Protective Bracken (sage ability)

Protective Bracken is an amateur-status sage ability in the study of Mosses & Ferns, which allows the character to seek out, locate and make use of brackens — clusters or thickets of ferns, often mixed with shrubbery — as a form of protection. Sometimes growing up to three feet tall, bracken will cover fields, brushy areas and woods like a carpet.

Bracken is a home for a wide variety of faeries, of untold variety and very often of a nature that exists nowhere else on earth except within a particular large bracken. Many of these are less that a tenth the size of a sprite and some are invisible. However, with knowledge of bracken gained from the study of ferns, the character will be able to quietly call upon these creatures in time of need.

Characters with this knowledge will intuitively understand where brackens occur. This benefit, of course, only applies to places in the wild, though if a patch of ferns in a cultivated garden is larger than 15 feet in diameter, there will be faeries there and the character can benefit.

Hiding

If a character uses bracken as a way to conceal themselves, simply by laying or potentially crouching in place, if the character less than 5 ft. in height, then the bracken's leaves and branches will close overtop, providing a complete and undetectable cover. So long as the character remains in place, does not move and does not make a sound, the character cannot be found in bracken except by magical means.

Protective Qualities

When standing or engaged in combat while surrounded by bracken, aid is gained both from the foliage and from the unseen faerie-folk that are present. This grants a +1 protection against all attacks, either to armour class, saving throws or ability checks, including any others. In effect, this is because the enemies are put off balance as the bracken tugs at their shins, or as the character is shifted this way or that to better avoid missiles. Though of limited benefit, the faeries do what they can.