Survival in the waste depends on the ability to locate drinkable water, and many desert dwellers have this innate sense. The abilities of the lord of tides go beyond this basic need. You are in touch with the power of Kikanuti; as you grow in experience and power, you gain control over the lifeblood of the world. You can sense the movement of magma, summon beings of elemental might, and even open portals to the Elemental Planes.

The ranger or druid class is the most likely to produce a lord of tides; Knowledge (nature) and Wilderness Lore are class skills for you. Clerics also enter this class, particularly those who specialize in magic dealing with water, although they must usually take ranks in Wilderness Lore as a cross-class skill.

Lord of tides can provide a great adventure hook if she is leading a migration to a new community. The bhuka are not a warlike people, so they might need to hire combat experts to protect the expedition as it crosses hostile territory. If a threat emerges from the elemental planes, a lord of tides might seek adventurers to enter a portal and deal with the threat. A fanatical cult in the train of an outcast lord of tides makes a great ongoing adversary for a party.

As a lord of tides, a player character might be a gobetween for the adventurers and a bhuka community, which could serve as an important waypoint or outpost for several adventures set in and around the waste. Alternatively, she might be an exile seeking to regain her status by doing great deeds in the world. Another possibility is a lord of tides who has lost her community for some reason, which might be the case if warring neighbors destroy a community. The search to find a new community and return life to the blasted waste can be the ongoing motivation for a member of the prestige class.

Role: Spell Utility

Characteristics: Desert survivalists who can pull and locate water from seemingly anywhere

Source: Sandstorm

Game Rule Information

The Lord of Tides has the following game statistics.

Abilities: Wisdom is the most important ability for the class, both for Survival-related checks and spellcasting). Charisma is also important, since this class entails leadership responsibilities.

Alignment: Any

Hit Die: d8

Starting Gold: N/A

Class Skills

The Lord of Tides's class skills are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Knowledge (geography) (Int), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Knowledge (the planes) (Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Spot (Wis), 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 Lord of Tides.

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

Spellcasting: At each level beyond 1st, you gain new spells per day and an increase in caster level (and spells known, if applicable) as if you had also gained a level in a spellcasting class to which you belonged before adding the prestige class level. You do not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. If you had more than one spellcasting class before becoming a lord of tides, you must decide to which class to add each level for the purpose of determining spells per day, caster level, and spells known.

Locate Potable Water Su: This ability is similar to the Locate Water spell, but in addition to determining the size and distance of water bodies, you can tell whether the water is drinkable. If it is not drinkable, you can sense the reason, such as salt, poison, infectious organisms, or magical fouling. The ability takes a ful lround action to initiate and lasts for 10 minutes.

Heat Endurance: You gain Heat Endurance as a bonus feat. If you already have the Heat Endurance feat, you instead gain Improved Heat Endurance.

Release the Water Within Su: Starting at 2nd level, you can painfully extract water from living creatures once per day, creating a puddle at their feet. When you use this ability, a living creature you target within 30 feet must succeed on a Fortitude save (DC 10 + lord of tides level + your Wis modifier) or take 1d8 points of dessication damage per lord of tides level. This dessication damage cannot be healed (even with cure magic) until the creature drinks at least 1 quart of water. Creatures that fail their saves take damage and are fatigued until they drink a quart of water.

If you kill a living creature with this ability, the puddle of water around the body animates 1 round later into a water mephit, which you can control for up to 1 minute per lord of tides class level. After the duration has expired, the mephit collapses back into a puddle of inanimate water.

At 4th, 7th, and 10th level, you gain more daily uses of this ability.

Burrow Ex: On attaining 3rd level, you gain a burrow speed of 5 feet. This ability allows movement only through relatively soft materials, such as earth and sand. Many dungeon floors and buildings are made of stone, which you cannot pass through with this ability. You do not gain any special ability to avoid suffocation.

Summon Elemental Sp: Beginning at 6th level, you are able to summon a Large elemental once per day, which must have the water subtype. The ability is otherwise identical to the Summon Monster VI spell. When you reach 8th level, this ability improves: You can summon either an elder elemental once per day or a Large elemental three times per day, which can have the water or fire subtype. The ability is otherwise identical to the Summon Monster IX spell. Your effective caster level for this ability is equal to 10 + your lord of tides class level.

Elemental Jaunt Su: At 9th level you gain the ability to shift to an elemental plane for short times, once per day as a standard action. This ability is similar to the Plane Shift spell, but you and up to eight willing creatures remain on the elemental plane for up to 1 minute per lord of tides class level. This ability grants no protection against the environmental hazards of the chosen plane.

Elemental Portal Su: This ability is the pinnacle of the art embodied in the lord of tides class. When you reach 10th level, you can create a limited-use portal between the Material Plane and a location of your choice that you have visited on any elemental plane. The portal appears as a two-dimensional circular aperture with a radius of 10 feet, which resembles an eddy of colored water standing vertically in the air. The color of the water depends on the plane to which the portal connects: pale blue for the Elemental Plane of Air, green for the Elemental Plane of Earth, red for the Elemental Plane of Fire, and deep blue for the Elemental Plane of Water.

The portal you bring into being is usable twice per day and is keyed to a special object you make as part of the creation process. The possessor of this portal key can activate the portal and pass through it as a standard action. Any other creatures wishing to pass through must do so within 1 round after the key-holder opens it. Once the portal is open, touching or passing through it instantly transports a creature to the elemental plane, provided the creature fits within its physical dimensions. The portal grants no protection against the environmental hazards of that plane. A solid object at the destination point prevents the portal’s operation, but not the presence of a creature (the traveler is instead transported to the closest possible space to the original destination). Unattended objects cannot pass through a portal, but a traveler can carry up to 850 pounds of equipment.

To create the portal, you must assemble raw materials (gold dust, precious stones, and refined alchemical substances) costing at least 30,000 gp; this cost is halved if the portal connects to the Elemental Plane of Water. These materials must include a portion of the substance of an elemental from the desired plane, which is the main ingredient in the portal key. Crafting the portal takes 1 day per 500 gp of materials expended, so a portal to the Elemental Plane of Water would require 30 days to complete, while other portals would take 60 days.