Wilderness Warrior

Description

This hero represents some tribe (either civilized or barbarian) living in a dangerous, threatening, or unusual wilderness environment — such as the desert, deep in swamp territory, in the frozen North, tucked away in the jungle or tropical rain forest, or in distant mountains.
The Wilderness Warrior is different from the Barbarian. He's not automatically a menacing figure when travelling around in the campaign's normal society; he's just exotic and unusual. He can be very cultured and civilized, but, coming as he does from a different culture, will have different attitudes from the other player-characters on many subjects.
For example, a desert nomad character may be merely offended at the theft of his property but be outraged by (and demand the death penalty for) theft of his water; he may believe that women should stay in camp and leave fighting to the men (an opinion he will find himself quickly disabused from when in the outer world he may feel the need to prostrate himself whenever he passes the church or temple of the deity he worships, and so on.
The player decides (With DM's permission) what sort of tribe and environment the Wilderness Warrior comes from. Then, working with the DM, he must determine what sort of unusual beliefs and customs the character and his tribe possess. He may later abandon a few of these beliefs in the outer world, but should not abandon most of them; they are part of what makes him unique in the campaign.
To be a Wilderness Warrior, the character must have a Constitution score of at least 13.

Role

In a campaign, like the Barbarian and Savage, the Wilderness Warrior is the "outsider•s voice" who questions all the strange quirks and discrepancies in the player-characters' culture. He's also an opportunity for some comic-relief adventures, when he misinterprets some aspect of the society and it leads him into confusion and trouble. More importantly. the DM should arrange for the occasional adventure to take place in lands like those of his birth, so that he can demonstrate his skills in that environment.

Weapon Proficiencies

The Wilderness Warrior may spend his Weapon Proficiencies any way he pleases. The DM may insist that he spend one or two on weapons appropriate to his culture: A desert nomad should have Scimitar and Short Composite Bow, while an arctic warrior should have Harpoon and Spear, for instance.

Nonweapon Proficiencies

Bonus Proficiencies

Survival (in his native environment), Endurance

Recommended

Any relating to the land of his birth. such as Animal Handling, Animal Training, Dancing (his cultural dances), Fire-Building, Fishing, Riding, Land Based, Swimming

Warrior

Mountaineering, Tracking

Equipment

The Wilderness Warrior may only spend his starting gold on items appropriate to his culture. For example, the desert nomad couldn't buy any armor at all with his starting gold, while the arctic warrior could only have leather or hide armor. Of course, if the DM determines that his is a trading culture, he could have access to goods from all over the world.
The Wilderness Warrior doesn't have to spend all his starting gold before entering play. Once he begins play, there are no restrictions on what sorts of equipment he may buy.

Special Benefits

The Wilderness Warrior gets a special bonus of +5 to his Survival proficiency roll. This only applies to the Survival proficiency pertaining to environments like that of his origin; if he later takes a second Survival proficiency for another type of territory. the bonus doesn't count toward it.

Special Hindrances

The Wilderness Warrior, in his early years, is occasionally hindered by his unfamiliarity with the player-characters' society, but this is a role-playing consideration; the DM must occasionally enforce it until he believes the character is sufficiently familiar with the usual culture.

Wealth Options

The Wilderness Warrior gets the standard 5d4x10 gp in starting gold.

Races

This is a very appropriate Warrior Kit for demihuman warriors, and the DM may wish to create some unusual demihuman tribes to showcase it.
For example, everyone would expect Dwarven Wilderness Warriors from the mountains, Elf and Gnome Wilderness Warriors from the tropical rain forests, etc. But what about Desert Dwarves? Arctic Elves? Swamp Gnomes? Mountain Halflings? Such unusual choices can add some color to a campaign.

[Complete Fighter's Handbook]