One other thing I notice is thief’s tend to suffer a bit from being a jack-of-all-trades. This often makes their role a bit difficult to define. In some campaigns the broad thief works well, in others not so much. One common role though is that of the party scout.
The class that follows was a bit of a thought experiment on this role and takes advantage of two of the proposed synergies. It is optimised to move ahead, detect threats and report back. It has some survivability in terms of hit points giving its need to act solo. I also gave it flexible weapon choices to enable it to bend a little to the players need/style. In combat this allows the scout to act solo, as a second rank combatant or ranged character as needed.
This is not a scout in terms of being a ranger or explorer. It’s not a wilderness class, though some may pick up skills in that area. I had trouble finding an alternative title that conveys sneaker and finder of things (Pathfinder sounds like an RPG? Trailblazer is a bit too wilderness? Vanguard sounds like a fighter maybe?). I deliberately drew on the peltast/light infantry in the template to force this to be seen more as a skirmisher.
Scout
Prime Requisite: DEXRequirements: None
Hit Dice:1d6
Maximum Level: 14
Scouts are the eyes and ears of many an expedition force. They are most often found serving in the military or as a private guard for merchant caravans where their skills ensure others do not befall harm. In these organisations they act as vanguards or trailblazers focusing on avoiding and detecting threats and reporting back to their existing task force. Formal training of scouts falls to the watchtower they are associated with, and each trains weapons and arms befitting their own personal style. Some scouts leave their employers to strike out with adventuring companies where their skills prove invaluable.
Scouts combine the arts of stealth and combat, but they lack the front line focus of a fighter. At first level, scouts hit an unarmored foe (AC 0) with an attack throw of 10+. They advance in attack throws and saving throws by two points every four levels of experience (i.e. the same as thieves). Their training in weapons tends to be based on local preference or school training, all scouts train to use common bladed weapons such as swords and daggers. They may also select one of the following types of weapons and add these to the list of weapons permitted to the character: (1) axes; (2) bows/crossbows; (3) flails/hammers/maces; (4) spears/pole arms; (5) bolas/nets/slings/saps/staffs. Additional permitted weapons may be gained by taking the martial training proficiency in their class list. Their localised training also extends to fighting styles, they may select one fighting style based on the following list at first level: (1) shield style; (2) dual-wield style; (3) two-handed style.
Scouts have a mobile fighting style focusing on awareness of their environment and freedom of movement. So long as they can move freely, they gain a +1 bonus to armor class at 1st level, and an additional +1 at 7th and 13th level (shown in table below).
They may also hide in shadows, move quietly, find traps, hear noise and back stab as thieves of their level, this is shown in the table below. While scouts can find traps they generally avoid or bypass them, and have no skills at disarming complicated mechanical or magical traps.
Their thief skills grant them access to the thief synergies of careful footing and shadowy senses (refer to Patreon article). When moving silently they trigger undetected traps only half as often as other adventurers (on a 1 in 1d6 instead of 1-2) and automatically notice traps they pass within 10’ of on a proficiency throw of 18+. When not in magical darkness they can “see” out to 30’ with sufficient clarity to move, fight and interact with objects (but not to read). If they take the Blind Fighting proficiency, then he can “see” out to 60’ and suffer no penalty when fighting against invisible opponents.
Scouts have uncanny awareness of their surroundings, gaining a +1 bonus to avoid surprise. The character gains a +4 bonus on any proficiency throws to hear noises (factored into their their skills below) and detect secret doors. With a proficiency throw of 18+ they can notice secret doors with just casual observation.
When a scout attains 9th level (Scout), they can establish a watch tower, and 2d6 scout apprentices of 1st level will come to work with the character. If hired, they must be paid standard rates for ruffians. These organisations of scouts often use their skills and knowledge to become information brokers on the surrounding region, be it urban or wilderness, selling to the highest bidder. They stay out of the way of normal thief’s guilds when it comes to their specialty of thieving, though conflicts have been known to occur. Except as noted, a scout’s watch tower follows the rules for hideouts detailed in the Hideouts & Hijinks section of the ACKS Campaigns chapter.
Scout Proficiency List (28): Acrobatics, Blind Fighting, Bribery, Climbing, Combat Reflexes, Combat Trickery (disarm, incapacitate, knock down),Contortionism, Endurance, Fighting Style, Land surveying, Lip Reading, Mapping, Martial Training, Navigation, Naturalism, Passing without trace, Precise Shooting, Riding, Running, Seafaring, Skirmishing, Skulking, Sniping, Tracking, Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus.
Class proficiencies at: 1st, 4th, 8th, 12th.
General proficiencies at: 1st, 5th, 9th, 13th.
Peltast Template: This pre-generated template represents a highly mobile skirmisher with their trusty shield and spears. The template is ready for adventure. However, if your scout's INT is 13 or greater, you may pick one or more additional general proficiencies before play if you’d like (see Starting Proficiencies in Chapter 4 of ACKS).
Template: Peltast
Proficiencies: Fighting style (weapon and shield), endurance, spears and polearms, shield style
Starting Equipment: Infantry spear, crescent shaped shield, 3 javelins strapped to shield, dagger, leather armor, armigers clothing, high sandals, backpack, one weeks iron rations, 44 gp (4 5/6 st., Move 120’/40’)
Scout Level Progression
Scout (Thief) Attack and Saving Throws
Scout Notes
Allocations: HP 1, FTR 1, THF 2
Max level: 14
Tradeoff: Weapon selection from broad to narrow.
Tradeoff: One weapon style
Power: Alertness (but remove from proficiency list to avoid double stacking)
Power: Swashbuckling (but remove from proficiency list to avoid double stacking)
Powers (5 thief): Thief skills hide in shadows, move silently, find traps, hear noise and back stab
Synergies: careful footing and shadowy senses
Save: Thiefs
Magic items: Thiefs
Requirements and Prime requisites: DEX, as a standard thief.
Post 9 hp: as thief = 2 per level
Experience: 500+500+400 =1,400; Round 7 to 45,000; Post 8 = THF 100,000 per level
Max level: 14
Tradeoff: Weapon selection from broad to narrow.
Tradeoff: One weapon style
Power: Alertness (but remove from proficiency list to avoid double stacking)
Power: Swashbuckling (but remove from proficiency list to avoid double stacking)
Powers (5 thief): Thief skills hide in shadows, move silently, find traps, hear noise and back stab
Synergies: careful footing and shadowy senses
Save: Thiefs
Magic items: Thiefs
Requirements and Prime requisites: DEX, as a standard thief.
Post 9 hp: as thief = 2 per level
Experience: 500+500+400 =1,400; Round 7 to 45,000; Post 8 = THF 100,000 per level
A nice one, thanks
ReplyDeleteI like it. That's a good solid role for a class to fill.
ReplyDelete