Base Requirements

• Races: Elf, Half-Elf, Gnoll, Satyr
• Classes: Any
• Ability Requirements: Health 12, Reason 12, Intuition 12
• Alignments: Any
• Starting Cash: 2d6 x10gp
• Bonus Languages: Bothii, Faerie
• Recommended Languages: Northern, Thorasta, Espruar, Troll

Proficiencies

• Weapon Slots: By class
• Non-weapon Slots: By class
• Available Categories: By class, plus Survival
• Bonus Proficiencies: Survival (Forests), Weather Sense
• Required Proficiencies: none
• Recommended Proficiencies: none
• Forbidden Proficiencies: none

Overview: One of the world’s most majestic areas of woodland, the High Forest has become the home of refugee elves and half-elves from across Faerûn. Living in harmony with nature, and alongside the forest’s native gnoll and satyr tribes, they survive in a land noted for unnatural weather and ancient spirits.

Description: Supple buckskin tunics and skirts, generally dyed a deep green, are the rule among the people of the High Forest. Facial tattoos are also common, generally stylistic designs that imitate the countenance of an animal. High Forest elves often shave most of the hair from their head, leaving only a strip down the center of the scalp that falls in a tightly-braided cascade almost to the waist.

Role-Playing: The people of the High Forest respect nature and the creatures of the wilderness, seeing life as a precious thing that must be preserved and respected. Material possessions, wealth, and power have no importance to these people, for these are constructs of man.

Special Abilities:

• The animals of the world can sense the inner harmony of the High Forest and know the inhabitants to be friends. As a result, all such characters are able to cast the priest’s Animal Friendship spell. This spell is an innate ability and need not be memorized. The character may cast this spell once each day for every three levels of experience he has attained.
• The creatures of the High Forest are even more stealthy than their peers in the outside world. A High Forester can gain a bonus to surprise opponents, but only if he is not in metal armor. Even then, he must either be alone, or 90 feet or more away from his party to gain this bonus. If he fulfills these conditions, he moves so silently that opponents suffer a -4 penalty to their surprise die rolls. If the High Forester must open a door or screen to attack, this penalty is reduced to -2. If the High Forester gains this ability from another source (such as being an Elf or a Thief), the surprise penalty increases by 2.

Special Disadvantages:

• Because of their devotion to life and the service of nature, spellcasters from the High Forest may not learn or cast any spells belonging to the school of Necromancy or the Necromantic priest sphere.
• This same aspect of the character’s personality makes him a natural magnet for the attacks of undead creatures. Whenever mindless undead encounter him, they direct their attacks at him if at all possible. Because of the increased ferocity these fiends experience in the presence of this character, they receive a +2 bonus to their attack and damage rolls.
• The people of the High Forest are greatly distanced from their kin in other elfish fastnesses. In game terms this means that all of these characters have a -2 penalty applied to the reaction adjustment and loyalty base rating (as generated by the character’s Appearance and Leadership scores) when dealing with elves and similar sylvan folk from other realms.
• These folk are less able to receive the training that other adventurers take for granted. This means that none of these characters, no matter how high their Intuition scores, are eligible for an increased rate of experience point acquisition.

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