GLAUGUST: Gardener (Class)

This is a class created for the GLAUGUST challenge Paladin of an unorthodox law. Westu hal, ðu gehalgod gardin-haþel.

The GarΔener

+1 to Bond per template

A - Tradeworker, Cultivator
B - Warden
C - Producer
D - Resident

Introduction

They are sometimes called gardeners, although that is not always what they do. Some of them are blacksmiths, librarians, tenders of small huts in the desert. But always they are distinguished by their common love of a place. Not a grand place, not a great palace or noble temple, no place of public honour or mighty treasure, but a small place. A garden, perhaps. Or a tomb.

To become a gardener, you must first have a garden. Over a year, pay continuous attention to some small location, no larger than a house a commoner in your land would live in. Remove the weeds, tend to the flowers, polish the worn statuettes and keep the ancestral shrine well-tended. You must not spend more than a month in this time away from the garden. Come to know it as you know yourself, and in coming to know it, come to know yourself.

The only way to level up in this class is to spend more years tending to your garden. There is no shortcut for true devotion. If your garden is destroyed, you lose all templates of Gardener immediately, no matter where you are or what you are doing.

Bond

After one year tending to your garden, you are bonded to it. Each template of Gardener you take increases your bond to your garden by 1. Gain +bond *2 to your AC, to-hit, perception, and initiative (or any relevant statistics in your home system) while you are in your garden.

Tradeworker

After one year tending to your garden, you come to know its use. Your garden is the source of some trade or product, which you have learned to harvest or produce. This can be as simple as flowers from the grass or water from a well, or as complex as swords from a forge, or even blessings from a shrine. The important thing is that you are now considered proficient in that craft, even if you are away from the garden. However, being in your garden gives you +bond to that crafting activity.

Cultivator

After one year tending to your garden, you are instinctively aware of the needs of your garden, and how best to meet them. You can tell when the weather will be too warm or the currents of the aether too cold. You know how to keep plants alive, how to repair the workshop table, and how to restock the correct kind of birdfeed. This is tacit knowledge which would take you a day or more to write down, and even then cannot be perfectly recorded.

Warden

After two years tending to your garden, you become fiercely protective of it. You can sense instinctively if someone means harm to you or your garden, even if they come with fancy robes and seemingly bearing gifts. While in the garden, you are capable of identifying magic items and sensing if illusions, charms, magic effects, or lies are present. You are not able to pinpoint the source directly, but you will know. You also find it very hard to not get angry when visitors disrupt the peace and order of your garden.

Producer 

After five years tending to your garden, your attunement to your garden and your craft has grown to mastery. This leads to the things you produce being of superior, nearly magical quality. A meal from your garden is equivalent to a day's worth of rations. Weapons and armour from your forge count as +1 weapons or armour. Draughts from your cellar can help with illness or curses. This is only true if you hand-produce each item, giving it the care and attention it deserves. You cannot make this a commercial operation.

If you wish, you can take a student, teaching them how to tend to the garden. This allows you to take leave from the garden for up to three months, while keeping it well managed. While you are gone they count as a Gardener with 1 bond. If you mistreat them, they may destroy your garden, or abscond with its secrets.

Resident

After ten years tending to your garden, your fame and the fame of your garden have grown. Some start to call you "The sage of such-and-such grove" or "the hermit of such-and-such village". Visitors will seek you out for your wisdom and expertise. Gain 3 points distributed between Wisdom and Intelligence, or equivalent. This can raise your Wisdom or Intelligence above 18.

While in your garden you are immune to charm, deception, fear, and illusion. While outside the garden, you are resistant (but not immune) to such effects. You are never surprised and recover at twice the normal rate in your garden. All attempts to persuade you to leave the garden are made at automatic disadvantage. The produce of your garden are now renowned for their magical properties.