Master of the Hunt

The Quintessential Druid
Author Robin O. Duke
Series The Quintessential Series
Publisher Mongoose Publishing
Publish date 2002

The principle of the hunt is very important to druid. The master of the hunt is dedicated to this principle in it purest manifestation. He lives to chase and kill animals of all kinds. The larger and more dangerous the prey, the more satisfying the hunt. The master of the hunt does not hunt for pleasure, though. He only permits himself to hunt to provide what he needs to survive, be that food, Hide or clothes. The master of the hunt adorns himself with the trophies of his hunts and will never be seen wearing garb produced by civilisation. He needs nothing to survive but his own hunting and tracking skills.

Hit Dice: d8.

Requirements

To become a master of the hunt, a character must fulfil the following criteria:
Animal Empathy: 8 ranks.
Handle Animal: 8 ranks.
Perform: 2 ranks (must include horn).
Ride (any): 8 ranks.
Feats: Mounted Combat, Mounted Archery, Trample.

Class Skills

The master of the hunt’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Animal Empathy (Charisma, exclusive skill), Concentration (Constitution), Craft (Intelligence), Handle Animal (Charisma), Profession (Wisdom), Swim (Strength) and Wilderness Lore (Wisdom).
Skill Points at each Level: 2 + Intelligence modifier.

Master of the Hunt
Class Level	Base Attack	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special	Spells per day
1	+0	+2	+0	+0	Druidic Membership, Mount, Hunting Fever 1 / day	–
2	+1	+3	+0	+0	Track, Inspire Hunt	+1 druid level
3	+2	+3	+1	+1	Hunting Fever 2 / day	–
4	+3	+4	+1	+1	Bonus Feat, Track Quarry	+1 druid level
5	+3	+4	+1	+1	Hunting Fever 3 / day	–

Class Features

The following are all the class features of the master of the hunt prestige class:

Weapon and Armour Proficiency: The master of the hunt is proficient with all simple weapons. In addition, his sacred oaths to the druid allow him to use any weapon manufactured from animal bone or wood in addition to clubs, Dagger, darts, longspears, quarterstaffs, Scimitars, sickles, shortspears and slings.

Druidic Membership: All masters of the hunt are members of the druid order even if they have no druid levels. They form a special group within the order generally left to their own devices but answerable to the inner circles none-the-less.

Spells Per Day: The master of the hunt continues his study of druidic magic, though at a slower pace than his fellows. Starting at 2nd level and every other level thereafter, the master of the hunt gains new spells per day as though he had also gained a level in the druid class. He does not, however, gain any other benefits a druid would have gained. The character, in effects adds half his master of the hunt levels (rounding down) to his druid levels before calculating spells per day. If the character was not a member of the druid class before becoming a master of the hunt, he acquires the casting abilities of a druid of ½ his master of the hunt class level.

Mount: Similar to a paladin, the master of the hunt has a special steed to which he is bound. The master of the hunt must first befriend this creature using ‘’animal friendship. Unlike paladins, masters of the hunt prefer stags to horses as their beasts of choice but may use any creature for which they have the Ride skill at 8 ranks or higher. Once the animal is befriended, the master of the hunt simply declares the creature to be his mount. The huntsman’s mount becomes a magical beast but still counts against his maximum Hit Dice for animal companions. In addition, the creature gains the benefits outlined in the table below.

Huntsman’s Level: If the mount suffers a level drain, treat it as a mount of a lower level master of the hunt.

Bonus Hit Dice: These are extra eight sided (d8) Hit Dice, each of which gains a Constitution modifier, as normal. Remember that extra Hit Dice improve the mount’s base attack and base save bonuses.

Natural Armour: The number listed here is an improvement to the mount’s Armour Class. It represents the preternatural toughness of a huntsman’s mount.

Strength Adj.: Add this figure to the mount’s Strength score.

Intelligence: The mount’s Intelligence score.

Improved Evasion: If the mount is subject to an attack that normally allows a Reflex saving throw for half damage, it takes no damage if it makes a successful saving throw and half damage even if the saving throw fails. Improved Evasion is an extraordinary ability.

Walk on Air: The master of the hunt’s mount can function as though he had cast air walk on it for up to 20 minutes per caster level. This supernatural ability can function multiple times each day (up to the total daily limit) with each use counting as at least one minute of use. It is a free action for the mount to activate it and it stops operating once the mount touches ground. The huntsman does not need to train his mount to use this ability. The mount develops the skill required intuitively when it acquires the ability.

Spell Resistance: The mount’s Spell Resistance is equal to the huntsman’s character level + 5. To affect the mount with a spell, a spellcaster must make a caster level check (1d20 + caster level) at least equal to the mount’s Spell Resistance.

Hunting Fever: The Hunting Fever is unique to the huntsman, allowing him to focus completely on his quarry while fueling both himself and his steed with the ferocity needed to bring the creature down. To call on the Hunting Fever, the huntsman must be able to see his prey. Calling on the Fever takes one full round, during which time he must be able to see the prey. The Hunting Fever requires some Concentration to muster and, during this round, the huntsman may need to make Concentration checks as though using a spell-like ability.

At the end of this initial round, the huntsman must sound his horn. This alerts the creature to the hunt, causing it to be affected as though by a fear spell cast at the huntsman’s character level. This effect lasts for as long as the Fever plus an addition 1d10 rounds after that. The fever lasts until the prey is killed or until a number of minutes equal to the huntsman’s Constitution modifier have passed (minimum: one minute). So long as the Fever lasts, the huntsman receives a +4 circumstantial bonus to Strength and Dexterity, +10 modifier to his movement rate and a +2 morale bonus to his Will saving throw. In addition, the huntsman’s mount and any other animal companions within line of sight receive a +4 circumstantial bonus to Strength and Dexterity, +20 modifier to their movement rate and +2d8 to their Hit Dice. These extra Hit Dice are temporary and do not cause the creatures to abandon the huntsman.

Finally, the huntsman’s mount (only) may use the master of the hunt’s base saving throws, or its own, whichever are higher. During the Hunting Fever, the huntsman must chase and kill his prey. The huntsman finds it difficult to use his abilities effectively against anyone other than his prey while in the Fever. He suffers a -4 circumstance penalty to his armour class against any creature that attacks him other than his chosen prey. The Dodge and Combat Expertise feats, and any other similar feats, are only effective against the prey while the huntsman is in the Fever. In addition, the huntsman can only attack another creature if it attacked him first within the last round. His desire and need to kill the prey is too great for the huntsman to waste time on others. At the end of the Fever, the huntsman must make a Fortitude saving throw (DC 10 + the Challenge Rating of the prey). If he saving throw fails, the huntsman is fatigued. On a successful saving throw, he is fatigued for the rest of he encounter only.

Huntsman’s Mount
Character Level	Bonus HD	Natural Armour	Strength Adj.	Intelligence	Special
5 – 7	+2	4	+1	6	Improved Evasion
8 – 10	+4	6	+2	7
11 – 14	+6	8	+3	8	Walk on Air
15 – 20	+8	10	+4	9	Spell Resistance

Track: At 2nd level the huntsman receives the Track eat free.

Track Quarry: When tracking a quarry, against which he Hunting Fever has been used but that successfully scaped, the huntsman receives a +2 circumstantial bonus to his Wilderness Lore check.

Inspire Hunt: By sounding his horn, the huntsman may lend some of his magical resilience to those accompanying him in a hunt. All that are with the huntsman on a hunt receive a +4 morale bonus to their Fortitude saving throws against fatigue and exhaustion if the hunt continues for many hours.

Bonus Feat: At 4th level, the huntsman may choose a bonus feat from the following list; Weapon Focus (shortspear), Weapon Focus (longspear), Mounted Archery, Trample, Ride-By Attack, Spirited Charge, Point Blank Shot, Far shot, Precise Shot, Toughness, Run.