Sea Shepherd
The first built class. Runs on the homebrew engine in the Core Rules but uses the Blooded Sorcery power model, not the Wizard's. Built from the Darkcliff design conversation. Numbers are tunable; the mechanic is the point.
1. What a Sea Shepherd is (and is not)
A Sea Shepherd is a Sea Sorcerer: blooded, not learned. Something in Darkcliff's past tied the bloodline to the sea at a mystical level, fed by the leylines through the water. The gift is in the veins and the soul. It is instinct, not study.
The hard line that separates a Sea Shepherd from a Wizard:
| Wizard (Sandstinger) | Sea Shepherd (Darkcliff) | |
|---|---|---|
| Source | learned from a spellbook | blooded, innate |
| Loadout | swaps spells on rest | fixed, cannot change |
| What it does | creates effects from leyline energy | shapes forces that already exist |
| Where it is strong | anywhere a leyline reaches | on or near the sea; broken inland or on metal |
| Magic items | yes | yes (the unblooded cannot) |
A Sea Shepherd cannot cast a lightning bolt. They can give an existing bolt a place to land. They cannot write a wave into being or point at a ship and crush it. They can urge a swell higher, redirect a current, time an impact, ride what the sea is already doing. They work with what is in motion, because the sea is part of them and they are part of it.
On the water they are unmatched: a Wizard of equal level would envy that control. Off the water they are limited. That trade is the class.
2. The real power is the network
The combat gift is the smaller half. Darkcliff's actual dominance is that everyone needs them and no one can replace them. The Trench kills other people's ships, which is exactly why a Darkcliff crossing costs a premium. The best sailor alive is the foundation the whole house stands on. That lives in skills and standing, not a damage roll (section 9), and the HUD should never reduce it to one.
3. Progression (levels 1 to 10)
| Level | Title | Tide pool (base) | Unlocks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 to 2 | Deckhand | 8 to 10 | at-will tides + tier-1 manipulations |
| 3 | Mate | 14 | tier-2 manipulations |
| 4 to 5 | Navigator | 18 to 22 | pick a current (specialization) at level 4; tier-3 begins |
| 6 to 7 | Tidereader | 28 to 34 | tier-3 and branch manipulations |
| 8 | Sea Sorcerer | 42 | tier-4 manipulations |
| 9 to 10 | Tide Lord (house head) | 54 to 68 | capstones, staff managed |
Same pool curve as the core, but Tide behaves differently from a mage's pool (section 5).
4. The manipulation model (how casting works for them)
Every Sea Shepherd ability is a row with one extra field the Wizard rows do not have: an environmental requirement. The force must already be present.
name | unlock | cost | Cast DC | Resist DC | resist type | effect | requires | proximity band
- If the required force is absent (no open water, no storm, no lightning), the ability is simply unavailable. It greys out. It is not a failed roll and it costs nothing. (Fail silent on a dropped input.)
- If the force is present, resolve normally: action roll (1d20 + level mod + Wisdom + the proximity modifier) vs Cast DC, then the target resists vs Resist DC.
- The Cast DC here is the difficulty of bending a force that is already moving, so it stays low; the swing comes from the proximity modifier.
5. Tide (the resource) and proximity (the signature mechanic)
Tide is not refilled by rest the way a mage refills at an inn. The sea is the Sea Shepherd's leyline. Proximity to water sets both the maximum Tide and whether it regenerates, and it modifies every action roll.
| Where the Sea Shepherd is | Action mod | Tide |
|---|---|---|
| In or under open water | +2 | full max, regenerates each round |
| On a wooden vessel on the water | +0 | full max, slow regen |
| Shore, shallows, or standing in rain | -1 | max reduced 25%, no regen |
| Dry land, water in sight but not on it | -3 | max reduced 50%, no regen |
| Far inland, no water in range | at-will tides only | drains, no regen |
| On or inside a metal hull (Sunpeak ship) | disadvantage on all rolls, Tide capped low; only level 8+ may push through, at half effect | |
| Weather working hard against the chosen current | situational, staff or GM call |
In Second Life this is automatic. The HUD reads llWater(ZERO_VECTOR) for the region water height and compares it to the wearer's position to pick the band. A living player gets visibly stronger as they near the sea and weaker as they walk inland or board a metal ship. That is the design, rendered live.
6. At-will tides (free, no roll, no cost)
Always available as long as any water is near. The everyday instinct of a sea-blooded sailor.
| Tide | Effect |
|---|---|
| Sea Sense | read the currents, depth, and what moves beneath the surface |
| Sure Footing | never lose balance on a wet deck or slick surface |
| Weather Eye | read incoming weather and time to landfall |
| Freshen | purify a small amount of water to drink |
| Wake Whisper | send a short spoken message across the surface to someone on the same water |
| Lifesense | feel living things in the water nearby |
| Spindrift | lift, spin, and weave small amounts of liquid through the air for show; fill or empty a cup, ribbon water or beer between glasses, douse a candle, flick a splash at someone; pure flair, no combat use |
Spindrift is the Sea Shepherd's answer to a mage's prestidigitation, the parlor trick that announces what you are without lifting a finger. Any liquid works, water, beer, wine, though purists will tell you the gift hums cleanest with seawater and rain, and that showing off with someone's good vintage is exactly the sort of thing a Darkcliff would do.
7. Core manipulations (every Sea Shepherd)
| Ability | Lv | Cost | Cast DC | Res DC | Save | Effect | Requires |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Redirect Current | 1 | 1 | 9 | 10 | Reflex | shove a target or object with a moving current; stagger | moving water in range |
| Steady Hull | 1 | 1 | 8 | none | self/ally | brace a vessel or swimmer; +2 to next save vs a water hazard | water in range |
| Spume | 1 | 1 | 8 | 11 | Reflex | kick spray into faces; enemies in a small area at -1 to next action | water surface |
| Build Swell | 3 | 2 | 10 | 12 | Reflex | urge a swell higher under a target; 1d6 and knock prone, capsizes small craft | open water |
| Undertow | 4 | 2 | 11 | 12 | Fortitude | drag a target at the water's edge down; 1d6 and rooted, drowning risk if held | target in or beside water |
| Becalm | 4 | 2 | 10 | none | area | still the wind and surface; enemy movement on water halved (slowed) | open water |
| Ground the Bolt | 5 | 3 | 12 | 13 | Reflex | give an existing bolt a place to strike; 2d8 | an active storm with lightning |
| Riptide Snare | 6 | 3 | 12 | 13 | Reflex | currents grab a cone of foes; 1d6 and rooted | water in range |
| Read the Deep | 6 | 3 | 12 | none | self | sense hidden ships, creatures, the Trench's danger and the safe route; advantage on the next navigation or ambush-avoidance check | open water |
| Maelstrom | 7 | 4 | 14 | 15 | Reflex | spin a whirlpool; 2d6 per round and pull toward the center, area | deep open water |
| Stormturn | 7 | 4 | 14 | none | area | give a rolling storm direction or misdirection; enemies in it at disadvantage on ranged, or shift the storm | incoming or active weather |
| Drowning Grip | 8 | 4 | 15 | 16 | Fortitude | seize a target in water and hold them under; 2d6 per round and staggered | target in water |
8. The three currents (specialization, pick one at level 4)
Locked once chosen, like everything else about the gift. Each deepens one face of the sea.
Tidebinder, the kinetic sea. Waves, currents, undertow, pressure. The bruiser of the three. Branch unlocks: Crushing Tide (Lv6, heavier Build Swell), Anchor (Lv7, root a whole boarding party), and the capstone wave.
Stormcaller, the sky over the sea. Weather, wind, and directing lightning. The artillery. Branch unlocks: Squall (Lv6, area lightning during a storm), Headwind (Lv7, becalm a fleet), Tempest hand (Lv8, sustained storm damage). Useless in clear skies, devastating in a storm.
Deepreader, the eyes of the house. Sensing, navigation, sea life, the Trench. Clara's path, the best sailor alive. Branch unlocks: Trenchsight (Lv6, see every danger and safe lane for a wide radius), Call the Deep (Lv7, summon or ward sea creatures), Pathbond (Lv8, guarantee a vessel's safe passage through any water). Low damage, the highest value to the house.
9. Capstones (levels 9 to 10, house head, staff managed)
| Ability | Lv | Cost | Cast DC | Res DC | Save | Effect | Requires |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Command the Waters | 9 | 6 | 16 | 17 | Strength | summon a 30-foot wave, a wall of water not a guided strike; 3d8 and sweep prone across a wide front | large open water |
| Eye of the Tide | 10 | 8 | 16 | none | self | become one with the sea for a scene; on water you are immune to water and weather and every manipulation is +2 and costs 1 less | open water |
Command the Waters is the Marinia house capstone made real, and it deliberately cannot pinpoint a single ship. The Sea Shepherd rides what exists; the sea decides the rest.
10. Class traits
- Fixed loadout. A Sea Shepherd never re-picks abilities on rest. The set grows as the bloodline deepens with level. The current chosen at level 4 is permanent.
- Magic items. Sea Shepherds are blooded and may attune and use magic items, including ones that cast. The unblooded cannot.
- HP tier: Medium. Key stat: Wisdom (instinct, attunement). Saves as core.
- The network (RP layer): top-tier Sailing and Navigation skill, knowledge of the Trench routes (the safe-passage guarantee), and the Darkcliff House perks (sense sea creatures at level 6, command the waters at level 10). The HUD surfaces standing and route knowledge, it does not turn the house's real power into a damage number.
11. Open for your sign-off
- Level titles (Deckhand, Mate, Navigator, Tidereader, Sea Sorcerer, Tide Lord). Rename freely.
- The three current names (Tidebinder, Stormcaller, Deepreader).
- Whether the metal-hull penalty should hard-block under level 8 or just bite hard.
- Whether weather is sim-driven, RP-declared, or both, since Stormcaller depends on it.