Class name:  Oros (Animal Friend)

Adventures:  Few are the chosen gifted with the ability to commune with nature’s children.   Blessed with a limited form of telepathic communication with animals, an Oros and the animals are able work together to protect the land’s inhabitants and defend the balance of nature against those who wish to destroy it.  It is important to note, that an Oros does not normally command, neither train nor control their animal companions, rather they are friends and comrade-in-arms (unless the Oros is one of the rare Neutral Evil-aligned category).

Religion:  Oros revere nature and gain their magical powers from the forces of nature itself or from a nature deity.

Background:  Most Oros find themselves drawn into large areas of forests or other large animal abundant areas as they reach their young adulthood.  On occasions, an Oros’ natural affinity to animals and such may come to existence at a later stage of an individual’s life.  Many perceive an Oros as being loners.  This is an incorrect observation since very few realize that many Oros’ companions are usually animals.  Oros usually are trained by another Oros (solitary master) in how to use their gifts similarly to the way a Ranger is.

Races:  Gnomes and Elves are the proffered race for the Oros class.  Humans and Half-elves are also a common choice while Halflings and Dwarves are least common to be an Oros.  Although uncommon, Half Orcs are more likely to be an Oros then a Dwarf.

Classes:  Oros get along well with Rangers, Druids and to some extent Barbarians.  Like Druids, the Oros dislike the Paladin’s devotion to abstract ideals instead of “the real world.”  Since Oros don’t much look to other people for support or friendship, they find easy to tolerate people who are quite different from themselves, such as bookish wizards, preachy clerics and even urban thieves.  
Notes regarding to multi-classing: . Oros do not have the patience or the inclination to study books like a mage or a bard, nor do they have the desire to live in cities like rogues.  They are attuned to nature and more specifically the animals, so they do not have the patience for a structured tier of command as found with Clerics and Fighters.  Although they can be considered as savage like barbarians, they do not live in large tribe like groups.  Finally, although Oros can be very physical as their environment forces them to be, the Oros does not have the single-minded determination to perfect oneself like a Monk does.  Overall, the class that an Oros can best find understanding to and therefore is the best choice to multi-class with is that of a Druid (but again, most will fid the Druidic structure to also be too structured).  Other then the Druid, the following order of preference would best suit an Oros multi-class character: Druid, Ranger, Barbarian, Fighter, Cleric (nature oriented), Thief, Sorcerer, Psionic Warior, Bard, Psion, and finally Wizard

Game Rule Information

Abilities: Wisdom determines how powerful a spell an Oros can cast, how many spells the Oros can cast per day and how hard those spells are to resist.  To cast a spell, an Oros must have a Wisdom score of 10 = the spell’s level.  An Oros does not get bonus spells based on ability scores.  The difficulty Class of a saving throw against an Oros spell is 10 + the spell level ± the Wisdom modifier.  Since an Oros wears light armor (up to padded leather), a high dexterity improves the character’s defensive ability. 

Alignment: To be an Oros, one must be Neutral Good, True Neutral or Chaotic Neutral.  Although a rare few Neutral Evil Oros due exist (Oros who have succumbed to the various humanoid civilizations’ decadence or the taint of evil magic), it is not recommended that they be used as PCs.

Hit Dice: 8

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Oros are proficient with the following weapons: blowgun, bola, boomerang, bow (long and short), club, dagger, dart, halfspear, hand axe, knife, longspear, quarterstaff, shortspear, sling and throwing axe. They are proficient with light armors. They are skilled with wooden shields and bucklers.

Spells: An Oros casts divine spells. An Oros may prepare and cast any spell on the Oros spell list provided below.  She prepares and casts spells the way a cleric does (though she cannot lose a prepared spell to cast a cure spell in its place). To prepare or cast a spell, an Oros must have a Wisdom score of at least 10 + the spell's level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a druid's spell is 10 + the spell's level + the Oros’ Wisdom modifier. Oros do not receive any bonus spells due to ability scores. 

Class Skills: The Oro’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are: 
Balance (Dex); Bluff (Cha); Climb (Str); Concentration (Con); Craft (Bowmaking, Leather Armor, or Simple Weapons like spears, axes and such) (Int); Handle Animal (Cha); Heal (Wis); Hide (Dex); Intuit Direction (Wis); Jump (Str); Knowledge (nature) (Int); Listen (Wis); Move Silently (Dex); Profession (Herbalist or Animal Handler) (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis); Search (Int); Spot (Wis); Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex) and Wilderness Lore (Wis).   Smaller races that are Oros (e.g., gnomes) may use Ride (Dex) as a class skill since they tend to use their initial animal companions as mounts.  Note: Certain skills are affected by the use of Armor.  Consult DM’s guide if unsure.
Note: Although certain skills such as Bluff, Search, Spot and even Sense Motive may seem out of place at first, these skills are much needed and used when dealing with animals.  Final Note: Like a Barbarian, Oros are illiterate and must spend 2 skill points if they wish to read or write a language that they speak.  Feats: An Oros gets access to the following Metamagic feat: Brew Potion (they can use this feat to create poisons ranging from ones that kill to ones that only incapacitate

Skill Points (1st level): (5 + Int modifier) x 4
Skill points per level after 1st: 5 + Int modifier 
The Oros
Level	Base attack	Save	Special	Spells per day/level	
		Fort	Ref	Will		0	1	2	3	4	
1	0	+2	+1	0	Nature Sense, Animal Companion1, Animal Empathy, Track	2	–	–	–	–	
2	+1	+3	+1	+0	Woodland Stride, Shared Senses (touch), Sense Range 60 feet	4	–	–	–	–	
3	+2	+3	+2	+1	Trackless Step, Animal Empathy +1	4	1	–	–	–	
4	+3	+4	+2	+1	Animal Empathy +2, Shared Senses (smell), Sense Range 120 feet	4	2	–	–	–	
5	+3	+4	+3	+1	Evasion, Animal Empathy +2	4	3	–	–	–	
6	+4	+5	+3	+2	Animal Companion2, Shared Senses (hearing), Sense Range 180 feet	4	4	–	–	–	
7	+5	+5	+4	+2	Uncanny dodge (Dexterity bonus to armor class)	5	4	1	–	–	
8	+6/+1	+6	+4	+2	Animal Empathy +3, Shared Senses (sight), Sense Range 240 feet	5	4	2	–	–	
9	+6/+1	+6	+5	+3	Project Empathy	5	4	3	–	–	
10	+7/+2	+7	+5	+3	Blindsight 5-foot radius	5	4	4	–	–	
11	+8/+3	+7	+6	+3	Uncanny dodge (Traps +1)	5	5	4	1	–	
12	+9/+4	+8	+6	+4	Animal Companion3	5	5	4	2	–	
13	+9/+4	+8	+7	+4	Blindsight 10-foot radius	5	5	4	3	–	
14	+10/+5	+9	+7	+4	Uncanny dodge (Traps +2), Track +1	5	5	4	4	–	
15	+11/+6/+1	+9	+8	+5	Blindsight 15-foot radius	5	5	5	4	1	
16	+12/+7/+2	+10	+8	+5	Sense Range 300 feet, Track +2	5	5	5	4	2	
17	+12/+7/+2	+10	+9	+5	Animal Companion4, Animal Empathy +4	5	5	5	5	3	
18	+13/+8/+3	+11	+9	+6	Sense Range 360 feet, Track +3	5	5	5	5	4	
19	+14/+9/+4	+11	+10	+6	Blindsight 20-foot radius	6	6	5	5	4	
20	+15/+10/+5	+12	+10	+6	Telepathy with nature’s children	6	6	6	6	4	
Note:  Oros do not get bonus spells due to any of their Wisdom ability bonus.	

1 Animal Companion at 1st level should be something with a power/strength or HD similar to the following: Dog, Dog (Riding – as a 1st level character companion only if character is small sized), Hawk, Monkey, Owl, Pony, Horse (Light), Weasel, and Wolf (as a 1st level character companion only if character is small sized) 
2 Animal Companion at 1st level should be something with a power/strength or HD similar to the following: Baboon, Badger, Boar, Cheetah, Dog (Riding), Eagle, Horse (Heavy) Pony (War), Wolf, Wolverine or any animal from the above group
3 Animal Companion at 1st level should be something with a power/strength or HD similar to the following: Ape, Raven (talking), Bear (Black), Horse (Light War) Leopard (or equivalent like panther or jaguar), or any animal from the above group(s)
4 Animal Companion at 1st level should be something with a power/strength or HD similar to the following: Bear (Brown), Horse (Heavy War), Lion, Tiger, or any animal from the above group(s)
Note:  The above are only suggestions and can easily be changed to match that of the region from where the Oros comes from.  As a general rule, all animal companions should not be magical in nature.  An evil aligned Oros may choose the Dire version of the above mentioned animals (but please not that would make them too powerful unless such a character is an NPC).

Oros Spell list by spell level	
Level	Available spells for the Oros [spells in brackets are from the Relics and Rituals source book]	
0	Animal Friendship, Calm Animals, Cure Minor Wounds, Detect Animals, Mending, Know Direction, Summon Nature’s Ally I, Virtue	
1	Detect Snares and Pits, Endure Elements, Invisibility to Animals, Magic Fang, Pass without Trace, [Rabbit Feet], Summon Nature’s Ally II	
2	Animal Growth, [Animal Infusion], [Animal Messenger], [Animal Trance], Charm Animal, Cure Light Wounds, Hold Animal, Speak with Animals, Summon Nature’s Ally III, [Wolf Cry]	
3	[Animal Spy], [Beast Soul], Dominate Animal, Delay Poison, Greater Magic Fang, Summon Nature’s 
Ally IV	
4	Bull’s Strength, Cat’s Grace, Cure Moderate Wounds, Summon Nature’s Ally V, Shape Change (as per spell but only limited to animal forms that the Oros have for companions and can only change from single form when selected by that spell and human until the spell expires.  Character can select another animal form only if can recast spell again)	

Class Features:

Nature Sense: A druid can identify plants and animals (their species and special traits) with perfect accuracy. The Oros can determine whether water is safe to drink or dangerous. 

Animal Companion: A 1st-level Oros may begin play with an animal companion. This animal is one that the Oros has befriended with the spell animal friendship.   As the character increases in level the Oros will be able to befriend more companions of greater hit dice.

Animal Empathy: An Oros feels the urges and sometimes emotions of the animal companion and can be used to encourage or discourage certain courses of action.  The Oros gains this skill for free and as the Oros progresses in levels, the Oros’ skill increases and becomes more familiar with nature’s children, the Oros’ skill of animal empathy increases.  To use the ability, the character must be able to study each other, noting each other’s body language, vocalizations, and general demeanor. This means that the character must be within 30 feet under normal conditions.  This ability requires that Oros spend a full round observing the animal

Track: Track: An Oros gains Track as a bonus feat.  Once the Oros’ senses have heightened as indicated in the level progression chart, his tracking ability increases

Woodland Stride: Starting at 2nd level, an Oros may move through natural thorns, briars, overgrown areas, and similar terrain at his or her normal speed and without suffering damage or other impairment. However, thorns, briars, and overgrown areas that are enchanted or magically manipulated to impede motion still affect the Oros. 

Sense Range: The distance that an animal companion of an Oros can share his/her senses (see below).

Shared Senses: An Oros is able is able to sense what his/her animal companion senses.  Only one sense is linked but is able to switch senses (assuming is of high enough level to have them) by concentrating for 1 full round.  In addition, only one animal at a time can be linked to the Oros using this ability.  To determine the distance that the Oros and the animal companion can share this ability is based on the range in feet indicated by Sense Range.

Trackless Step: Starting at 3rd level, an Oros leaves no trail in natural surroundings and cannot be tracked. 

Evasion: At 5nd level, an Oros gains evasion. If exposed to any effect that normally allows a character to attempt a Reflex saving throw for half damage, the Oros takes half damage with a successfully made saving throw.  Evasion can only be used if the Oros is wearing light armor or no armor. It is an extraordinary ability. 

Uncanny Dodge: At 7th level and above, the Oros retains the Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) if caught flat-footed or struck by an invisible attacker.  At 11th level, the Oros gains a +1 bonus to Reflex saves made to avoid traps and a +1 dodge bonus to AC against attacks by traps. At 13th level, these bonuses rise to +2. At 15th, they rise to +3, and at 17th they rise to +4.  Note:  The idea behind the trap dodge is based the principle that Oros have learned to avoid the various traps laid out for animals and such and have attained an instinctive response to dodging them.  This does not mean that the Oros can identify nor does it mean an Oros can disable a door trap or such, but they can react fast enough to avoid it when they inadvertently trigger one or when someone else near them triggers one.

Project Empathy:  It is a very limited for of Telepathy, whereas instead of understanding how an animal feels, the Oros is able to project a chosen emotion of his own to a single target.  These emotions are very simple in nature (e.g., anger, fear, hunger, thirst, pride, sadness, pain, content, wary, etc… complex concepts like pride, greed and revenge may or may not be conveyed – to be determined by DM based on target’s intelligence).  To use this ability that is magical in nature, the Oros and the target must have eye contact, be within 15 feet of each other and do nothing else for that round.

Blindsight: At 10th level, the Oros gains blind sight at 10-foot radius.  The radius increases by 10 more at 16th level and at 19th level.  Blindsight represents the Oros’ attunement to the environment and more importantly, the acute senses that he/she has developed over time through the use of the “shared senses” ability (this is why it only appears after all senses have been fist shared).   As the character’s level progresses, the range increases to indicate that the character’s acute senses have been further honed.

Telepathy with nature’s children: The character can comprehend and communicate with intelligent (min. = 1) animals via telepathic means.  The character is able to ask questions of and receive answers from animals, although this ability doesn’t make animals any more friendly or cooperative than normal.  Furthermore, wary and cunning animals are likely to be terse and evasive, while the more stupid ones make inane comments. If the animal is friendly, it may do some favor or service for the character (as determined by the DM).  This ability is magical in nature and the character must make eye contact with the animal and do nothing else for that round and be within 30 feet.