(art by JulieLohen on DeviantArt)

As I’ve said in the past, racial archetypes as a rule shouldn’t be limited to a single ancestry unless their actual species is required to access some of the abilities in the archetype, and today… is one of those rare times.

Being not just plant creatures, but also having spirits of nature as an animating force and soul, leshies have perhaps a better understanding of the element of wood than any other mortal being with perhaps the exception of ardande geniekin.

However, among the leshies that channel this element, a few take it further beyond what even other plant creature kineticist such as ghorans can, tying their very powers into their very being as leshies, accelerating the rate at which they learn certain talents but limiting them to the element of wood.

As we’ll soon see, these leshykineticists can be quite impressive as paragons of the element of wood!

As mentioned above, these kineticists only gain the wood element, but they make up for it by gaining additional talents as they progress in skill, learning to speak with plants, gaining healing abilities and the ability to infuse their positive blasts with sunlight, being able to more easily heal plant creatures, an additional talent of their choice, and communing with nature later on.

Normally, a leshy cannot move when in their sessile plant form, but by using their phytokinetic powers, they can gain surprising mobility and even using their kinetic powers in such a form.

Other kineticists can establish a buffer by accepting burn days in advance to build up a reserve. Not so with leshykineticists, who instead draw power from sunlight to build up their reserve, meditating for hours to gather their reserves. However the drawback for this lossless method is their buffer is fleeting, requiring daily renewal.

The most powerful of these elemental masters have achieved the pinnacle of mastery with the element of wood, and can overcome the greatest weakness of their kind. When they are slain, their verdant burst heals others for a much greater amount, and as long as the bloom of plant life created by their death remains, they can regrow themselves and return to life in a day.

Having extra talents at the cost of being limited to one element can be pretty appealing, so I can see plenty of leshy kineticists taking it. They also gain both healing and light-based blasts, so they do tend to be geared towards being a healer and undead hunter. What’s more, this archetype also means that their plant form is less a disguise and more an alternate mobility mode (as long as you do nothing but move and fight, of course). The buffer is nice too. Just hand out in the back of the party’s wagon on the way to the dungeon and boom, you get to go in with a full buffer. Overall a good archetype, but there’s pretty much only one role you can fulfill with it, despite variance in the builds.

Something I do like about this archetype is that it does mention that not just vine leshies, but theoretically other types of leshies can take this archetype, either one of the lesser leshies a GM gives class levels too, or homebrew ancestries or alternate heritages (such as the ones I made!) could use them as well!

The oni of Shinjio are finally making their move, marching an army to the Forest of Eyes to burn it to the ground. However, the denizens of the forest will not go down without a fight, with kami and leshies alike rising up to face them, but even the greatest kineticists among the leshies will need help, and the party may yet be instrumental in slaying the army’s atamahuta general.

Ever Blossom the lotus leshy has been teaching the channeling of the wood element to her students for generations, but even her most prized pupil, a nagaji named Viksha, cannot hope to attain her level of mastery due to her nature as a plant being. This, however, has spurred the ambitious Viksha to perform a dangerous ritual which might infuse her with enough of the element to transcend into an ardande… or it might kill them.

(art by MM on Artstation)

While the common assumption with the cavalier class is that they are some sort of knight with a code of honor, that isn’t always the case, plenty simply have a personal code, and may be simply mounted warriors.

That is not the case with today’s entry, though, for these cavaliers, nobility or not, have a deep respect for chivalry and living honorably, and because of that, they demonstrate a canny ability to navigate the courtly intrigues while keeping their honor intact.

More than that, these gallants act as paragons of their order, formal or otherwise, which helps to inspire others to be better, be it fellow nobles in court or soldiers on the battlefield.

Now, whether or not they truly measure up to these expectations and impressions may vary, but unlike some pretenders, they genuinely are making an effort.

While the exact nature of their honor varies by the exact order they follow, there is no denying their adherence, and how it can inspire allies.

These cavaliers must maintain a morality of lawful or neutral good in order to maintain their abilities, and only a few orders truly mesh with their ideals. Namely, these orders include the pacifistic order of the blue rose, the protective order of the guard, the loyal order of the lion, and the chivalrous order of the sword. All are chivalrous in their own way, but focusing on different aspects.

Just as normal cavaliers inspire with their banners, gallants that display their personal symbol ward their allies against fear and effects that would disrupt their honor and loyalty. Furthermore, they inspire them to better take foes alive, empowering their nonlethal blows.

Additionally, they can rally allies to inspire them to stand fast in the face of wickedness, ignoring pain from all but the foulest weapons.

If you’re looking for a more defensive set of buffs to provide with your banner equivalent, this archetype may be for you, though many of the benefits are the same, they grow in power in a way the standard banner does not, which may appeal to you. Also, consider which of the four orders you’d like to take before settling on a build.

I’ve probably said this before, but chivalry has meant a lot of things throughout the years, but my favorite interpretation, and the one I believe that this archetype espouses, is that those with power should strive to be gentle and kind with it, that those with power have a responsibility to not use it selfishly. Taken literally from the name, “those with horses should not use them against those that do not”.

With that in mind, also look into courtly love, since that concept also gels nicely with the themes presented here as well.

Though they ride sharks, dolphins, and the occasional hippocampi, the outriders of the aquatic elves parallel many things seen in human knights and noble courts. In fact, some theorize that humans may have picked up on such courtly and noble behaviors from early elves before the great sundering that gave rise to their many subspecies.

Coming from the far east, a fierce atamahuta oni arrived on the borders of the kingdom and set themselves up as a bandit king. Those sent to negotiate with the fiend have not returned, so the king has ordered one of his bravest and most honorable knights to put together a band of heroes to put and end to the bloodshed and banditry.