TERMINACIÓN ANTICIPADA DEL CONTRATO

Female elf Rgr8/Sor3; Size M (4 ft., 10 in. tall);

HD 8d10 + 3d4; hp 54; Init +8; Spd 30 ft.; AC 19; Attack +11/+6 melee (1d6+2 longsword), or +13/+8 ranged (1d8 longbow); SV Fort +7, Ref +7, Will +8; AL CG; Str 13, Dex 19, Con 10, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 15.

Skills and Feats: Concentration +6, Handle Animal +11, Hide +6, Knowledge (nature) +9, Listen +8, Move Silently +11, Profession +5, Ride +10, Search +12, Spellcraft +5, Spot +9, Wilderness Lore +7; Alertness, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Point Blank Shot, Track.

Possessions: +1 longsword, bracers of armor +4, ring of protection +1, gloves of swimming

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CHAPTER THREE: Schools of Combat and climbing, 48 gp.

Vinekeepers Lessons: Nature’s Clothing, The Huntsman, Watchful Rest, Quickscape, Stoneface, The Grassblade.

Fei Starshell is a tiny, spry high elf of 168 win-ters. She is fond of jewelry, music, and good company and will occasionally take a student for about 5 gp a day should the mood take her.

Although flighty at times, Fei can instruct even the densest students in the ways of the forest.

One of her favorite tactics is to disappear and ambush her student, or her student’s friends.

This tendency has gotten her compared to a fey many times, a comparison that she is not entire-ly uncomfortable with.

Lessons

Lesson 1 – Nature’s Clothing

Vinekeepers wear a distinct uniform that makes it easier for them to blend into wooded areas.

This clothing has to be specially made by the master for the student. The student receives a series of lectures of how clothing, plants, col-ors, and sunlight are all important in camou-flage. The clothing covers light and medium armor and gives the wearer a +2 circumstance bonus to Hide checks made in forested areas.

The clothing cannot be worn by another indi-vidual and requires 1 full day to completely replace if destroyed.

Lesson 2 – The Huntsman

As part of being more at home in the wild, a student of the Vinekeepers must learn to be self-sufficient. As such, the master teaches the student how to identify certain tracks, hunt wild animals, and to properly prepare game for eating. The huntsman technique gives a charac-ter a +2 circumstance bonus to Wilderness Lore checks and makes it a class skill.

Lesson 3 – Watchful Rest

A Vinekeeper must be ready for anything, pre-pared to move at a moment’s notice. As part of her training, a student spends her nights in meditation while her master occasionally deliv-ers an unexpected slap. This technique improves awareness during periods of rest. A character with watchful rest gains a +4 circum-stance bonus to Listen checks when sleeping or resting and may react immediately upon wak-ing (she is never considered surprised after being awoken).

Lesson 4 – Quickscape

Vinekeepers use the quickscape technique to escape quickly from trouble. It takes patience and careful study to know the exact moment that an opponent will blink or otherwise be dis-tracted in combat. With the master’s careful guidance, a student learns to use nature as a way to conceal a retreat. Once per battle, the character can use her move action to run away and hide. Even if the opponent’s eyes are fol-lowing the character, it will seem as if she has melted into the background.

She may hide at any point during her move-ment, although her Hide check suffers a –1 penalty for each enemy combatant. Opponents can make an immediate Spot check as a free action to detect the character’s hiding place, but if they fail this check they must search for her as normal. This technique can only be used in heavily forested areas.

Lesson 5 – Stoneface

Stoneface teaches a student the ability to remain perfectly still for hours on end. The les-son begins early one morning and involves hours of remaining motionless in a variety of positions and locations. The master teach-es the student how to control breathing

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and how to ignore irritations such as mosqui-toes. The stoneface technique grants the Vinekeeper a +4 circumstance bonus to Hide checks when the character is in position and motionless before an enemy approaches. The student can remain motionless for a number of hours equal to 1 + her Constitution modifier.

She may extend this time by making a Concentration check (DC 20 + the number of previous checks) at the beginning of each hour.

Lesson 6 – The Grassblade

Movement can give away a position and reveal a Vinekeeper, so much of her training focuses on erasing these disadvantages. The grassblade technique focuses on reducing sound and leav-ing as few traces of movement as possible. For one week, the master and student practice stop and go travel. By learning the grassblade tech-nique, a character gains a +2 circumstance bonus to Move Silently checks and increases the DC of Wilderness Lore checks to track her by 4 when she is traveling through wooded environments.

Lesson 7 – Windwalk

As a supernatural ability, the Vinekeeper can move among the branches of the trees hidden by the sound of rustling wind. This ability

can be used three times per day and it lasts one minute per level each time it is used. A student learns this technique by sitting high in the trees and concentrating on the sound of the wind for several days. When using the windwalk, a char-acter gains a +8 bonus to Jump, Hide, and Move Silently checks while moving among the branches of trees.

Lesson 8 – Nature’s Ally

The Vinekeeper has a good relationship with the plants and animals of the forest. By learn-ing to tap into latent area magic, a Vinekeeper can ask for help from her environment. This ability acts as either a control plants or animal friendship spell as cast by a 9th-level druid, and can be used twice per day. The character can freely choose between the two effects each time the ability is used.

Lesson 9 – Viper Strike

One of the deadliest abilities of the Vinekeepers is the technique of attacking with-out warning and then retreating, all in a single action. When using a viper strike, the Vinekeeper draws a weapon, attacks with a +4 bonus on her attack roll, retreats, and hides, all within one round of combat and without pro-voking an attack of opportunity. This action combined with the quickscape ability has given rise to legends that the Vinekeepers spring from the forest itself to wreak terrible havoc upon their enemies.

This ability works in all ways like the Spring Attack feat, except the Vinekeeper must be hid-den before she initiates the strike.

Lesson 10 – One With Nature

In a forest, the Vinekeeper becomes nigh invis-ible even when she is not hiding. To learn this powerful technique, a student must spend an entire month in the wild without food, water, clothes, or even friends. The master watches from afar but does not directly intercede, leav-ing only clues, written suggestions, and odd animal sounds for the student to study. After learning this powerful technique, the Vinekeeper is always considered to have full concealment against attacks in a forest, as she blends in with her surroundings and ducks and weaves in combat, using the terrain to her utmost advantage.

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CHAPTER THREE: Schools of Combat