New Class: The Beekeeper

Honeyed heroes. Wardens of the hives. Masked protectors of our buzzing pals. Beekeepers use a d8 hit die. They gain experience and roll saving throws as a Thief or Specialist would.

Beekeepers begin play with a special type of heavy gambeson, complete with gloves, boots, and mask. When not wearing this armor they lose access to any swarm control abilities they have. It’s the equivalent of leather armor against normal attacks. Against swarm type creatures it’s the equivalent of wearing pull plate and carrying a shield. The armor also grants a +2 bonus to any saving throws associated with harmful gas.

To be a true friend of the bees means being a superb dancer. At some point before play began the Beekeeper will have learned an intricate dance which allowed them to befriend a swarm of bees. The swarm now accompanies them wherever they go whether they like it or not. As the beekeeper grows to understand their friendly swarm better, they will learn new dances which each correspond to some specific instruction. The swarm is only large enough to follow one instruction at a time, though in some circumstances referees may opt to allow a swarm to be divided in half so that two instructions can be carried out with reduced efficacy.

At each level, including the first, Beekeepers roll on the table below. Each time a Swarm Instruction is learned it should be crossed off the table. In the event that the Beekeeper rolls a result that has already been crossed off, they may then freely choose one of the other abilities from the list. In this way the higher level a Beekeeper becomes the more likely they are to be able to choose the abilities they want. Though it is never guaranteed.

Swarm Instructions (Roll d12)

1. Stinging Cloud – The swarm spreads out to cover a space with a 10′ radius in any location the Beekeeper indicates. Enemies within that space take 1 damage per round.
2. Vibrating Death – The swarm clings to a single target indicated by the Beekeeper. Each bee vibrates, creating an incredible amount of heat. Deals 2d6 damage each round. If the target is larger than man sized, a single swarm can’t effectively cover it, and will instead deal only 2d4 damage each round.
3. Hive Construction – With incredible swiftness the swarm can construct a hive of whatever shape the Beekeeper desires. Each adventuring turn they work allows them to create the equivalent of a 5′ cube.
4. Second Swarm – The Beekeeper befriends another swarm, allowing their bees to carry out two instructions simultaneously. The Beekeeper can still only dance out one instruction per round.
5. Communal Carry – By working together the bees can carry an impressive amount of weight. Roughly equivalent to one adult human.
6. Buzzvoice – Precisely synchronized buzzing enables the swarm to produce a sound that is recognizable as human speech. They do not understand the language, and cannot use it to express their own thoughts or ideas, but they can use it to relay messages to and from the Beekeeper.
7. Intercepting Cloud – The swarm spreads out to cover a space with a 10′ radius in any location the Beekeeper indicates. Any missiles or single-target spells directed into this space will be intercepted by a brave bee. The swarm is able to protect against a number of attacks equal to double the Beekeeper’s level each day.
8. Bee’s Bounty – With great rapidity the swarm produces a great quantity of honey. Each 10 minute turn they could produce 1 bucket’s worth. The honey is sweet and nutritious, and soothing to many common ailments.
9. Gummy Goop – With great rapidity the swarm produces a substance that looks sorta like honey, but is bitter to the taste and incredibly sticky to touch. In a 10 minute turn they can coat a 5′ square area in this substance, and anything which touches it will be stuck for at least 2d6 turns.
10. Armor – The brave and noble bees rally around the Beekeeper, covering their body to protect them from incoming attacks. While shrouded by their friendly swarm in this fashion the Beekeeper’s armor class is equivalent to plate.
11. Buzzlarm – The swarm may be directed to form a perimeter, and to buzz an alarm if anyone crosses it. The beekeeper can direct them to raise an alarm only in certain circumstances, so long as those circumstances can be communicated in a way that is understandable to bees.
12. Stop Buzzing – The Beekeeper finally figures out how to get the swarm to uniformly STOP buzzing around them for a period. Turns out the beekeeper used to be pretty stealthy before a group of noisemakers started following them around everywhere. While their swarm is quiet the Beekeeper’s stealth ability is equal to whatever your game’s median stealth ability would be. Round up. (So: a 4-in-6 for LotFP, a d10 using Middle Road skills, etc).