Civilized nations have often long forgotten the ancient druidic traditions. These “civilized” people might have even intentionally done away with the tradition and its strange, oft-misunderstood, pagan rites. Those who later pursue this lost knowledge rely more upon crumbling written accounts rather than the wild’s natural calling. Scholars of these ancient ways who show enough promise become embraced and “adopted” by trickster fey, learning the old ways anew. Capricious and cruel as only the fey can be, these new druids might eventually discover why the druids of old were put to the sword. The sidhe (pronounced “shee”) scholar is an erudite hero who has lost touch with the more mundane tasks of a traditional druid (such as normal care of flora and fauna) in exchange for sylvan power that might prove itself best left to the immortals that refined it. The fey who usually take these druids under their wings are not your average “fairies”. They are not dryads or nixies, grigs or brownies. Instead, the fey who train sidhe scholars are the refined, aristocratic faeries of the Seelie and Unseelie courts. As sleek and dangerous as hunting cats, these fey are incomprehensible beings to whom a human’s life holds as much significance as a mayfly’s. The faeries of the courts regard humans who wish to learn from and worship them with amusement, approving of their reverent attitudes as appropriate behaviour from such inferior beings. As such, they do aid their supplicants readily, but expect much praise and appreciation for their pains.
The sidhe scholar is a more educated character than the archetypical druid. She actually has more in common with wizards than any other character class. A sidhe scholar is not a wizard, though. Despite erudite tendencies, the sidhe scholar is still a divine supplicant: she gains her magical powers through hard work and study, but she cannot cast her spells or perform her other magical abilities based upon her own inner arcane spark like a wizard or even a sorcerer. Instead, like other druids, she must draw upon the powers of nature and the wild lands. In settings with themes of urbanization and turning away from the natural world, the traditions of the original druidic ways are likely lost and must be rediscovered. Hence, the sidhe scholar calls not upon the deities of nature or the raw energy of the wilds themselves, but upon the only beings who remember the old ways well enough to instruct her — the fey.
Like the druid, the sidhe scholar values Wisdom as her most important ability score; bonus spells, spell DCs, and Will save are all extremely important to this magic-oriented variant. Intelligence and Charisma share secondary importance. Ranks in different Knowledge skills and Diplomacy serve her well. Pursuing the forgotten rites of the old druids might be viewed as foolish at best and dangerous at worst, making it important to assuage the fears and superstitions of concerned locals. Dealings with the fey themselves also tend to go much smoother with a high Charisma.
The sidhe scholar is a variant druid. Unless otherwise noted, a sidhe scholar advances in the same manner as a druid (same base attack bonus, saving throw bonuses, skill points, and so on). When a character elects to take a level of druid or sidhe scholar, she may not later take levels in the other class. This prevents the character from gaining the benefits of a 1st-level druid twice.
Hit Die: d6.
The sidhe scholar’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are:
| Level | Base Attack Bonus | Fort Save | Ref Save | Will Save | Special |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | +0 | +2 | +0 | +2 | Intelligentsia, Nature Sense, Wild One |
| 2nd | +1 | +3 | +0 | +3 | Blessing of the Fey |
| 3rd | +2 | +3 | +1 | +3 | |
| 4th | +3 | +4 | +1 | +4 | Sylvan Gifts |
| 5th | +3 | +4 | +1 | +4 | Otherworldly Shifting, Wild Shape (1/day) |
| 6th | +4 | +5 | +2 | +5 | Dark Moon’s Secret, Wild Shape (2/day) |
| 7th | +5 | +5 | +2 | +5 | Wild Shape (3/day) |
| 8th | +6/+1 | +6 | +2 | +6 | Wild Shape (Large) |
| 9th | +6/+1 | +6 | +3 | +6 | Venom Immunity |
| 10th | +7/+2 | +7 | +3 | +7 | Wild Shape (4/day) |
| 11th | +8/+3 | +7 | +3 | +7 | Wild Shape (Tiny) |
| 12th | +9/+4 | +8 | +4 | +8 | Sylvan Craft |
| 13th | +9/+4 | +8 | +4 | +8 | A Thousand Faces |
| 14th | +10/+5 | +9 | +4 | +9 | Wild Shape (5/day) |
| 15th | +11/+6/+1 | +9 | +5 | +9 | Timeless Body, Wild Shape (Huge) |
| 16th | +12/+7/+2 | +10 | +5 | +10 | Wild Shape (elemental 1/day) |
| 17th | +12/+7/+2 | +10 | +5 | +10 | |
| 18th | +13/+8/+3 | +11 | +6 | +11 | Wild Shape (6/day, elemental 3/day) |
| 19th | +14/+9/+4 | +11 | +6 | +11 | |
| 20th | +15/+10/+5 | +12 | +6 | +12 |
| Level | 0 | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 3 | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2nd | 4 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3rd | 4 | 2 | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 4th | 5 | 3 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 5th | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 6th | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 7th | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 8th | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 9th | 6 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | — | — | — | — |
| 10th | 6 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | — | — | — | — |
| 11th | 6 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | — | — | — |
| 12th | 6 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | — | — | — |
| 13th | 6 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | — | — |
| 14th | 6 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | — | — |
| 15th | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | — |
| 16th | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | — |
| 17th | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| 18th | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| 19th | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| 20th | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
All of the following are class features of the sidhe scholar.
Weapon and Armour Proficiency: The sidhe scholar is only proficient with simple weapons, light armour and shields (except tower shields), regardless of material composition. The sidhe scholar embraces more of the civilized world than the typical druid, but as a whole spends less time in martial pursuits.
Intelligentsia (Ex): At 1st level, the sidhe scholar gains Skill Focus (Knowledge (Nature)) as a bonus feat. The sidhe scholar spends a lot of time in research, and so has a larger knowledge base than most druids.
Wild One (Ex): The sidhe scholar’s animal companion is a little more powerful than a standard druid’s companion. Thanks to the favour of the fey, the sidhe scholar’s animal companion has a bit of sylvan blood in it. The companion is exceptionally fit, sleek and graceful. The animal companion begins with +1 hit point per Hit Die, +2 Dexterity, and +2 Charisma. Unfortunately, this wild blood makes the animal especially suspicious of humanoids. The animal always has an initial attitude of “unfriendly” around humanoids who aren’t its master (to whom it is as loyal as any other animal companion), but other druids or rangers can increase the animal companion’s attitude to “neutral” using the wild empathy ability. In addition, the animal refuses to enter a humanoid settlement larger than a thorp. The animal does not leave the druid completely, however, and lurks on the outskirts of the settlement until the druid rejoins it in the wilds.
Blessing of the Fey (Su): At 2nd level, the fey first bestow their gifts upon their willing supplicant, granting a +2 bonus on Knowledge (Arcana) and Survival checks.
Sylvan Gifts (Su): Beginning at 4th level, the fey visit the sidhe scholar every night in her dreams, imparting her with magical secrets. The sidhe scholar gains bonus spells as if her Wisdom score were 2 higher than it really is. This does not affect the DCs of her spells.
Otherworldly Shifting (Su): The sidhe scholar’s wild shape forms vary greatly in appearance. In her wild shape form (whatever it might be), the sidhe scholar appears alien and strangely beautiful. Her form’s pelt or plumage is brightly and unusually coloured, with angular features, sharply pointed ears, and almond-shaped faintly glowing eyes adding to the form’s alien appearance. Even though she has a set number of forms she can take, her forms never appear the same way twice. Every time she uses her wild shape ability, her form has some new random element, although it always tends toward being slightly smaller and leaner than a typical example of the animal’s kind. In short, the sidhe scholar who has wild shaped rarely blends in with her form’s natural kin.
Dark Moon’s Secret (Su): Few fey are inherently evil, but even the most good-aligned sylvan creature possesses a wicked sense of humor, to say nothing of an inhuman mind and set of abilities. The sidhe scholar can only muster a pale imitation of a fey’s true abilities, and most fey find dark humor in watching the “foolish mortal” metaphorically stumble about in an attempt to mimic their innate magical powers. Some are so amused that they decide to add more kindling to the fire, bestowing alien powers upon the druid perhaps best left unknown. At 6th level, the sidhe scholar adds the Evil domain spell list to her druid spell list.
Sylvan Craft (Su): If a promising pupil, the sidhe scholar learns from her faerie tutors the arts of item creation. At 12th level, the sidhe scholar gains Craft Staff as a bonus feat. The staffs she creates are abstractly beautiful, asymmetrical, ornate and utterly alien in appearance. In the heat of creation the sidhe scholar ignores all else, snatching only enough scraps of food and sleep to stay alive. This allows her to create a staff in half the normal amount of time.
Sidhe (pronounced “shee”) is a Gaelic word meaning “people of the hill”. Descendants of the Tuatha De Danaan, the sidhe were a fairy folk said to live in Ireland and the Highlands of Scotland.
Source: Dragon Magazine #339 (Page 90)