The Veterinarian

The Veterinarian is a first-level sample character for Spheres of Might, suitable for use as a PC or as an NPC. Information on its build rules, and how to adjust for different rules, is included below. This character was created by the community.


The Veterinarian
Human scholar 1
NG Medium humanoid (human)
Init +2; Perception +4

Defense

AC 12, touch 12, flat-footed 10 (+2 Dex)
hp 7 (1d6+1)
Fort +1, Ref +4, Will +2

Offense

Speed 30 ft.
Melee Mancatcher -1 touch (1d2-1/x2, plus grappled)
Ranged Net -1 ranged touch (entangled)
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft. (10 ft. w/ mancatcher)

Martial

Tradition Animal Trainer (Beastmastery sphere (handle animal) package: Animal Empathy, Greater Trainer; Equipment sphere: Bounty Hunter Tools); PAM Int
Alchemy sphere - DC 14, Packages formulae, Talents Panacea, Salve
- formulae (panacea, salve)
Beastmastery sphere - DC 14, Packages handle animal, Talents Animal Empathy, Greater Trainer
- animal empathy (1 minute, improve the attitude of an animal w/ handle animal)
- tame (2 HD worth of animals)
Equipment sphere - DC 14, Talents Bounty Hunter Tools
- discipline (proficient w/ bola, garrote, grappling hook, harpoon, kyoketsu shogi, lasso, mancatcher, net, net launcher, sap, and whip)
Scout sphere - DC 14
- scout (swift action, identify creature's weaknesses)

Statistics

Str 8, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 18, Wis 10, Cha 14
Base Atk +0; CMB -1; CMD 11
Feats Extra Combat Talent (2)
Skills Appraise +8, Bluff +6, Heal +8, Intimidate +6, Knowledge (geography) +8, Knowledge (nature) +8, Perception +4, Profession (veterinarian) +4, Sense Motive +4, Sleight of Hand +6, Spellcraft +8, Survival +4, Use Magic Device +6; Associated Skills Craft (alchemy) +8, Handle Animal +6, Stealth +6
Gear mancatcher, net, owl, skunk, and 95 gp worth of other equipment.

Special Abilities

Alchemy Sphere Training in the Alchemy combat sphere teaches you how to quickly and efficiently combine volatile chemicals for new or enhanced effects.

When you gain the Alchemy sphere, you gain 5 ranks in the Craft (alchemy) skill, plus 5 ranks per additional talent spent in the Alchemy sphere (maximum ranks equal to your total Hit Dice). If you already have ranks in the Craft (alchemy) skill you may immediately retrain them, but you do not get to retrain when only temporarily gaining talents, such as through the armiger’s customized weapons class feature.

In addition, choose one of the following packages: Formulae or Poison. (Chosen: Formulae)

Alchemy: Formulae Package Some Alchemy talents have the (formulae) descriptor; these are improved or original versions of alchemical items you can only create once you’ve learned the talent. All formulae have a base crafting DC as noted in their descriptor, and their saving throw DCs, if any, are determined using the normal formula for combat sphere talents, using the practitioner’s ranks in Craft (alchemy) in place of their base attack bonus. The necessary ingredients for creating formulae are gathered over the course of a given day; there is no monetary cost to creating a formulae. You may craft any item whose formulae you know in 30 minutes, or 15 minutes if you have access to an alchemist’s lab or alchemist’s crafting kit, but due to the volatile nature of the enhanced formulae you cannot prepare more formulae at one time than a number equal to 1/2 your ranks in Craft (alchemy) (minimum 1) + the number of formulae talents you possess. For every 4 ranks in Craft (alchemy) you possess, you may craft 1 additional formulae as part of the same 30/15 minute time period.

Any creature affected by splash damage from an improved formulae is entitled to a Reflex save to reduce the damage by half.

Because formulae are more unstable than standard alchemical items, they expire and no longer work after 24 hours; it is relatively easy (DC 10 Appraise) to recognize the unstable and impermanent nature of these items so typically they have no monetary value; a potential buyer who fails their Appraise check assumes they are a standard item of their type (if applicable), or as a mundane item worth no more than 10 gp. In addition, the overly refined and unstable nature of formulae means that they cannot be further refined or enhanced by items such as focusing flasks or hybridization funnels. You cannot fail to craft an alchemical item you know the formulae for; failure to meet the DC instead means you create the item but at its minimum potency, without additional effects or benefits for having additional Craft (alchemy) ranks or having increased the crafting DC. When you first gain this package, you may learn any one (formulae) talent you qualify for.

Alchemy: Panacea You create a vial of liquid that can be used as a potion, removing a single negative condition the drinker is currently suffering from. The conditions that a panacea can remove are determined by the Craft DC used for its creation: DC 20: Deafened, fatigued, shaken, sickened. DC 30: Diseased, exhausted, nauseated, poisoned, staggered. DC 40: Frightened, blinded, deafened, paralyzed, stunned.

Alchemy: Salve Craft DC: 15. You create a poultice that can be used as a standard action to heal yourself or a target within your natural reach for 1d8 points of damage per 2 ranks in Craft (alchemy) you possess (minimum 1d8) plus your practitioner modifier. You can only attempt to heal a particular creature with this ability a number of times per day equal to 1/2 the number of ranks you possess in the Craft (alchemy) skill (minimum 1) plus your practitioner modifier.

You can increase the Craft DC for this item in increments of 10; each time you do so you increase the healing granted by the salve by 5.

Beastmastery Sphere The Beastmastery sphere focuses on all forms of animal handling.

Unlike most other spheres which rest squarely on the related core rules, talents and abilities granted by the Beastmastery sphere override certain skill functions (particularly Handle Animal and Ride). No additional checks are required outside of those listed in the associated ability. Some abilities call out joint actions. These actions require both the user and his animal ally to pay the requisite action cost.

Animal Allies: Some talents and abilities reference animal allies; your animal companions, familiars, tame creatures, and any creature actively serving as your mount with an Intelligence score of 2 or less are considered your animal allies. Animal allies always act on your initiative.

Special: Animal companions, Conjuration sphere companions, drake companions, eidolons, and familiars cannot gain this sphere or talents from this sphere.

When you first take the Beastmastery sphere, choose one of the following packages: Handle Animal or Ride. (Chosen: Handle Animal)

Beastmastery: Animal Empathy You can improve the attitude of an animal. This ability functions just like a Diplomacy check made to improve the attitude of a person, using your Handle Animal skill in place of Diplomacy. If you possess the wild empathy class feature, you may add your Handle Animal ranks to your levels in the class that grants the class feature (with a maximum equal to your Hit Dice) to determine the result.

The typical domestic animal has a starting attitude of indifferent, while wild animals are usually unfriendly.

To use this ability, you and the animal must be able to study each other, which means that you must be within 30 ft. of one another under normal conditions. Generally, influencing an animal in this way takes 1 minute but, as with influencing people, it might take more or less time.

Beastmastery: Greater Trainer Increase the total Hit Dice of creatures you may have tame at once by an additional 1 per rank of Handle Animal you possess. You may select this talent up to 3 times.

Beastmastery: Handle Animal Package You gain 5 ranks in the Handle Animal skill, plus 5 ranks per talent spent in the Beastmastery sphere (maximum equal to your total Hit Dice). If you possess skill ranks in Handle Animal, you may choose to retrain them, but you do not gain ranks when only temporarily gaining this package, such as through the armiger’s customized weapons class feature.

You also gain the following ability: Tame.

Beastmastery: Tame You may attempt to train an animal to readily obey your commands in and out of combat. This requires 8 hours and a creature of the animal type that has an attitude toward you of indifferent or better. This time may be divided as per the magic item crafting rules. You may only train one creature at a time with this ability. At the end of this period, make a Handle Animal check with a DC of 10 + the creature’s Hit Dice. If successful, the creature is now considered tame.

You may not tame a creature with more Hit Dice than you have ranks in Handle Animal. You may have multiple tame creatures under your control, but their total Hit Dice cannot exceed your ranks in Handle Animal. If you attempt to tame a creature that would exceed your Hit Dice cap, you must choose which other creatures to release. Animal companions and familiars, such as from class features, the Animal Companion talent, or the Pet talent, never count against this Hit Dice cap.

You may not use this ability on a creature with the swarm subtype. A creature with a template adds the challenge rating adjustment of the template to its HD (minimum increase +0) for determining if you may tame it and for how many creatures you can have tame. Variant creatures with increased challenge ratings (such as a pyrohydra compared to a normal hydra, if using the Broad Skills talent), treats the challenge rating increase of the variant as if it were a template for this purpose. A creature whose permanent Intelligence score is raised above 2 is no longer a valid target for this ability and is automatically released. This effect ends if you go two full days without spending at least 1 hour training your tame creatures.

This is treated as an extraordinary mind-affecting compulsion effect for the purposes of opposed control checks, such as another compulsion effect affecting your tame creature. Use your ranks in Handle Animal in place of your caster level for the opposed check.

Careful Packer The scholar knows that being prepared for any eventuality with a variety of useful tools is essential to success. Starting at 1st level, her talents for organization allow her to treat the storage space of any backpack, pouch, or similar container as though it were twice its normal size, and she uses her Intelligence score in place of her Strength score when determining her carrying capacity.

Equipment: Bounty Hunter's Tools You gain proficiency with the bola, garrote, grappling hook, harpoon, kyoketsu shogi, lasso, mancatcher, net, net launcher, sap, and whip. You may deal nonlethal damage with any of these weapons at no penalty and treat them all as having the grapple special feature.

Medical Training (Ex) The scholar may use her Intelligence modifier in place of her Wisdom modifier as her associated ability score modifier with the Heal skill. In addition, the scholar may expend one use of a healer’s kit and make a special DC 15 Heal check on an ally as a standard action that provokes an attack of opportunity; if this check is successful, the ally recovers 1 hit point +1 for each point by which the scholar exceeds the DC. If the scholar has at least 5 ranks in the Heal skill, she may instead use this ability to restore 1 point of ability damage +1 point for every 5 points by which she exceeds this ability’s DC. The scholar can only attempt to heal a particular creature with this ability a number of times per day equal to her Intelligence bonus (minimum 1). Attempting to heal a creature but failing to meet the DC of this ability still counts towards this daily total.

Problem Solver A scholar gains the Alchemy and Scout spheres as bonus combat talents at 1st level. If she already has either of these talents from another source, she may instead gain any talent she qualifies for from the corresponding sphere.

Scout Sphere Training in the Scout sphere teaches you how to hide from danger, identify potential threats and hazards, track opponents through almost any environment, and identify a creature’s key weaknesses. When you gain the Scout sphere, you gain 5 ranks in the Stealth skill, plus 5 ranks per additional talent spent in the Scout sphere (maximum ranks equal to your total Hit Dice). If you already have ranks in the Stealth skill you may immediately retrain them, but you do not get to retrain when only temporarily gaining talents, such as through the armiger’s customized weapons class feature.

All practitioners of the Scout sphere gain the following ability: Scout.

Scout: Scout As a swift action, you may identify a creature’s weaknesses (DC 10 + creature’s CR) as described under the Knowledge skill, but may substitute a Perception check for the appropriate Knowledge check at a -5 penalty. This only reveals the target’s weaknesses, or lack thereof, (such as damage reduction types and vulnerabilities), and does not reveal any additional information about the target. Once you have succeeded at a scout attempt or Knowledge check against a target, any talents or effects that require you to scout a target may be used against the target for the next 24 hours; after this period you must successfully use the scout ability against the target again to continue benefiting from related effects.

Tamed Animals The character has purchased and tamed a skunk and an owl, whose stat-blocks are listed below. If one of her tamed animals should die or become lost, she must either capture or purchase a new animal, and then tame it. The character has trained each animal to be taught the Hunting general purpose, and as such the creatures know the following tricks: attack, down, fetch, heel, seek, and track. [This is not a special ability, just a note on purchases.]


Skunk

N Tiny animal
Init +2; Senses low-light vision, Perception +5

Defense

AC 14, touch 14, flat-footed 12 (+2 Dex, +2 size)
hp 3 (1d8-1)
Fort +1, Ref +4, Will +1

Offense

Speed 30 ft.
Melee bite +4 (1d3-4), 2 claws +4 (1d2-4)
Ranged spray +4 ranged touch (musk)
Space 2-1/2 ft.; Reach 2-1/2 ft.
Special Attacks musk

Statistics

Str 3, Dex 15, Con 9, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6
Base Atk +0; CMB +0; CMD 6
Feats Weapon Finesse
Skills Perception +5

Special Abilities

Musk (Ex) 2/day, a skunk can spray a stream of noxious musk at a single target within 10 feet as a standard action. With a successful ranged touch attack, the creature struck by this spray must make a DC 11 Fortitude save or become nauseated for 1d4 rounds and then sickened for 1d4 minutes by the horrific stench. A successful save reduces the effect to only 1d4 rounds of being sickened. A creature cannot use the scent ability as long as it is affected by this musk. The save DC is Constitution-based, and includes a +2 racial bonus.

Ecology

Environment temperate forests
Organization solitary, pair, or surfeit (3-5)


Owl

N Tiny animal
Init +3; Senses low-light vision, Perception +10

Defense

AC 15, touch 15, flat-footed 12 (+3 Dex, +2 size)
hp 4 (1d8)
Fort +2, Ref +5, Will +2

Offense

Speed 10 ft., fly 60 ft. (average)
Melee 2 talons +5 (1d4-2)
Space 2-1/2 ft.; Reach 0 ft.

Statistics

Str 6, Dex 17, Con 11, Int 2, Wis 15, Cha 6
Base Atk +0; CMB +1; CMD +9
Feats Weapon Finesse
Skills Fly +7, Perception +10, Stealth +15, Racial Modifiers +4 Perception, +4 Stealth

Ecology

Environment temperate forests
Organization solitary or pair


Build Rules

20 Point Buy. If higher, raise Dexterity. If lower, reduce Intelligence.

Suggested Growth

Future combat talents should focus in the Beastmastery sphere. Good choices include Animal Companion, Bolster Beast, and Purposeful Training.

Notes

This character has no traits selected.

Similarly, besides weapons (mancatcher and net) and purchased animals (skunk and owl), no gear or equipment have been preselected. The character has 95 gp left to purchase equipment. Buy what you need, but remember to also purchase animal feed for your tamed animals. You however do not have to worry about carry weight as your careful packer class feature will generally make such negligible.

At higher levels, the Vest of Surgery from Ultimate Equipment removes the need to expend uses of a healer's kit on class features (this was clarified by the author) and is extremely useful for any Scholar.

Playing The Veterinarian

The veterinarian avoids getting into the thick of combat whenever possible, but instead 'handles' or 'pushes' her tamed animals via the Handle Animal skill to do the fighting for the character. The character can 'handle' an animal to do known tricks as a move action (DC 10), or 'push' a tamed animal as a full-round action (DC 25). She is an effective healer due to possessing the Salve (formulae) talent and the medical training class feature. When patching wounds outside of combat, be sure to use medical training first.


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