The undisputed ruler of the guardinals, Talisid the Celestial Lion is an enormously powerful force for good—and good alone, undiluted by concerns of law or chaos. He is also a mighty druid, and his mortal and guardinal champions are druids and rangers who share both his fierce hatred of evil and his passionate love of the natural world and its creatures. Called the lions of Talisid, these protectors of nature and champions of good emulate their celestial patron in more concrete ways: adopting feline animal companions, assuming great cat forms with their wild shape ability, and eventually roaring like a leonal.

Druids and rangers most commonly become lions of Talisid, and only a character with an animal companion can enter the class. Multiclass druid/rangers also commonly adopt the class, and less commonly, fighter/druids or cleric/rangers.

Like their guardinal patron, lions of Talisid usually work alone or in small groups of close companions, rarely with other lions. Lions of Talisid can be found wandering the wilderness, fighting any who would defile the natural world with evil. They are particularly concerned with areas where some evil presence corrupts nature itself, manifesting evil weather and vile corrupted creatures.

Role: DPS

Characteristics: Cat people rejoice, as this class gives you several lion like abilities and more advanced wildshaping

Source: Book of Exalted Deeds

Game Rule Information

The Lion of Talisid has the following game statistics.

Abilities: Strength is important as many of your abilities are combat related so you need it to be effective, Wisdom for your casting is important, and Charisma to beef up your auxiliary abilities.

Alignment: Neutral Good

Hit Die: d8

Starting Gold: N/A

Class Skills

The Lion of Talisid's class skills are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Listen (Wis), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), and Wilderness Lore (Wis).

Skill Points at 1st Level: (4 + Int modifier) × 4

Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int modifier

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Lion of Talisid.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A Lion of Talisid is proficient with whatever they were already proficient with prior to taking levels in this class.

Animal Companion Ex: A lion of Talisid can add his lion of Talisid levels to his effective druid level (his actual druid level or one-half his ranger level) to determine the capabilities of his animal companion.

Lion's Courage Ex: A lion of Talisid is immune to fear (magical or otherwise) and gains a +4 sacred bonus on Will saves against other mind-affecting spells and effects.

Spells per Day: At each level, a lion of Talisid gains new spells per day as if he had also gained a level in a divine spellcasting class to which he belonged before adding the prestige class level. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. If the character had more than one divine spellcasting class before becoming a lion of Talisid, the player must decide to which class to add each lion of Talisid level for the purpose of determining spells per day.

Scent Ex: At 2nd level, a lion of Talisid gains the scent special quality. He can detect approaching enemies, sniff out hidden foes, and track by sense of smell.

Wild Shape Su: At 3rd level, a lion of Talisid gains the ability to turn himself into any Small or Medium animal and back again once per day. This works exactly as the druid’s wild shape ability. Lions of Talisid prefer the shape of great cats (cheetahs or leopards at lower levels), but are not limited to such forms. The lion of Talisid can use this ability more times per day at 4th, 5th, and 8th level, as noted on Table 5–12. In addition, he gains the ability to take the shape of a Large animal at 6th level, and a Tiny animal at 9th level.

A lion of Talisid who is also a druid can add his lion of Talisid level –2 to his druid levels to determine his wild shape ability. For example, an 8th-level druid/6th-level lion of Talisid can wild shape as a 12th-level druid and can thus assume plant forms as well as Large and Tiny animal forms and can use this ability 4 times per day.

Exalted Companion Ex: At 4th level, a lion of Talisid's can choose a magical beast as shown on the table 1-2 below. You must choose a companion whose alignment is the same as yours. Even though your companion is a magical beast, you can cast spells on it as though it were an animal. The exalted companion has all the normal abilities of a typical creature of its kind, as well as the characteristics of an animal companion determined by the appropriate class level.

Lion's Pounce Ex: At 5th level, a lion of Talisid can make a full attack at the end of a charge.

Lion's Swiftness Ex: When he reaches 7th level, a lion of Talisid can act as if under the effects of a Haste spell for a total of 1 round per class level per day. These rounds need not be consecutive.

Leonal's Roar Su: Three times a day, a 10th-level lion of Talisid can issue a roar that duplicates the effects of the Leonal’s Roar spell. The saving throw DC is 20 + the lion of Talisid’s Charisma modifier.