In this week’s Paths of Magic update, we explore the creation and future of the Warden! Released originally in Path of the Wilds, the warden is a defense and support-focused martial character with a supernatural connection to nature itself.
The Warden, by Miguel Angel
When starting on Path of the Wilds, the warden as a concept did not exist. In its place, there was a class simply titled “Stance Switcher”. It was intended to have a three or four stances, themed around different aspects of nature. Considered themes included the four elements (air, earth, fire, water), animals, or broad symbolism (land, sea, sky, sun, etc.). Unsurprisingly, the elemental and symbolic stances were both discarded due to their similarity to the elementer and invoker classes in the same book. That left animals as the theme.
Originally, the stances only affected the character themself, and the character was focused almost solely on combat (i.e. damage and defense). However, Pathfinder is already chock-full of martial characters that can hit stuff and take a hit; this class needed to do something else. Thus, I decided to make the “stances” instead auras that would provided bonuses to nearby allies. I called these new auras “wards”, and the warden class name logically followed.
At this point, the customization of the class was inverted from its current design: the warden could learn multiple “ward powers” that would customize each ward (each ward type had its own list of powers). Along side this, the warden gained a number of “Wild Insights”, which gave them a fixed list of broad utility and supporting features outside of the wards’ capabilities. This included stuff like bonuses to skill checks, boosts to initiative, or the ability to cast commune with nature at-will.
As the ward design moved on, I found that the current implementation (that the ward was a self-centered aura that moved with you) to be more limiting than I’d like. Many nature-themed powers that I and my friends would come up with were ones that would cause a LOT of headaches if “mobile”. How do you adjudicate, for example, moving back and forth near an enemy when the edge of your ward is a wall of fire? Many ideas had to get struck down due to the wards moving with the character. Enough, in fact, that I decided to make the wards stationary, instead. Doing so gave us more creative freedom with what the wards could do, since we could more reasonably include area-denial as an effect without it getting out of hand with rules exceptions.
As part of making the wards stationary effects, I also moved to them being fixed ability sets, as well. I originally wanted it to be where you could combine a few effects together (much like with the old stance powers), but it makes a much bigger headache when it comes to balance. Instead of weighing a dozen or so options against each other, you have to consider every possible combination, some of which got out of hand (I remember one combo that forced three separate saving throws every round in a 30-foot radius, and that was just one ward). Moving to a fixed list with a handful of wards that each served a distinct purpose made each one feel more justified (as opposed to having lots of wards with similar-but-slightly-different results). At first these were called aspects, but then I found that the hunter class has an optional rule called “Aspect Wards”, so the name got changed to facets.
With the wards moving to fixed effects, I still wanted to keep some customization in the class. To do so, I created a simple talent system. They were called Verdant Powers at first, but given I didn’t want the class to only be about plants, they eventually got changed to the more broad term “secrets”. Secrets at first worked off a unified resource pool (think like a monk’s ki pool), but that was eventually scrapped in favor of more persistent or at-will effects. When you’re spending an entire class talent to get a niche effect like plant growth (ya know, a single spell for someone like a druid) limiting it to a few times per day felt unnecessary.
From there, the final step (as is the case for most classes) was to add in supporting mechanics. Many of the original “Wild Insights” stuck around as fixed features, such as the bonus to skill checks (now called Nature Lore) or the boost to initiative (which became Protector’s Sense). The addition of the Remedy feature was the most critical, for sure, giving the class actual healing support. This caused me to re-evaluate much of the already-made secrets and facets, solidifying the class as a defensive support specialist.
With the ever-nearing release of Paths of Magic, you’re no doubt reading this less to see me ramble out design choices and more to see the actual content for the book.
The core warden features are largely unchanged. There were updates (and nerfs) to a few abilities, which were recently incorporated into a 2nd printing of Path of the Wilds. The eye of the storm ward got changed from control winds to fickle winds; a much needed reduction in power. The reverence class feature got both nerfed and buffed; it now also effects vermin, but only automatically works if the creature’s Intelligence is 2 or lower. Intelligent creatures are now entitled to a saving throw to negate its effects, making the ability a bit less OP against some high-level threats.
The main additions are, unsurprisingly, more secrets and facets. The warden is going from 20 secrets to 35, giving new abilities for both defense and support, even gaining the ability to resurrect allies at high levels. It also gains a few key secrets for the more offense-inclined wardens, including boosts when using single strikes (including Vital Strike) and a way to enchant their weapon like a magus.
They are also getting two new facets: mist of the valley, and silence of midnight, which are shown below as a preview. Keep an eye out for our next update in the near future!
MIST OF THE VALLEY
The ward is filled with a haunting mist, concealing allies while foes are lost within the fog.
Lesser: A thin mist shrouds your allies in the ward, granting them a 5% miss chance per point of your verdant bonus. Treat this as concealment, and abilities that allow sight through fog or mist ignore this concealment. Allies in the ward gain an insight bonus on Stealth checks equal to your verdant bonus.
Greater: Allies within the ward when it is created are magically shrouded by the mist, turning them invisible (as an invisibility spell). The invisibility lasts on a given creature until it moves outside of the ward, until it attacks, or after 1 minute per warden level, whichever comes first. Once a creature’s invisibility is broken, it cannot turn invisible again in this way for 1 hour.
Grand: The mist assaults the minds of foes that dare cross the threshold. Any enemy that crosses the ward’s edge must make a Will save or be confused for 1d4 rounds. Once a creature succeeds on its saving throw, it cannot be affected again for 24 hours. This is a mind-affecting compulsion effect.
SILENCE OF MIDNIGHT
The ward takes on the aspects of darkness, enshrouding all within with the quiet of night.
Lesser: The light level within the ward drops one step (bright light becomes normal light, normal light becomes dim light, and dim light becomes darkness). Treat this as a 2nd-level darkness spell for the purpose of interaction with spells and effects that create light. Additionally, creatures attempting to enter the ward must make a Fortitude save or become fatigued. This cannot cause a fatigued creature to become exhausted.
Greater: The ward now acts as a 4th-level darkness spell for the purpose of interacting with light effects. Sound (and sonic effects) cannot cross the edge of the ward. Each creature inside the ward when it is created or enters into the ward must make a Will save or be silenced, as a silence spell but affecting only their space. This silence effect lasts as long as they remain within the ward and for 1d4 rounds thereafter. A creature that succeeds on their saving throw cannot be silenced by the ward for 1 hour.
Grand: The ward now acts as a 6th-level spell for the purpose of interacting with light effects. The light within the ward drops by two steps (bright light becomes dim light, while normal light or darker becomes darkness). The area within 20 feet of the ward’s edge has its light level lowered by 1 step, and any creature that move within 20 feet of the ward or starts their turn within 20 feet of it must make a Fortitude save or become fatigued; this cannot cause a fatigued creature to become exhausted. Any creature that tries to enter the ward is exhausted on a failed saving throw, instead of fatigued.