Feralan
Description: What happens to children who wander into the wilderness and are never recovered? Or worse, children who are abandoned by their families, left in the woods to fend for themselves? Sadly, most of them eventually succumb to the dangers of the wild. But a fortunate few are taken in by animals, raised as part of a lion's brood or a wolf's litter. Cut off from civilization, they gradually take on the characteristics of the creatures who adopted them. In the process, they become Feralans, beings who combine the savagery of a beast with the intellect of a man.
The Feralan may look like a human, but for the most part, he acts like a wild animal. He speaks the language of animals and lives in their lairs. He leads them on hunts, defends them against predators, and considers them his family. Yet, the Feralan retains vestiges of his own race, characterized by his agile mind and an unshakable curiosity about human civilization. Many Feralans have picked up enough human language to communicate with them, albeit on a limited basis.
Despite his bestial tendencies, the Feralan's moral principles are not so different from other rangers. He values the well-being of his followers as much as his own. He avoids needless killing and considers himself the nemesis of hunters who stalk game for sport. Greed and jealously are as unknown to the Feralan as they are to the creatures of the forest.
Familial Species: At the beginning of his career, the player should choose a familial species for his Feralan, representing the type of animal that raised him. A Feralan can have only a single familial species, which never changes. The familial species must share the Feralan's primary terrain and is subject to the DM's approval. Animals suitable as familial species include wild dogs, bears (any), wolves, great cats (any), and primates (any). The DM may augment this list with additional choices if he likes; familial species can't be human, demihuman, humanoid, or of magical or supernatural origin.
Requirements: Feralans must have a minimum Constitution of 15 and a minimum Strength of 14. They cannot be of lawful alignment.
Though some humans and demihumans raised by wild animals have neutral or evil outlooks, only those with good alignments qualify as Feralans. Because Feralans have little use for the laws and regulations of the civilized world, most are chaotic good.
Primary Terrain: The vast majority of Feralans have Forest or Jungle as their primary terrain. Arctic, Hill, Mountain, Plains, and Swamp are possible but less common.
Role: Many people fear Feralans, wrongly considering them to be ferocious wildmen or savage werecreatures. Those who befriend Feralans, however, come to know them as trustworthy, noble, and even gentle. Still, Feralans remain wary of most humans and demihumans, finding their actions unpredictable and often incomprehensible.
Feralans rarely volunteer to join adventuring parties. However, because Feralans are fervent animal advocates and protectors of the wild, they are inclined to cooperate with parties who share their concerns.
While a Feralan's human companions may admire his courage and respect his instincts, they may find his beast-like behavior offensive at best, frightening at worst. After a hunt, a Feralan may drag the carcass of his prey back to the party's campsite and eat it raw, tearing off chunks with his familial followers. Personal hygiene is rarely among a Feralan's priorities, though he may occasionally lick himself clean. He grooms his animal friends by picking bugs from their fur, then cuddles up with them to go to sleep. When disturbed, he may snarl like a wolf. To celebrate victory over a predator, he may howl at the moon. He communicates in grunts, growls, and sentence fragments. He may disconcert new associates by sniffing them.
Secondary Skills: Fisher, Forester, Hunter, Trapper/Furrier. The secondary skills reflect talents that Feralans have picked up in the wild; therefore, all skills have wilderness applications only. A Fisher Feralan, for instance, may know how to swim and catch fish, but won't be able to operate a boat.
Weapon Proficiencies: Required: club, knife. A Feralan's remaining slots must be spent on primitive weapons: blowgun (rare), dagger, short bow, dart, hand axe, sling, spear.
Nonweapon Proficiencies: Bonus: Hunting or Fishing; Trail Signs*. His remaining initial proficiencies must be chosen from these: Alertness*, Animal Handling, Animal Lore, Blind-fighting, Direction Sense, Endurance, Fire-building, Fishing, Foraging, Hunting, Rope Use, Running, Set Snares, Survival, Swimming, Veterinary Healing*, Weather Sense.
Armor/Equipment: Feralans adorn themselves in crude smocks or loincloths made of furs and hides. They wear only what is necessary to keep themselves warm and comfortable.
A Feralan wears no armor, nor does he carry a shield. His main weapons--the ones associated with his weapon proficiencies--he makes himself from bones, branches, rocks, and other natural materials. If he loses or breaks one of these weapons, he can come up with a replacement in few hours, assuming suitable materials are available. He can use weapons other than those he makes, but prefers not to.
Species Enemy: Any.
Followers: Unlike other rangers, the Feralan begins to receive followers at 5th level. At least half (rounded up) of his followers will be of his familial species. A Feralan will receive at most one human, demihuman, or humanoid as a follower, and this only at 10th level or higher.
Special Benefits:
Stealth: The Feralan receives a +10% chance to hide in natural surroundings and a +10% chance to move silently.
Feral Rage: During melee combat, the initial wounding of an opponent may impel the Feralan into a frenzy of blood lust, increasing his fighting effectiveness. A Feralan can make one attempt to become enraged at any particular opponent. After the first round in which a Feralan inflicts damage on an opponent, the Feralan has the option of making a saving throw vs. death magic. If the roll succeeds, the Feralan goes into a feral rage for the next 2d6 rounds. During that time, the rage gives the Feralan a +2 bonus to all attack and damage rolls, and his base Armor Class improves by 2 (an unarmored Feralan's AC is temporarily raised to 8). However, all attacks must be made against the designated opponent and the Feralan must attack in every round he's able; he can't voluntarily break off an attack, or choose to attack a different opponent.
An enraged Feralan must continue to attack the designated opponent until the feral rage wears off, or the opponent dies or escapes. If the rage wears off, the Feralan may continue to attack normally, or take any other action; however, the Feralan can't attempt to become enraged again against the same opponent. If the opponent dies, the feral rage automatically ends. If the opponent flees, the Feralan will pursue for the duration of the rage.
Climbing: The Feralan has a base climbing success rate of 60%. This allows tree climbing at the Feralan's normal movement rate (cliff climbing instead if the primary terrain is Arctic, Desert, or Mountain). This ability is much more limited than the thief ability to climb walls. The climbing modifiers discussed in Chapter 14 of the Player's Handbook apply in all situations other than those given.
Speak with Animals: The Feralan can use this ability at will with animals from his familial species. The ability is similar to the 2nd level priest spell speak with animals, but requires no components or casting time.
Familial Rapport: The familial followers of a Feralan will generally do what they're asked, assuming they're physically capable of doing so, when the Feralan speaks to them in their own language. Mistreated familial followers may still abandon a Feralan, as detailed in the Parting Company section of Chapter 3.
Animal Training: The Feralan may train non-familial followers (use guidelines in Chapter 3).
Call of the Wild: When in his primary terrain, the Feralan may attempt to summon familial species animals by howling at the top of his lungs for 1-6 rounds. The DM then secretly rolls percentile dice. If the result is less than or equal to the Feralan's Wisdom score plus his level (a 5th level Feralan with Wisdom 15 has a base chance of 20%), 1-4 familial animals show up within the next hour. Once they arrive, these animals act as followers for the next 1-4 hours. During this time, the Feralan may command them with his speak with animals ability. At the end of the 1-4 hour period, the summoned animals disappear into the wilderness. A Feralan can attempt call of the wild once per day.
Special Hindrances:
Limited Magic: Because of his mental predisposition and animalistic tendencies, a Feralan can only learn and cast a limited number of spells. He has access only to spells of the animal sphere and can't cast spells any higher than 2nd level. Table 41 shows the Feralan's spell progression.
A Feralan may use any magical item normally allowed a ranger.
Table 45: Feralan Spell Progression
|
Feralan |
Casting |
Priest Spell Level* |
|
Level |
Level |
1 |
2 |
|
|
1-7 |
- |
- |
- |
|
|
8-9 |
1 |
1 |
- |
|
|
10-11 |
2 |
2 |
- |
|
|
12-13 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
|
|
14-15 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
|
|
16+ |
5 |
3 |
2 |
* Animal sphere only
Limited Money: A Feralan has little interest in money or gems, which for the most part are as worthless to him as rocks. He keeps only enough funds to cover training costs, equipment replacement, and basic living expenses. He usually allows fellow party members to divide the remainder of his share of treasure as they wish. (However, the Feralan still receives all experience points due him for finding treasure and fellow party members receive no experience point benefit for the Feralan's share.)
No Fortifications: Lacking extensive resources but mainly lacking the inclination, a Feralan will not build a castle or any other type of fortification at any point in his career.
Reaction Penalty: The rough manner and appearance of the Feralan inflicts a -3 penalty when encountering human, demihuman, or humanoid NPCs, including other Feralans.
A Feralan will seldom, if ever, develop any close relationship with politically powerful human, demihuman, or humanoid NPCs.