Character Race: Half-Elf

Character Class: Ranger 6 / Druid 7 (Walker of the Forest Way)

Character Alignment: Neutral Good

Deity: Mielikki

Age: 24

Gender: Male

Height: 5' 5"

Weight: 133 lbs.

Hair: Auburn

Eyes: Emerald green

A half-elf of average bearing, Garrick has a desire to be one with all things natural. This is not uncommon among his ilk. To pass through the forest without causing any more disturbance than a raccoon or squirrel, he dresses in various mottled shades of greens, browns and grays to blend with his surroundings like a newborn fawn. In spring his garb tends more towards shades of bright green to mirror the new leaves of the season, while in fall he wears more rusts to mimic the aged leaves about to fall. He wears soft doeskin boots so that he can tread across the ground without causing even a twig to snap beneath his tread. His hair is a light auburn brown, straight and cut neatly above his brow so that his vision is in no way obscured by his hair. Spending so much time beneath a canopy of leaves, he has no need of a cap. Even so, the sun is a blessing and is not to be denied by covering one's head to avoid the brilliant sunshine. He travels with no more than a backpack which is neatly and carefully packed so as not to shift and make any noise, along with a pair of scimitars and a staff on his back. The scabbards of the scimitars were made of a specially treated bark, enchanted so that the sharp edges of the swords won't slice through it. The hilts of the swords are wrapped in the same bark, tightly woven to provide a sure grip. Both scabbard and scimitar hilt are the color of tree bark so as not to glint in the light and give away Garrick by their reflection.

Long Sword - Proficient

Quarterstaff - Proficient

Sling - Proficient

Dagger - Proficient

Spear - Proficient

Two Weapon Style Specialization

Animal Lore

Animal Training

Direction Sense

Healing

Modern Language - Common

Modern Language - Druidic Cant

Modern Language - Dryad

Modern Language - Elvish

Modern Language - Treant

Reading/Writing - Common

Religion

Survival - Woodland

Tracking

Common, Elvish, Dryad, Treant

RANGER:

Can fight using two weapons without penalty (special: has Two Weapon Style specialization so he can use weapons of equal size in each hand).

Gains Tracking proficiency as bonus, this skill improves by +1 per three class levels.

Can Hide in Shadows 37% Base, +5% Race, and Move Silently 47% when wearing studded leather or lighter armor.

Species Enemy: Lycanthropes and Wolfweres +4 To Hit

Limited Animal Empathy

At higher levels: Learns Priest Spells at 8th level; can build strongholds; attracts followers at 10th level.

DRUID:

Receives a +2 bonus to all saving throws vs. fire or electrical attacks.

Learns the languages of woodland creatures (centaurs, dryads, elves, satyrs, gnomes, dragons, giants, lizard men, manticores, nixies, pixies, sprites, treants, etc.), gaining one extra proficiency slot for this purpose every three levels (at 3rd, 6th, etc.). (The languages of cold-forest druids include those of the giant lynx, giant owl, pine treants, and cold-dwelling groups of centaurs, elves, gnolls, gnomes, etc.)

Identifies plants, animals, and pure water with perfect accuracy at 3rd level.

Passes through overgrown areas at 3rd level without leaving a trail and at full movement rate. He also is immune to poison ivy, poison oak, and similar irritating plants.

Has immunity to charm spells cast by woodland creatures such as dryads at 7th level. The druid's immunity does not extend to charm spells cast by creatures who merely happen to be living in or passing through a forest, such as a woods-dwelling human mage or vampire.

Shapechanges into a normal, real-world reptile, bird, or mammal up to three times per day at 7th level. Each animal form (reptile, bird, or mammal) can be used only once per day. The druid cannot assume giant forms.

FROM MIELIKKI (FAITHS AND AVATARS):

Casts Analyse Balance at will on characters, creatures, objects, or parts of the forest (Bonus - Mielikki)

TOTEMIC DRUID KIT (HAWK):

Can Shapechange into totem animal (hawk) a number of times per day equal to his experience level divided by three (rounded down), plus one. (3x day)

A Totemic Druid can communicate freely with normal or giant examples of the totem animal species (as with the speak with animals spell). He receives a +4 bonus to any healing, animal training, animal lore, or animal handling proficiency checks related to the totem. A druid who doesn't have one of these proficiencies may behave as though he did when dealing with his totem animal, but does not apply the +4 bonus.

Girdle of Priestly Warding: (18/99 Strength, +2 AC, Protection from Evil)

+2 Long Sword of Vampiric Regenration

Armor of Eelix

Red Tailed Hawk named Goldeneye

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Garrick knows his place in the natural order of things. Thus he has a goal of preserving that order, for only men and gods can assure that the balance is not disrupted. And not all men nor gods are interested in preserving that balance. Thus it rests upon the heads of elves and fey creatures, rangers and druids, and Mielikki, Silvanus, Eldath, Corellon and like deities to assure that wild things will always have a place to flourish. Before taking up the plow and erecting shelters against the wind and rain, people lived as do the wolves and bears and bobcats now. And just because men have found another way to live gives them no rights to hold dominion over the wild places in which they once coexisted with nature. Its Garrick's duty to make sure that people coexist with nature, not exploit or despoil it. And as much if not more, he has a sacred duty to protect the wilderness and its creatures from the evil influences of such threats as trolls and ogres, and the worst of all, green dragons.

Garrick is friendly with those whom he respects, most especially druids, rangers and elves. He smiles and sometimes laughs, but he laughs more out of politeness than anything else. This is because he never developed much of a sense of humor. He knows its out of place not to laugh when othrs find something funny or amusing, but usually he doesn't see the joke or wit in what was said. He is very literal minded. Not serious, but when he listens to somebody speaking, he hears the meaning of the words but not their underlying context. He sees things on their face value. Just as all things are readily apparent in nature to those who understand it, Garrick takes what is said at its face value. He can sense the motives of others through their expressions and body language, but not the innuendo and inferences in what they say. As such he never lies - it is a concept that he understands poorly. Others would lie to obfuscate the truth, but he wonders why they would put themselves into the position where they have to tell lies to conceal the truth.

As the wellspring from which his allegiance to the spirit of the hawk arose, Garrick values freedom above all other things. He owns only as much as he can carry, so as not to be tied down to any one place. He finds food and water while he travels instead of relying upon others for his sustenance, or farming a plot of land. As a serveant of Mielikki, Garrick does stop where neccessary to cut away dead and diseased wood from a tree so that it may heal, or break up an old dam on a stream which is creating a marsh in the forest. Its important that nature thrives instead of stagnates. While nature will eventually right itself in time, he sees himself as an extension of nature, sometimes doing its will to accelerate the process of recovery.

Origin: The Border Forest near the Dagger Hills

Garrick's mother Methilda and father Danzy were several steps removed from being what their son would one day become. He was a Forester for the Count of Nevendy, while she was a priestess of Chauntea. Their lives were defined by their responsibilities; his to maintaining the lands of the Count, protecting them from those who would despoil the territory. While as a serveant of the Mother of Fertility she was responsible for caring for the people, especially the farmers of Nevendy. Though both of them in their own ways held the land in high esteem, neither of them ever roamed far from their home near the keep of his lordship the Count.

Their son would prove to be a different stripe of creature. Given the nature of his mother and father, its hardly a surprise that Garrick was brought up with a deep respect and love of the land. Living in a civilized place as he did and having a learned mother, he was lucky that she taught him how to read and write. It was a strength that many people did not possess, a key to learning through the accumulated wisdom held within books. Garrick was more interested though in the practical knowledge his parents could impart to him, of the earth and sky, plants and animals. Especially his father, whom though settled was an elf, and so was much in touch with the ways of the woodlands. His father served as the Count's Forester as a buffer to protect the wildlands that lay beyond from exploitation. The life of an elf was long, so to spend a century teaching several generations of the Count's family a proper reverance for the forests of thier county would serve the land and all the elves who lived therein.

Whenever Garrick would look upon the stronghold of the keep the ponderous granite blocks that comprised his walls were like a great weight upon his chest. To see the walls of the stronghold was to feel confinement, to be anchored to a single place like a farmer who tends a plot of land and must never leave it for it is his sustenance. His dreams were a turning point in young Garrick's life. He was a stripling of merely eleven when the dreams began. Some nights he would dream he was a farmer tilling the land. And around his ankle was a shackle, chained to one of the massive grey stones that made up the wall of the keep. The weight was beyond his ability to move, so he was tied to the land of his farm, more its serveant than its keeper. In his worst nightmares he was lying asleep, but the Count's stronghold was built over top of him. All of its weight bore down upon him, and he couldn't move a muscle, couldn't even breathe with the mass that lay upon him. Was it the mass of the stronghold, or the responsibilities that would one day become his burden if he continued to follow the paths his parents had taken? Looking to the skies by the light of day, he wished he could just fly away from here, to be as free as the birds who seemed to come and go as they wished.

In his dreams there came a mysterious stranger. He was swathed in robes of brown and red from head to crown; not even his eyes were to be seen. In the dreams he would be pushing the plow through the furrowed fields when the stranger would arrive and watch. On top of his own sorrow at being so burdened by his destiny, he felt the derision of the eyes of the curious stranger upon him. This went on night after night; exactly how many nights Garrick didn't know. But finally one night the starnger in the dream came up to him as he tilled the fields and spoke. "You could till these fields until the sunset of your life, and not make a difference. The burden you bear is neverending." He gestured with his hand at the land Garrick farmed. All at once Garrick could see that the plot of land upon which he worked was a very small piece of earth, but at the same time the length and breadth of the fields seemed to stretch on forever. He knew somehow that the shackle which held him fast would stretch the distance to the edge of the fields, but not a hairsbreadth further. "But what can I do!" cried Garrick, as he threw down his plow in frustration. He reached down and lifted the burden of the heavy links which bound him to the granite anchor, as if the stranger had not noticed his bondage. He pulled upon the chain with all his might; his muscles bulged and his face grew red as he heaved with all his strength. But he was bound fast as he knew, for the chain and rock could easily hold an ogre. "I am bound to my destiny by bonds unbreakable by mortal hands" he despaired, dropping his chain and turning his eyes heavenwards, as if hoping the gods would show him some small mercy.

"You may not be able to burst your chains to free yourself, Garrick. But your shackles needn't bind you just the same" told the stranger. "Brute force won't set you free. It would be like beating your brow against yon stone in hopes of shattering it to shards. Long before you could ever break it thus, it would break your will to escape. The answer lies not in strength. Strong though your will is, it cannot break the writ of destiny. "Your will alone will not free you from this odious future." But then in the heavens above there soared a hawk, floating upon the winds as a feather, as unrestrained as the breezes themselves. "Young Garrick, its your spirit which can set you free. To release your shackles, you must let your spirit soar like a hawk upon the winds. The flesh is a prison, an anchor which holds us fast. But allow your spirit to escape, and the ties which bind will be sundered." The stranger stopped his soliloquy. His brown robes began to change. The weave of the fabric grew shaggy, the shoulders of the lecturer grew broad, and his face grew long. Soon his brown robe was a cloak of brown plumage. Great wings sprouted from his massive shoulders, and a hooked beak as long as a forearm grew from his face. His feet were massive talons planted in the soil of the field. Though he had the countenance of an enormous hawk, he still spoke to Garrick in a man's voice. "Take off with me, and set your burden down." The great hawk flapped those massive wings, and in moments was born aloft into the heavens.

Garrick looked at the stone and his shackle once more. If he could be a hawk in the sky, he would no longer be a prisoner of the land, but a free spirit of the air. As he thought this, his body changed in a way not unlike that of the enigmatic mentor, and took on the shape of a hawk. The shackle around his ankle was fashioned to hold the leg of a man securely, but Garrick's hawk leg was too small to be bound by the human shackle. Beating his wings as did the stranger, Garrick rose into the sky, leaving the bonds of servitude behind as he sought a new destiny.

The young man learned quickly that his dream was something more; what he saw in his dreams was reflected in reality. If he wished hard enough he could become the hawk in his dreams and soar over the land. From his high vantage he could see all those people who were bound in one way or another to the land, and he could quickly leave them behind as he took wing for the unspoiled fields and green forest which hadn't yet been touched by human hands. Though he thought he was secretive in this, Garrick couldn't escape the astute eyes of his elven father. Danzy could tread through the woods making no more sound than a sly fox on the prowl, and he spied the boy one day as he was changing form. The elf was no stranger to druidic ways and recognized the signs for what they truly were. When the father spoke of this with his mother, a priestess of Chauntea, they agreed that Garrick should be allowed to pursue what seemed to be his destiny. Deep in the Arch Woods lie a glade where wildflowers sparkled brighter than gems, and in it a pond with a surface of a mirror. It was said that those who were pure could gaze into the pond and see their true selves, the spirit freed of its cloak of flesh. The place was sacred to the Goddess Mielikki, and druids and rangers came their to make offerings to their goddess. The parents would take their son there. There they would patiently wait, and hope to find one whom would take the boy under his wing and serve as a mentor for a nascent druid. This they explained to Garrick, who took the news very well. Though it meant seperating from his father and mother, the change's wrought by his acceptance of the hawk spirit had opened his eyes to a much larger view of the world than he grew up with. Whilst they traveled through the woods, spending their last time together, his father and mother taught him lessons in all that they could which would help him someday. His mother was wise in the ways of plants, and showed him which ones could be eaten as well as those whose touch should be avoided and which must never be eaten. His elven father knew the lore of the forest that was his heritage, and taught him the most basic things he would need to know to wield a staff, the weapon one could most easily find in the woods. When they reached the glade his father also told him how to reach the elven village where he was born, less than fifty leagues away as the hawk might fly. There the trio spent one last week as a family, sharing the love they had for their son. Soon though a druidess had come along, an elf like Garrick's father. After a lengthy discussion between the two elves, the druidess agreed to take charge of the boy. Those born into the order of druids were too few, and each and every person who answered the calling was a boon to the community of those dedicated to the ways of nature.

The Totemic Druid closely identifies with a particular species of mammal, reptile, or bird, he believes that particular animal represents his spirit. The Totemic Druid picks a normal (real-world) wild mammal, reptile, or bird as his totem. This creature cannot be larger than a bear or smaller than a mouse. Some common choices include the black bear, bobcat, eagle, owl, wolf, rattlesnake, and beaver.

Role: Totemic Druids tend to adopt characteristics associated with their totem animal. They feel especially protective of their totem animal in the wild and want to befriend the creatures.

Special Benefits: A Totemic Druid can shapechange into the form of his totem animal a number of times per day equal to his experience level divided by three (rounded down), plus one. So, a 3rd- to 5th-level Totemic Druid can change twice per day, a 6th- to 8th-level druid can change three times per day, and so on. This ability functions as normal druidic shapechanging, except that the druid does not regain hit points when shapechanging into or out of the totem form; the druid's spirit remains so closely bound with the totem that he fully experiences any damage the animal form took. The Totemic Druid can use this shapechanging ability in addition to his shapechanging granted powers.

A Totemic Druid can communicate freely with normal or giant examples of the totem animal species (as with the speak with animals spell). He receives a +4 bonus to any healing, animal training, animal lore, or animal handling proficiency checks related to the totem. A druid who doesn't have one of these proficiencies may behave as though he did when dealing with his totem animal, but does not apply the +4 bonus.

Special Hindrances: A Totemic Druid has one fewer nonweapon proficiency slot than normal, as a result of spending so much time in animal form. So, Vanier would start with three slots rather than four.