rray of hostile environments for your wilderness campaigns. From the tundra's deadly cold to the desert's searing heat,

daunting challenges and strange, wondrous realms. c 1

Leave the dungeon behin

ISBN 1 887953 75 2

5 2 4 9 5 I r 781887 953757 I

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LDS

All rangers believe in God. They spell it “nature.”

0 2003 A d e r a c Entertainment Group, Inc. A1 rights reserved.

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I N T R O D U C T I O N

WRITING Gareth Hanrahan, Andrew Hudson, Jeff Ibach, Mike Meads, jim pinto, Patrick Younts

ART DIRECTION jim pinto

COVER DESIGN Steve Hough and Mark Jelfo

COVER ILLUSTRATION Hethe Srodawa

INTERIOR ILLUSTRATIONS Steve Ellis, Marcio Fiorito, Lisa Hunt, A. Bleys Ingram

EDITING Mike Meads, jim pinto, Rob Vaux

INTERIOR DESIGN AND LAYOUT Mark Jelfo and Justin Lawler

LINE DEVELOPER jim pinto

MANAGING EDITOR Mike Meads

PLAYTESTING AND ADVICE Sean Holland, Mike Leader, Kevin Millard

SPECIAL THANKS First, Mike Mearls did a great job putting together Magic, Good, Relics, and now Wilds. As we speak he’s furiously typ- ing away at Empire. It would be nice if we paid him for his efforts, but we’ve decided that printing his name four times on this page is enough.

Andrew Hudson wants to thank Scott Warren, for putting up with various ramblings and complaints about the forest.

I’d once again like to thank Sean Holland for his help on this one. I didn’t get to spend as much time with this book as I would have liked and he was my eyes and ears.

I love the cover of this book. Dave Agoston. Welcome back. Another special thanks to Tanisha for not calling the

Justin Lawler probably deserves recognition for his cops.

dedication to the project and his dreamy smile.

DEDICATION Anyone who challenges the worth of Margaret Mead, Rachel Carson, Dian Fossey, and Jane Goodall doesn’t have a soul. Thank you for your tireless efforts.

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......... .. ....................

Introduction ......................................... 4

Chapter I: Outdoor Survival ............................. 5 Introduction ..................................................... 5 Players and Wilderness Adventures ............................... 5 The Role of Man ................................................. 6 New Uses for old skills .......................................... 7 Making Use of OldFeats ......................................... 10

................................... 11 ........................................... 12

................................... 15

................................... 15 ......................................... 17

................................... 19 ................................................. 20

................................... 20 Magical Creatures and the Environment ......................... 24 The Hunt ....................................................... 30 Wilderness Adventures ......................................... 32

Chapter 2: Desert .................................... 39 The Desert Environment ........................................ 39 Desert Campaigns .............................................. 41 Desert Ranger .................................................. 45 Prestige Classes ................................................. 48

Elemental Supplicant ......................................... 48 Horizon Warrior ............................................. 49 King ofThieves .............................................. 50 Master of the Desert Nomads ................................. 52 Sand Shaper ................................................. 53

Desert Feats .................................................... 55 Desert Spells .................................................... 57 DesertMonsters ................................................ 59

Elder Gnoll . . . . . . . . . . . . ...................... 60 Arcane Scarab ... ............................. 59

Grave Salt ....................... ..................... 61 Sandworm ............................ . . . . 62

Chapter 3: Forest .................................... 63 The Forest Environment ........................................ 63 Rules for the Forest ............................................. 65

.............................................. 67 ............................................ 70

................................................ 70 Botamancer .................................................. 72

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Forest Feats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Forest Monsters ..........................

Nymph-Loved ............. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 New Uses for o l d skills .......

Forest Spells ............................

Nullhare ................................... Pyriv .................................... Sirene Willow .......................... Werechild . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .................... 82

Half-fey ....................... ....................... 84

Chapter 4: Jungles ................................... 8 5 The Jungle Environment ...... 85 Jungle Features ................................................. 88 Beast Lord ...................................................... 90 Prestige Classes . . . ................................... 93

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

TOC

Green Mage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Master Herbalist ..................... . . . . . . . . . . . 94 shadow Striker . . . . . . . . . . . 97

..........................

....................... Jungle Feats ....................... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Jungle Monsters ............................... Mud Elemental ............................ Piranha .................................... Piranha, Dire ............................. Razor Bird .................................... Werejaguar .......................................

Jungle Spells .....................

Chapter 5: Marshes .................................. 1 0 7

Swamp Ranger . . . . . . . . . . ...................... 112 Prestige Classes . . . . . . . . . . ...................... 115

........................... 115 Finder of the Lost Flitknife ........ ............................. 117 Skiff Hunter . . . . . . . . . . . ...................... 118 Symbiotic Champion .......... 119

The Swamp Environment .......................... 107

............. Swamp Feats ........................ Swamp Spells ....................... Swamp Monsters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ............ 127

Bog Zombie ................................ Fetid Boar .................................. Jussiash ............................. Tyrant Lizard ..................... Woodreme ................................

Chapter 6: Mountains ................................ 133 The Mountain Environment ...................... 133 Mountain Features ......... ...................... 136 Mountaineer ............................ Prestige Classes ..................................

Giant Killer., ................................. Sky seeker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Stone Fist Defender ......................................... 146

Mountain Feats ................................................ 147 Mountain Spells ............................................... 149 Mountain Monsters ............................................ 150

Lava Beast .................................................. 150 Mountain Troll .............................................. 151 Peak Guardian .............................................. 152 Thunder Spirit .............................................. 154

Chapter 7: Tundra ................................... 155 The Tundra Environment ...................................... 155 Rules of Survival ............................................... 155 Tundra Features ............................................... 158 Tundra Ranger ................................................. 160 Prestige Classes ................................................ 163

King of Winter ............................................. 163 Snow Brother ............................................... 166

Tundra Feats ................................................... 168 Tundra Spells .................................................. 170 Tundra Monsters .............................................. 171

........................ 172 Wendigo . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Index .......................................... 175

OGL .......................................... 1 7 6

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8 “What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, man would die from a great loneliness of the spirit.”

- Chief Seattle

The wilderness has long been the traditional second step in a fantasy gamer’s developmental process. Once you master the intricacies of the dungeon, it‘s time to move on into the unlimited potential of the wild. Compared to a dungeon, the wilderness offers a vast range of environ- ments. Endless deserts, haunted forests, towering moun- tains, and foul swamps hold a host of fearsome monsters that equal the dangers present in dusty tombs and deep caverns. Yet, while the wild creatures and lurking mon- sters may pose a threat, the environment itself is perhaps the greatest danger that adventurers can ever face. A storm of freezing rain might not seem as daunting as an orc berserker, but it can just as easily defeat a party of adventurers.

Consider the role of the environment in the history of mankind in the conventional world. For thousands of years, men and women struggled to survive in the face of cold winters, sweltering summers, droughts, floods, and other trials. Even without dragons, demons, and maraud- ing orcs, the world is a dangerous place. In North America of the ISOO’S, travel from one coast to the other was a dan- gerous undertaking before the construction of cross- country railroads. In the wilderness, the monsters and creatures are perhaps the least of an adventurer’s worries. At minimum in a dungeon you have a roof over your head and the consistent, year-round warmth provided by the subterranean environment. Fighting orcs, ogres, and trolls is one thing. Fighting them while a blizzard dumps three feet of snow on your head is another. The wilds pre- sent an unpredictable, dangerous, and ultimately unfor- giving environment for adventures.

The wilds’ allure as an adventure setting goes beyond the threat posed by the natural world. While storms and environmental factors can serve as deadly obstacles, the wilds take hold of the imagination in a way that dungeons cannot rival. All of us grew up with the wilderness either as part of our immediate physical surroundings or we discovered it the movies and television we watched or in the books and comics we read. Even the most cloistered urbanite knows what a tree looks like or has endured at least one powerful thunderstorm. The recognizable aspects of the wilds serve to make a game more vivid and accessible. Few of us have ventured into natural caverns

or spent time exploring ancient tunnels and stone pas- sages within the earth. On the other hand, the vast major- ity of GMs and players have walked through a forest or endured bitterly cold or searing hot weather. The wilds present an environment that we can all relate to.

The wilds also hold a primal grip on our imaginations. From the dark forest filled with terrible monsters and wondrous magic to the bleak, titanic mountains where the gods themselves are said to walk, the wilderness always plays a vital role in the worlds of fantasy literature and games. The heroes may need to enter dangerous terri- tory to complete some great quest, or the dark, mysterious enemies of good might march forth from the mysterious lands beyond the horizon. The wilderness is often linked with the strange, unknowable, and frightening. From the earliest days of civilization, both the wonders and terrors of the wilderness have captivated mankind. Fear of the unknown is perhaps the greatest fear of all, and there is no greater unknown than the lands hidden beyond the hori- zon.

Of course, this is a fantasy game, and what would a fan- tasy game be without wondrous magic and fearsome beasts? The wilderness is home to countless terrible beasts. Dragons lair in the highest mountain peaks, while goblin hordes march across the plains to besiege the cities of men, dwarves, elves, and gnomes. In the wilds beyond the tenuous grasp of civilization, terrible monsters grow strong and cast their greedy eyes to the borderlands. In a world where strange, deadly creatures are common and marauding hordes of evil humanoids, the wilderness can serve as an incubator for a wide manner of threats. Adventurers must venture out into the forbidding climes and terrain to defeat such menaces before they can expand to defeat the forces of good and cast down the bas- tions of civilization.

This book contains general advice for designing wilder- ness adventures and running them for your gaming group. In addition, several chapters focus on specific environments. The secrets and dangers of the desert, for- est, mountain, swamp, and jungle are all laid bare for you to use in your campaign. Prestige classes and feats allow you to customize the inhabitants of such realms, while new rules for the environment and special terrain within those regions lets you create adventurers where the wilderness is every bit as deadly as the deepest, darkest dungeon levels you still love to peruse.

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UTDOOR SURVIVA

INTRODUCTION The wilderness offers a vista that dwarfs dungeons not only in physical size, but in the variety of adventures to be found there. Dungeon adventures can take on many forms, but when all is said and done, you're still wander- ing through a subterranean tunnel, encountering mon- sters, traps, and other obstacles on your way to a goal. The wilderness offers much more variety, from the searing heat of a desert to the deadly cold of a vast tundra. The wilderness environment poses a greater threat and a wider range of options than any dungeon ever could. For DMs, this book covers the basics of creating wilderness adventures. Chapter 1 discusses how to include the wilderness in your campaigns and how to make it more interesting than simply the terrain that separates dun- geons. Chapters 2 through 7 cover specific types of wilderness, including desert, jungle, mountains, swamps, forests, and tundra. Each wilderness type is given some specific game rules to help you draw out its unique char- acteristics and reflect the challenges it poses to explorers.

For players, this book includes new prestige classes, feats, spells, and other rules information. Furthermore, chapter I covers some basic advice on wilderness adven- turing. The game rules are equally useful for DMs, as they allow you to craft NPCs, monsters, and other threats that are tailored to a specific environment.

PLAYERS AND

In fantasy literature, the journey is often just as important as the destination is, and the wilderness is much more than simply the space between dungeons. Surviving the wild places of the world are an important rite of passage in many seminal fantasy works, and are used to establish the competence of the heroes and demonstrate their sheer determination to overcome adversity in the pursuit of a noble goal. But in a fantasy game where characters gain access to powerful teleportation spells, and other, similar magics, the romance of the long, lonesome and difficult trek across the countryside, camping beneath the stars, riding swift horses across endless plains, and climbing snow covered peaks to see all the vistas of the world laid out before you, is too easily lost. Worse, if a campaign leaves wilderness travel and adventuring behind, it risks making certain character classes - notably the ranger and druid - significantly weaker than they should be.

The new optional rules and suggestions presented here are intended to put the fun back in the wilderness, to give added prominence to wilderness-oriented characters, and to explore facets of fantasy gaming which have, for too long, been given short shrift.

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