to study each other, which means that they must be within 30 feet of one another under normal conditions. Generally, influencing an animal in this way takes 1 minute but, as with influencing people, it might take more or less time.

A druid can also use this ability to influence a magical beast with an Intelligence score of 1 or 2, but she takes a –4 penalty on the check.

Woodland Stride (Ex)

Starting at 2nd level, a druid may move through any sort of undergrowth (such as natural thorns, briars, overgrown areas, and similar terrain) at her normal speed and without taking damage or suffering any other impairment. Thorns, briars, and overgrown areas that have been magically manipulated to impede motion, however, still affect her.

Trackless Step (Ex)

Starting at 3rd level, a druid leaves no trail in natural surroundings and cannot be tracked. She may choose to leave a trail if so desired.

Resist Nature’s Lure (Ex)

Starting at 4th level, a druid gains a +4 bonus on saving throws against the spell-like and supernatural abilities of fey. This bonus also applies to spells and effects that target plants, such as blight, entangle, spike growth, and warp wood.

Wild Shape (Su)

At 4th level, a druid gains the ability to turn herself into any small or Medium animal and back again once per day. Her options for new forms include all creatures with the animal type. This ability functions like the beast shape I spell, except as noted here. The effect lasts for 1 hour per druid level, or until she changes back. Changing form (to animal or back) is a standard action and doesn’t provoke an attack of opportunity. The form chosen must be that of an animal the druid is familiar with.

A druid loses her ability to speak while in animal form because she is limited to the sounds that a normal, untrained animal can make, but she can communicate normally with other animals of the same general grouping as her new form. (The normal sound a wild parrot makes is a squawk, so changing to this form does not permit speech.)

A druid can use this ability an additional time per day at 6th level and every two levels thereafter, for a total of eight times at 18th level. At 20th level, a druid can use wild shape at will. As a druid gains in levels, this ability allows the druid to take on the form of larger and smaller animals, elementals, and plants. Each form expends one daily usage of this ability, regardless of the form taken.

At 6th level, a druid can use wild shape to change into a Large or Tiny animal or a Small elemental. When taking the form of an animal, a druid’s wild shape now functions as beast shape II. When taking the form of an elemental, the druid’s wild shape functions as elemental body I.

At 8th level, a druid can use wild shape to change into a Huge or Diminutive animal, a Medium elemental, or a Small or Medium plant creature. When taking the form of animals, a druid’s wild shape now functions as beast shape III. When taking the form of an elemental, the druid’s wild shape now functions as elemental body II. When taking the form of a plant creature, the druid’s wild shape functions as plant shape I.

At 10th level, a druid can use wild shape to change into a Large elemental or a Large plant creature. When taking the form of an elemental, the druid’s wild shape now functions as elemental body III. When taking the form of a plant, the druid’s wild shape now functions as plant shape II.

At 12th level, a druid can use wild shape to change into a Huge elemental or a Huge plant creature. When taking the form of an elemental, the druid’s wild shape now functions as elemental body IV. When taking the form of a plant, the druid’s wild shape now functions as plant shape III.

Venom Immunity (Ex)

At 9th level, a druid gains immunity to all poisons.

A Thousand Faces (Su)

At 13th level, a druid gains the ability to change her appearance at will, as if using the alter self spell, but only while in her normal form.

Timeless Body (Ex)

After attaining 15th level, a druid no longer takes ability score penalties for aging and cannot be magically aged. Any penalties she may have already incurred, however, remain in place. Bonuses still accrue, and the druid still dies of old age when her time is up.

Ex-Druids
A druid who ceases to revere nature, changes to a prohibited alignment, or teaches the Druidic language to a nondruid loses all spells and druid abilities (including her animal companion, but not including weapon, armor, and shield proficiencies). She cannot thereafter gain levels as a druid until she atones (see the atonement spell description).

I have been gaming since the early 80’s, although there was a 20 year period where it was hard to find people to play with (1992-2011). I enjoyed playing pathfinder weekly in a home brew from 2011 until this summer when I relocated for work. The move helped (forced) me discover the pbp format and I love it!! I feel it is a much better medium to bring PC’s to life. Some of the games I have enjoyed over the years are D&D (and all its versions), AD&D, Champions, GURPS, Star Frontiers, Call of Cthulhu, Boot Hill, Gang Busters, Shadow Run, Marvel Super Heroes, Rune Quest, Mouse Guard, The One Ring, Traveller, Villains and Vigilantes and a few other I have probably forgotten.

I live in the Eastern Time Zone of the United States (Indiana) and can usually post in the morning (4-6am) and the evening (6-10pm). I have been married for almost 20 years and have two kids (one a freshman in High School and the other in fourth grade).