Adviser (Character Kit)

## Adviser

As a druid, your character can act as (or work to become) counselor to a ruler—perhaps a local knight or a high king. Think of Merlin, whom older tales cast as a druid.

An Adviser like the druid Elam (pictured above) tries to make himself indispensable to his lord. The class's well-known neutrality makes a ruler perceive his advice as nonpartisan, while the druid's high Charisma almost guarantees that the lord listens to his counsel. Elam can use his "eyes in the wilderness" (described in Chapter 4: Role-playing Druids) to provide his master with timely and vital information.

At the same time, the druid subtly manipulates his master to serve his own ends. For example, Elam might encourage his lord to hunt in a beautiful forest the druid wishes to protect. Why? Because Elam knows the lord is a jealous man. Once he sees the beautiful forest and its fine animals, the lord will pass a law making the forest a royal game preserve. As a result, the lord's foresters will keep poachers away and prevent peasants from cutting the trees down. The ruler and his courtiers will hunt there only once or twice a year'not enough to threaten the animals seriously.

For similar reasons, a druidic Adviser like Elam might take over part of the education of the lord's children, ostensibly to teach them herb lore, history, survival, and similar skills. Actually, he uses the opportunity to instill in them a respect for Nature and the neutral world view—and perhaps encourage them to become druids when they grow up.

**Role:** As an Adviser, Elam is a man of subtlety and mystery. He rarely speaks unless he has something important to say, and he always thinks carefully before he says it. While not a fixture at his lord's court, he keeps an eye on things from a distance, often using animals to observe the ruler. He tends to pop up when most needed or least expected, stay a day or a month, then vanish into the wilds.

Always hungry for information, Elam often roams the land disguised as a common traveler (or, at high level, in animal form), listening to the gossip of peasants, traders, and innkeepers to better serve his own interests and those of his lord. As a PC, he carefully considers the purpose and long-term ramifications of each adventure and insists on careful preparation and information gathering before taking action.

**Branch Restrictions:** None.

**Weapon Proficiencies:** *Recommended*—staff.

**Secondary Skills:** Scribe.

**Nonweapon Proficiencies:**

* *Bonus*—etiquette.
* *Recommended*—(general) heraldry, weather sense; (priest) healing, local history, spellcraft; (rogue, double slot) reading lips; (rogue, one slot, per "Special Benefits") disguise.

**Equipment:** The Adviser need not spend all starting money on equipment, but can retain any leftover coinage.

**Special Benefits:** As an Adviser, Elam can purchase the rogue's disguise proficiency at normal rather than double cost. He stays free at the ruler's stronghold (no cost of living), and has the ear of the ruler.

The DM should establish an NPC ruler for the druid to advise. Help the DM develop a reason why the ruler trusts the PC, beyond his druidic background. Perhaps Elam is a relative (a cousin and younger son who failed to inherit and so joined the druidic order), or the apprentice of a (recently deceased) older druid who used to tutor the lord. For play balance, the DM should place a 1st-level player character as only one of several counselors to a lord of a small domain—perhaps a knightly manor or a barony. (If you, the player, really want to role-play an Adviser to a king, make it an exiled king trying to regain his crown.) It's up to the PC to increase the lord's influence.

**Special Hindrances:** People of the lord's domain (and immediate neighbors) easily recognize Elam as the court druid. If the lord favors him or if the populace knows him to give good advice, many will ask him to intercede for them with the lord. In addition, he may become a target for his lord's enemies or jealous rival courtiers.

On the other hand, if Elam fails to please his master, he will find himself in disfavor at court: He suffers a minimum -2 reaction penalty from the lord and court—possibly from all in the region (if his bad advice led to a spectacular failure, like defeat on the battlefield). Depending on the lord's temper, an Adviser who has fallen into disfavor may face exile or worse until he makes amends.

**Wealth Options:** 3d6x10 gp.