The Fey Harpist
"Come, now a roundel and a fairy song;
Then, for the third part of a minute, hence;
Some to kill cankers in the musk-rose buds;
Some war with rere-mice for their leathern wings,
To make my small elves coats; and some keep back
The clamorous owl, that nightly hoots and wonders
At our quaint spirits. Sing me now asleep;
Then to your offices, and let me rest."
---- Titania, Shakespeare's A Midsummmer Night's Dream; Act II, Scene III, lines 1-8

* * *

Grok stumbled through the forest undergrowth, clutching his double axe weakly in one bloody hand as he used the other to press a wad of grimy leather against the seeping wound in his side. The cut was starting to pain him now, and he'd not the means to bind it properly, or wash it out with some spirits, but he could see the edge of the wood up ahead, couldn't he? He'd been running for nearly three days now, ever since . . . since . . .

A twig snapped a little way off, jolting the scarred, potbellied tusker of the Gutspatter tribe awake. He didn't remember falling asleep, but it was certainly night, now, and something was stalking him out there. The orc bared his yellow fangs, and reached out to grip his axe. And he found nothing there. Before he could stop himself, he gave a low grunt of puzzlement and chagrin.

As if on cue, the woods around him erupted with peal upon peal of silvery laughter, and a swarm of tiny white motes of light began to dance overhead, illuminating a diminutive figure as it stepped out from behi -- no. Gruumsh crush him, it was that damned gnome again, and he'd just stepped out of that oak.

"Puny, sneaking, little pest," Grok thought, pulling himself up into a crouch as he faced the little trickster. Under the cover of the greasy, ill-tanned hides that served him as a cloak, he closed his fist around the hilt of a bone dagger one of his boots before rumbling, in comprehensible if badly accented Common, "You should've stayed away, runt. You think your little pixies and sprites will help you now that I can get my hands on you?" So saying, he began to advance on the gnome, drawing his dagger and grinning at the smaller creature. He was going to enjoy this. It was a week since he'd had fresh meat.

Apparently unpeturbed, the gnome answered, "Of course not. They're far too weak to stand up to someone as big and strong as you." One pale blue eye twinkled as the other narrowed in a brief wink. "Look behind you."

"Ha! You must think I'm stupid or something," roared Grok, bunching himself to spring on his next meal. He raised his knife, and then gave cry to a long, wordless roar of terror as a single great, moss-covered fist closed around his hand, swallowing his burly arm up to the elbow as the treant behind him lifted him upward and dangled him before its somber, brooding eyes.

"What was that game, Murley?" the creature asked the gnome in a voice like the moan of wind through a hollow oak, its gaze still fastened on Grok, who was too busy gibbering in abject fear for his life for the words to register properly. "You mentioned that these orc-creatures played a game with you while you were their guest."

"Yes, of course," Murley answered brightly, grinning up at his friend Gnarledroot. "They called it 'runt-tossing for distance', Gnarly."

* * *

The hum and whine of fiddles in deep forest glades . . . the wild skirling of a lonely satyr's pipes . . . the distant, plaintive note of a dryad's singing beneath her tree . . . travelers report hearing these sounds, even tell tales of following them in search of their sources only to find empty space, shifting shadows, and the whispering wind. A few lucky souls whisper accounts of nights spent in revels with the faeries under the moon, feasting, laughing, and dancing all the night long only to wake to a chilly morning and an empty clearing in the forest. Most go on with their day-to-day lives, if a little more thoughtful for their venture among the wild sprites that occupy the far reaches of the woods.

But a handful of these find themselves drawn back again to search for the fey, trying to recapture the throb of their drums, the melodies that skittered forth from the grigs' fiddles, and the clean, beguiling lines of the dryad dancers' limbs. Fewer still, playing a harp or flute alone at a campfire, find them again and are accepted as a friend and ally by the fickle sprites.

Most fey harpists are bards, within whom the free-spirited fey strike a chord. A handful of druids and rangers master enough music to follow the path as well, and from time to time one hears whispers, too, of particularly wild sorcerers who disappear into the woods to commune with the fey.
Hit Die: d6

Requirements:
Alignment: Any non-lawful, non-evil.
Skills: Perform 8 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 8 ranks, Knowledge (nature) 4 ranks, Wilderness Lore 4 ranks.
Feats: Alertness, Iron Will.
Spells: Must be able to cast detect crossroads (from Magic of Faerun). See the author's note at the end of this PrC for an alternative to this requirement.
Language: Sylvan
Special: Must befriend at least two fey, one of whom must be a sprite.

Class Features:

BAB: as bard.
Saves: as bard.

Class Skills:
The fey harpist's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Dex), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Gather Information (Cha), Hide (Dex), Intuit Direction (Wis), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Pick Pocket (Dex), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Speak Language (Int), Spellcraft (Int), Tumble (Dex), and Use Magic Device (Cha, exclusive skill).

Skill Points per level: 4 + Int modifier

Table: The Fey Harpist
Class --- Special -------------- Spells per Day/Known
Level
1 ------- bardic music --------- +1 level of existing class
--------- nature's smile
--------- at the crossroads

2 ------- faerie fire, 1/day --- +1 level of existing class
--------- pseudodragon
--------- companion

3 ------- fey melody I --------- +1 level of existing class

4 ------- faerie fire, 2/day --- +1 level of existing class

5 ------- low-light vision ----- +1 level of existing class
--------- tree stride

6 ------- fey melody II -------- +1 level of existing class
--------- faerie fire, 3/day

7 ------- travel as fey--------- +1 level of existing class

8 ------- faerie fire, 4/day --- +1 level of existing class

9 ------- fey melody III ------- +1 level of existing class

10 ------ faerie fire, 5/day --- +1 level of existing class
--------- wild soul

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The fey harpist gains no new weapon or armor proficiencies.

Bardic Music: The fey harpist gains the bardic music ability as it is detailed in the Class Abilities section of the bard core class if she did not already have it from a previous class. If she did have the ability, she continues to gain daily uses of it at each new level in the fey harpist prestige class.

Spells per Day/Known: For every level that the fey harpist gains in the prestige class, she gains new spells per day and (if applicable) spells known for the class she belonged to before entering the fey harpist prestige class. If she belonged to two spellcasting classes, she must choose one in which to advance.

Nature's Smile (Ex): The fey harpist knows how to interact with fey, and they are more inclined to treat her as one of their number. She gains a +4 bonus on Charisma checks made to alter the attitudes of fey, including crossroad guardians.

At the Crossroads (Su): The fey harpist gains the ability to detect a crossroads as per the detect crossroads spell from Magic of Faerun. This ability functions continuously.

Faerie Fire (Sp): Starting at 2nd level, the fey harpist can create faerie fire 1/day as a druid of her class level. At every even-numbered level after 2nd, she gains another use per day of this ability.

Pseudodragon Companion (Ex): At 2nd level, the fey harpist attracts a pseudodragon to be her faithful companion. The pseudodragon behaves much as a cohort gained through the Leadership feat. Acts of unnecessary cruelty, prolonged association with evil or cruel companions, or any form of mistreatment of the creature prompt it to discontinue its association with the fey harpist. If well-treated, the pseudodragon will do its best, within reasonable limits, to aid the fey harpist. The DM's discretion determines what constitute reasonable limits, mistreatment, and unnecessary cruelty.

Fey Melody (Sp): At 3rd level, the fey harpist gains the ability to strike up a soothing imitation of a satyr's panpipe tunes. All creatures within a 60-foot spread must make a Will save with a DC equal to 13 +1 per 5 points by which the result of the fey musician's Perform check exceeds 15, or suffer a sleep effect without the usual Hit Dice limitations. Thus, if a fey harpist used this ability and rolled a Perform check result of 21, the save DC versus the sleep effect would be 15. At 6th level, the fey harpist gains the ability to duplicate the fear effect of a satyr's panpipe tunes as well. Both the fear and the sleep effects last as long as the music continues. At 9th level, she can simulate the effect of a grig's fiddle-playing within a 30-foot radius spread, duplicating the effects of the spell Otto's irresistible dance except that the duration is 2d4+1 rounds and not, as with the grig's ability, for as long as the music lasts. All of these effects expend one daily usage of the bardic music ability, and can be created simultaneously with one another or with ordinary bardic music abilities. These are all sonic, mind-affecting effects.

Low-light vision (Ex): At 5th level, continued association with fey leads the her to develop low-light vision, the better to participate in their nighttime dances and revels.

Tree Stride (Sp): At 5th level, the fey harpist attains the ability to use tree stride as a level 10 druid. This spell-like ability is usable once per day.

Travel As Fey (Su): At 7th level, the fey harpist has developed a sufficiently deep rapport with nature and fey creatures that she can employ a backroad without the necessity of coercing its crossroad guardian. She is effectively treated as being a fey for this activity.

Wild Soul (Su): At 10th level, the free-spirited habits fostered by the fey harpist's long-standing association with the chaotic, unfettered spirits of nature become so heavily ingrained that her soul is no more subject to boundaries or restrictions than the wind through a dryad's tree. She gains immunity to enchantment spells with the (compulsion) descriptor and to the imprisonment spell.