Copyright 2011 Wizards of the Coast.

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This vast Harken Forest takes up the entirety of the Vale’s southern border, and sprawls northward to completely enclose the barony of Harkenwold. It used to be even vaster, but successive waves of settlers cut it down some, just like it happened with the northern Winterbole forest.

This place is home to many creatures and dangers, though its temperate climate means their character is very different from the frost-aspected Winterbole. This article looks at one of its most important factions.

The Lore

The Vale’s first elves came to live here shortly after their people split from the Eladrin, settling in the Harken Forest. Some of these elves grew fascinated with the primal power of the forest, and formed a group they called Harken’s Heart to worship and protect it.

Harken’s Heart differs from a typical druidic circle in that they consider themselves to have a duty to Harken Forest as opposed to a more general duty to the balance of nature. Their interpretation of what constitutes an attack on the forest is paradoxically much broader than that of a typical druid circle. When war broke out between the treants of Harken and Winterbole forests, Harken’s Heart eagerly joined battle on the side of their “home team”, and behaved in such a ruthless and violent manner during the war that it shocked the independent druids who also lived there. In response to the circle’s behavior, a powerful independent druid named Eyton cast a curse upon the whole circle. The curse severed their connection to the primal spirits and left them powerless.

The druids of Harken’s Heart were dismayed and enraged at this, but their weakened state and their fear of Eyton’s power prevented them from taking direct revenge. Instead, they appealed to Melora, goddess of nature, and asked her to restore their power.

The deity decided to only grant part of their request, for her own mysterious reasons. Today, the druids of Harken’s Heart enjoy the full extent of their power while inside the borders of the forest. This power quickly wanes and disappears once they leave its confines.

In our narrative present, Harken’s Heart is made up of several hundred members, most of which were born into the circle and raised within its culture. They live in small camps scattered all through the forest, with some of them choosing to live alone. Their important structures are made of trees woven together by magic, and are hidden behind natural obstacles and features in the forest.

The leader of Harken’s Heart is known as The Hierophant, and is the group’s top negotiator, judge, arbiter and policymaker. Hierophants rule for life, and appoint their chosen successors. If one dies without a successor, the remaining druids hold an election to choose the next Hierophant.

Some Harken’s Heart druids look for a way to end the curse, while others instead look for a way to expand the boundaries of the forest. The Harken treants are very interested in this as well, and it’s rumored that they’re planning a huge land grab in the near future.

The Numbers

We get several stat blocks for different types of elven druids here. As elves, they all have low-light vision and the Wild Step ability, which lets them ignore difficult terrain when shifting. As druids, they all have Forest Walk and can Change Shape as a minor action take the form of a beast until they use the power again or until they die. Some of their attacks can only be used in beast form, some only in elf form.

Harken’s Heart Acolyte

A young elf who is still undergoing basic training, the Acolyte is a Level 7 Minion Skirmisher that already has all the common traits above. It fights with a Quarterstaff in elf form, and with a Claw in beast form. The claw attack is stronger and allows them to shift 1 square before or after the attack.

Acolytes have every reason to always fight as beasts.

Harken’s Heart Druid

A fully trained druid. This one’s a Level 7 Controller with 78 HP.

In elf form, the druid fights with a Quarterstaff and can cast a Wall of Thorns spell. As the name implies this is one of the very few monster attacks that uses the Wall rules. Creatures caught in the wall when it appears take some immediate and ongoing physical damage (save ends). The wall remains as a zone that counts as difficult terrain for creatures without Forest Walk. Any of these who enters the zone or ends their turn there also takes 5 damage. The spell recharges when the druid is bloodied.

In beast form the druid attacks with a Lunge that deals the same damage as the quarterstaff and lets them slide the target 2 squares as an effect.

In either form the druid can use Entangle, a non-damaging ranged spell that immobilizes (save ends).

Druids have more reason to change shape mid-fight. The beast form’s basic attack is better, but their big spell requires them to be in humanoid form.

Harken’s Heart Defender

Defenders are elite druids who are the first to confront any threats to the forest. They’re also responsible for training the acolytes. Defenders are Level 9 Soldiers with 95 HP.

They have a Quarterstaff basic attack when in humanoid form, but all of their cool maneuvers happen in beast form.

Their Mangle basic attack damages and slows for a turn. They can use a Primal Flurry that attacks enemies in a Close Burst 1 for the same amount of damage and knocks them prone on a hit. If those enemies try to stand up during their next turn, the defender gets to make a free basic attack against them. A miss deals half damage and knocks prone without the possibility of a free attack. This recharges once the defender is bloodied.

Once per encounter they can use Beast’s Pursuit as a move action, shifting their speed to a space adjacent to an enemy and gaining a +2 to hit until the end of their current turn.

Harken’s Heart Hierophant

This entry doesn’t give a specific name and personality to the current Hierophant, so you’re free to do that yourself to fit your current campaign. These stats work whatever their personality is, and can also be repurposed to represent other high-ranking Harken’s Heart druids.

The Hierophant is Level 10 Elite Artillery with the Leader tag and 166 HP. Unlike other druids, its best powers can only be used in humanoid form.

Their only basic attack is the Quarterstaff. At range they can attack with Earth Slam spells, which deal physical damage and can knock the target prone on a critical hit. They can also cast Lightning Storm spells (recharge 5+) which attack an area, deal heavy lightning damage, inflict ongoing thunder damage, and create a zone that deals lightning damage to those caught inside. Quite powerful!

The beast form is reserved for when the Hierophant is surrounded and needs to make a Frenzied Escape. This attacks enemies in a Close Burst 1, deals heavy immediate and ongoing physical damage, and lets the druid shift its speed to a space not adjacent to any enemies, gaining +4 to all defenses during this movement (in order to dodge PC defender attacks).

Finally, the Guardian of the Forest minor action can be used in any form. This non-damaging attack has a range of 20 squares, and on a hit it makes the target be marked by an ally of the Hierophant that’s also within 20 squares of it.

Final Impressions

A nice implementation of the classic concept of angry druids, with a surprisingly low amount of entangling vine effects in play. They’re extremists, so even nature-attuned PCs might get into conflict with them. The identity of the Hierophant being left as an exercise for the reader makes it easy to play stories where a hard-liner Hierophant gets replaced by a moderate or vice-versa, causing a sudden switch in the circle’s campaign role.

The Winterbole-Harken treant war is an important setting element that will appear here again. It affects not only the treants themselves but also factions allied to both sides. On the Winterbole side, open war is certain to bring the Frost Witches into the conflict, and either them or the Winterbole treants themselves might contrive a way to bring Bitterstrike in.