Gain a spotter?

[WarKitty]

We have a party where no one seems to have any abiltiies in spot/listen. So I was wondering, what's the best way to quickly acquire something that can serve those skills for you?

[kardar233]

Obtain Familiar with a good familiar choice (like Raven, so it can tell you what it saw) might work. Also Bind Vestige (Malphas) gets you a bird, and you can see through its eyes.

[Coidzor]

A 1 HD commoner with 10+ Int can have Spot and Listen invested and those are class skills for them unlike Fighters.

So some kind of hireling, maybe a torchbearer. I think there's the Apprentice feat from DMG II(IIRC) & the Torchbearer and Squire feats from PF that allow an additional minion character that starts at level 1.

A "guard dog" costs 25 gp, IIRC, according to the goods and services of the PHB/SRD for 3.5.