Raven Master

A raven master adds Bluff, Disguise, and Sleight of Hand to her list of class skills. She does not gain Climb, Heal, Intimidate, Ride, or Swim as class skills. This alters the ranger’s class skills.

A raven master’s wild empathy affects only birds. This alters wild empathy.

At 4th level, a raven master earns the trust and companionship of a particularly large, powerful, and intelligent raven. This ability functions like the druid animal companion ability, except that the raven master’s effective druid level is equal to her ranger level – 3. The raven master must select a bird as her animal companion. The raven companion starts with an Intelligence score of 3 and can speak one language known by the raven master. In addition to the normal abilities an animal companion gains as the raven master increases in level, the raven companion gains the following abilities. This ability alters hunter’s bond and replaces specific ranger abilities as indicated below. Silver Champion (Ex) : At 7th level, the raven companion takes on a silvery, metallic appearance. It treats all of its natural attacks as though they were magic and silver for the purpose of bypassing damage reduction. This ability replaces woodland stride. Mimic Figurine (Su) : At 8th level, once per day as a standard action, the raven master can transform her raven companion into a token similar to a figurine of wondrous power . Any gear worn by the raven melds into its body as part of this transformation, but held items do not. The raven can remain in this form indefinitely, or until the raven master spends a standard action to activate the statuette as though it were a figurine of wondrous power . This ability replaces swift tracker. Cheat Death (Sp) At 12th level, once per week, when a raven companion would otherwise be slain by an attack, spell, or effect, it can turn into a figurine of wondrous power as per its mimic figurine ability as an immediate action. Once transformed this way, the raven companion cannot transform back into a raven until the raven master next prepares spells. This ability replaces camouflage.

A raven master casts spells as do most rangers, but her spell list is somewhat expanded from the normal options most rangers can choose from, for her association with the bards and other talented performers among the Silver Ravens allows her to add a limited number of bard spells to her spell list. These spells function as divine spells, and are cast and prepared in the same manner as her other ranger spells. At 6th level, the raven master selects one 1st-level bard spell of her choice and adds it to her spell list as a 1st-level ranger spell. At 9th level she does the same but for a 2ndlevel bard spell. She adds a 3rd-level bard spell at 12th level, and adds a 4th-level bard spell at 15th level. This ability alters the ranger’s spellcasting.