Beastmaster

The beastmaster is a wilderness warrior who has developed an uncanny rapport with animals. Though truly fearsome in battle, the beastmaster can be quite gentle when dealing with creatures of the wild. A beastmaster typically travels with one or more animal companions who show incredible loyalty to their humanoid friend. Though a beastmaster prefers to spend time in the wild with his animal companions, he is not averse to venturing into civilized lands when the need arises. As long as animals may be found where he travels, the beastmaster will feel at home.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Beastmasters are proficient with simple and martial weapons and with light and medium armor.

Animal Companion (Ex): At 1st level, the beastmaster may attract an animal companion. For rules on animal companions, see Chapter 3: Classes, "Healer," Druid.

Wild Empathy (Ex): A beastmaster can use body language, vocalizations and demeanor to improve the attitude of any creature of the animal, magical beast or vermin types. This ability functions just like a Diplomacy check made to improve a humanoid's attitude toward a character (see the Diplomacy skill in Chapter 5). T ypically, domesticated creatures have a starting attitude of indifferent and wild creatures begin as unfriendly. Magical beasts may only be influenced by a beastmaster's wild empathy if the creature's Intellect score is 5 or less, and the beastmaster suffers a -4 penalty on any attempts to do so. The beastmaster rolls 1d20 + his beastmaster level + his Charisma modifier to determine the wild empathy check result. To use wild empathy, the and the creature must be able to study each other, which means that they must be within 30 feet of one another. A standard attempt to make a wild empathy check requires 1 minute, but as with influencing people, circumstances may require that the process take more or less time.

Charm Animal (Sp): At 2nd level, the beastmaster can use charm animal as a spell-like ability once per day. His caster level is equal to his beastmaster level. He can use charm animal an additional time per day at 4th level and every two levels thereafter (6th, 8th and 10th) .Empathic Link (Su): At 3rd level, the beastmaster forms an empathic link with his animal companion out to a distance of 1 mile. At 7th level, the beastmaster extends his link to include not only his animal companion but also any animals he has befriended. The link allows the beastmaster and the animals to communicate their general emotional state (fear, hunger, happiness, curiosity) to one another. Note that the Intellect of animals may limit what the creatures can communicate or understand.

Natural Weaponry (Su): At 4th level, a beastmaster can undertake a ritual that allows him to grow claws, fangs or horns. The ritual lasts for three days, during which the beastmaster cannot sleep or eat. At the end of the ritual, the player selects claws, fangs or horns; once the choice is made, it cannot be reversed or altered. Once a beastmaster has grown his chosen natural weaponry, it cannot be hidden easily and grants him a +2 circumstance bonus on Intimidate checks. The beastmaster is considered proficient with his chosen natural weapon. When making multiple attacks in a full attack, a beastmaster suffers a -3 penalty if using his natural weapons in any attack beyond the first. A beastmaster who selects claws may make two attacks using the claws if he can make multiple attacks in the same round, but may not use them to attack while wielding another weapon. The damage for a beastmaster's natural weaponry is as follows: Character Claw Bite/Gore Size Damage Damage Small 1d3 1d4 Medium 1d4 1d6 Large 1d6 1d8 At 7th level, a beastmaster undergoes a longer and more involved ritual lasting five days without food or sleep, and he has the option either to select a second set of natural weaponry or to improve the natural weaponry he already possesses. If a new set of natural weaponry is selected, it is as if the beastmaster had selected it at 4th level. If the beastmaster chooses to improve his existing natural weaponry, it grows longer and more wicked than before. It grants a +4 circumstance bonus on Intimidate checks but also a -2 circumstance penalty on all checks requiring fine manipulation using the chosen body part. The damage for improved natural weaponry is as follows: Character Improved Improved Bite/ Size Claw Damage Gore Damage Small 1d4 1d6 Medium 1d6 1d8 Large 1d8 2d6 A beastmaster's natural weaponry may only be used if the beastmaster is wearing light armor or no armor.

Speak with Animals (Su): At 5th level, the beastmaster may comprehend and communicate at will with all animals, magical beasts and vermin. This ability functions as the spell speak with animals.

Magic Fang (Sp): At 6th level, the beastmaster may cast magic fang on his animal companion once per day. He may do so one additional time per day for each two levels thereafter, to a maximum of three times per day at 10th level. At 10th level, he also gains the ability to cast greater magic fang once per day, either on himself or his animal companion. The beastmaster casts both spells as a druid of equivalent level.

Scry on Companion (Sp): Upon achieving 9th level, once per day a beastmaster may scry upon his animal companion as if casting the scrying spell. The beastmaster's effective caster level equals his class level. Table 4-4: The Beastmaster (Bst) Class Base Fort Ref Will Level Attack Bonus Save Save Save Special 1st +1 +2 +0 +0 Animal companion, wild empathy 2nd +2 +3 +0 +0 Charm animal 1/day 3rd +3 +3 +1 +1 Empathic link (animal companion) 4th +4 +4 +1 +1 Natural weaponry, charm animal 2/day 5th +5 +4 +1 +1 Speak with animals 6th +6 +5 +2 +2 Magic fang (1/day), charm animal 3/day 7th +7 +5 +2 +2 Empathic link (animal friends), natural weaponry 8th +8 +6 +2 +2 Magic fang (2/day) charm animal 4/day 9th +9 +6 +3 +3 Scry on companion 10th +10 +7 +3 +3 Magic fang (3/day), greater magic fang (1/day), charm animal 5/day