Epinephrine
2008-08-03, 01:19 PM
Just a slight modification of the Halfling Outrider class, focused on the gnome dire badger cavalry. The missile related abilities have been dropped, as tunnels are poor for missile combat.
Tunnel Riders excel at fighting in tight tunnels, and use their ability to tunnel through the soil to cut off enemies in the tunnels, for strategic positioning, and to spy on enemy troops. Their dire badger mounts have scent and track abilities - those who flee the tunnels after defeat are swiftly hunted down and finished.
Some tunnel riders serve as long range patrols, or are sent off to aid other communities. A few end up travelling and adventuring, though they are in the minority. Feats vary among tunnel riders, more defensive tunnel riders will select feats that aid them when entrenched, allowing them to block passage and fight either a slow advance or retreat, while others are more offensive in nature, and will take part in offensive raids, attempt to trap enemies by tunneling to flank them and so on.
Tunnel riders will typically choose to fight with a reach weapon and/or light weapons. Keeping foes at a range is helpful, and since they will likely be forced to attack single-file a reach weapon can be handy, but given the tight spaces a light weapon is handy to fall back on. Few tunnel riders rely on missile weapons, but of missile weapons the favourite is the crossbow, as it requires little room to wield and over the distances typically involved has no arc. The riding shield is a popular choice of exotic weapon, allowing the rider to help shield his mount - useful if fighting a defensive action. Some tunnel riders even specialise in close combat, training their mount to grapple and dive into the enemy - any enemy small enough to come down a tunnel after the gnomes will likely be overpowered in a grapple against a trained dire badger, and if they aren't accustomed to combat in tight spaces will be at a significant disadvantage when a raging ball of fur and claws decides to share a 5 foot (or likely smaller!) tunnel with them.
Requirements:
Race: Gnome
BAB: +5
Skills: Listen 3 ranks, Ride 6 ranks, Handle Animal 3 ranks
Feats: Mounted Combat, Tunnel Fighting
Special: Dire Badger animal companion or Wild Cohort
Class Skills: Handle Animal, Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Ride, Survival
Skill points: 4+Int bonus
Hit dice: d8
Saves: Good Fort, Poor Ref, Poor Will
BAB: As fighter (full)
Weapon Proficiencies: Tunnel riders gain no new proficiencies.
Mount: Tunnel riders generally spend a long time getting to know the dire badgers in general, and specifically their own badger; they have generally adopted a young badger and raised it, gaining deep insights into the animal's behaviour. A gnome tunnel rider treats a Dire Badger as the base companion, with no level adjustment. Levels of Tunnel Rider count as Druid levels toward the advancement of an animal companion.
E.g. - a tunnel rider who has a wild cohort (Dire Badger) and begins training as a tunnel rider no longer subtracts 3 from his effective level to determine the cohort's abilities - he benefits from his full level. Likewise, an animal companion to a tunnel rider no longer advances at effective druid level-3, but at effective druid level. A ranger who had 8 levels of ranger, and then took 2 levels of tunnel rider would have a Dire Badger companion with (8/2 +2) 6 effective druid levels of advancement, gaining +4 HD, +4 Natural AC, +2 to Str and Dex, and 3 bonus skill tricks, with Evasion, Devotion, the ability to speak to the companion at will, and the ability to handle the animal companion as a free action at +4.
Tunnel riders gain the ability to speak with their mount, or other tunnel rider bred Dire Badgers. This is in exchange for the spell sharing ability that animal companions have, or in the case of the Wild Cohort, loss of the Evasion ability that the cohort had gained at level 3-5.
The tunnel rider is given light barding for his mount (leather or studded leather), as well as a burrowing saddle. The burrowing saddle is described in Races of Stone, and permits the rider to accompany the badger when it burrows, though it requires fastening straps which seriously interfere with mobility - you lose your dex bonus to AC and suffer a -4 penalty on attacks while strapped on. The saddle can be used without straps when not burrowing, and has no penalties when used this way. Fastening the straps takes 3 consecutive full-round actions, and triggers attacks of opportunity.
Tricks: The Dire Badgers typically are trained with the following tricks to start: Attack, Defend, Down, Heel, Scent Fighting, and Track. Other feats that are commonly taught are Attack Unusual, Guard, Warn (though rather than 3 types of foe, this allows for nearly any number, as the rider understands the badger's language), Hunt (useful to help provide food for travelling riders), Seek, Recover.
SKills: Dire Badgers trained by tunnel riders may invest skill points earned in Spot, Listen, Survival, Hide, Move Silently, and are proficient with light armour.
Gnome Tunnel Rider
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|AC Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special
1st|
+1|
+1|
+2|
+0|
+0|Improved Toughness, Ride Bonus, AC Bonus, barding and saddle
2nd|
+2|
+1|
+3|
+0|
+0|Defensive Riding
3rd|
+3|
+2|
+3|
+1|
+1|Unbroken Charge
4th|
+4|
+2|
+4|
+1|
+1|Tunnel riding
5th|
+5|
+3|
+4|
+1|
+1|Burrowing Animal Messenger 1/day
6th|
+6|
+3|
+5|
+2|
+2|Entrenchment, Control Rage
7th|
+7|
+4|
+5|
+2|
+2|Evasion
8th|
+8|
+4|
+6|
+2|
+2|Full mounted attack
9th|
+9|
+5|
+6|
+3|
+3|Burrowing Animal Messenger 2/day
10th|
+10|
+5|
+7|
+3|
+3|Swift Turn[/table]
Improved Toughness: At first level the tunnel rider gains improved toughness, much like the Dire Badgers with which he spends so much time.
AC Bonus: At 1st level tunnel riders gain a +1 dodge bonus to AC while mounted, and it increases by +1 for every 2 tunnelrider levels beyond 1st.
Ride Bonus: Tunnel riders have a circumstance bonus to their Ride skill equal to their class level.
Defensive Riding: At 2nd level, a tunnel rider learns how to protect himself and his mount by riding defensively; the rider can't do anything else (no attack or spellcasting) doing so grants the rider a +4 dodge bonus to AC as well as a +2 to Reflex saves; the mount gains +20 ft of land speed, a +2 bonus to WIll saves, and a +4 dodge bonus to AC. The mount may move as normal.
Unbroken Charge: At 3rd level, the tunnel rider can charge through difficult terrain or through squares occupied by his allies by making a DC 15 Ride check.
Tunnel Riding: At 4th level the tunnel rider gains the feat Tunnel Riding.
Burrowing Animal Messenger: At 5th level, the tunnel rider can call a Tiny burrowing mammal (mole, shrew, ferret, groundhog, etc.) to carry a message for him, as the Animal Messenger spell. The messenger gains a boost to its burrowing speed, allowing it to move at a 30ft speed while burrowing, ensuring that the message gets to the target safely and quickly. If the recipient is a gnome, a verbal message may also be delivered, as use of this ability grants an additional use of speak with animal (burrowing mammal) to both the sender and the recipient, provided they have the ability. At 9th level the tunnel rider can use this ability a second time each day.
Entrenchment: at 6th level, the tunnel rider can effectively block a tunnel while mounted. Provided the tunnel has no dimension greater than those of himself and his mount (for typical gnome/dire badger, a 5' by 5' tunnel) he can choose to fight in such a way as to block the passage. Initiating entrenchment (blocking a tunnel) is a full round action that doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity, but doesn't allow one to make an attack (one still retains attacks of opportunity, however). Once entrenched, the tunnel rider cannot charge, and is limited to moving a maximum of 10 feet during his turn if he takes a move action, otherwise he is no longer considered entrenched. Fighting while entrenched requires that he fight defensively or use combat expertise with at least a -2 penalty to hit, though he doesn't suffer a penalty to hit (from combat expertise or fighting defensively) with his attacks of opportunity when blocking a tunnel. Alternately he can opt to take full defense actions, simply holding the tunnel.
Tumble checks made to move through his square(s) automatically fail, granting the rider a chance to send the opponent prone in a square in front of him (as per a trip attack, with no chance of being tripped in return). The rider and mount gain a +8 bonus to resist bull rushes, overruns, and trip attacks, and a DC 25 ride check allows the rider or mount to use the better of their checks (it's hard to pull a tunnel rider out of his saddle in a tight tunnel).
Control Rage: at 6th level the rider has enough of a bond with his mount that he can control the animal's raging - it no longer must bite and claw madly at its opponent when in a rage. While raging the badger still will not retreat, but it can be held back from moving into combat, allowing the rider to use the Entrenchment option in a tunnel (limiting the badger to advancing at most 10 feet in a round). A handle animal check to push the mount (a move action for an animal companion, a standard action for a wild cohort) at DC 25 can break a badger's rage - the rider's wild empathy bonus can be added to this check, if he has one - and can prevent the mount from raging for 1 aditional round + 1 round per 5 points by which the success was made.
Evasion: at 7th level the tunnel rider gains evasion; this also grants the mount the evasion ability. If either the mount or the rider already has evasion, it is increased to Improved Evasion.
Full mounted attack: As of 8th level, the tunnel rider may make a full attack if his mount has moved no more than a single move action. This cannot be combined with a charge action.
Quick Turn: At 10th level, the tunnel rider can make a DC 25 Ride check to make one turn of up to 90 degrees while mounted and running or charging. To charge an enemy the mount must still make a 10 foot straight charge at the foe. If the Ride check is failed the mount fails to turn, instead moving forward 10 feet (unless obstructed) and loses the rest of its actions for the round.
Tunnel Riders excel at fighting in tight tunnels, and use their ability to tunnel through the soil to cut off enemies in the tunnels, for strategic positioning, and to spy on enemy troops. Their dire badger mounts have scent and track abilities - those who flee the tunnels after defeat are swiftly hunted down and finished.
Some tunnel riders serve as long range patrols, or are sent off to aid other communities. A few end up travelling and adventuring, though they are in the minority. Feats vary among tunnel riders, more defensive tunnel riders will select feats that aid them when entrenched, allowing them to block passage and fight either a slow advance or retreat, while others are more offensive in nature, and will take part in offensive raids, attempt to trap enemies by tunneling to flank them and so on.
Tunnel riders will typically choose to fight with a reach weapon and/or light weapons. Keeping foes at a range is helpful, and since they will likely be forced to attack single-file a reach weapon can be handy, but given the tight spaces a light weapon is handy to fall back on. Few tunnel riders rely on missile weapons, but of missile weapons the favourite is the crossbow, as it requires little room to wield and over the distances typically involved has no arc. The riding shield is a popular choice of exotic weapon, allowing the rider to help shield his mount - useful if fighting a defensive action. Some tunnel riders even specialise in close combat, training their mount to grapple and dive into the enemy - any enemy small enough to come down a tunnel after the gnomes will likely be overpowered in a grapple against a trained dire badger, and if they aren't accustomed to combat in tight spaces will be at a significant disadvantage when a raging ball of fur and claws decides to share a 5 foot (or likely smaller!) tunnel with them.
Requirements:
Race: Gnome
BAB: +5
Skills: Listen 3 ranks, Ride 6 ranks, Handle Animal 3 ranks
Feats: Mounted Combat, Tunnel Fighting
Special: Dire Badger animal companion or Wild Cohort
Class Skills: Handle Animal, Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Ride, Survival
Skill points: 4+Int bonus
Hit dice: d8
Saves: Good Fort, Poor Ref, Poor Will
BAB: As fighter (full)
Weapon Proficiencies: Tunnel riders gain no new proficiencies.
Mount: Tunnel riders generally spend a long time getting to know the dire badgers in general, and specifically their own badger; they have generally adopted a young badger and raised it, gaining deep insights into the animal's behaviour. A gnome tunnel rider treats a Dire Badger as the base companion, with no level adjustment. Levels of Tunnel Rider count as Druid levels toward the advancement of an animal companion.
E.g. - a tunnel rider who has a wild cohort (Dire Badger) and begins training as a tunnel rider no longer subtracts 3 from his effective level to determine the cohort's abilities - he benefits from his full level. Likewise, an animal companion to a tunnel rider no longer advances at effective druid level-3, but at effective druid level. A ranger who had 8 levels of ranger, and then took 2 levels of tunnel rider would have a Dire Badger companion with (8/2 +2) 6 effective druid levels of advancement, gaining +4 HD, +4 Natural AC, +2 to Str and Dex, and 3 bonus skill tricks, with Evasion, Devotion, the ability to speak to the companion at will, and the ability to handle the animal companion as a free action at +4.
Tunnel riders gain the ability to speak with their mount, or other tunnel rider bred Dire Badgers. This is in exchange for the spell sharing ability that animal companions have, or in the case of the Wild Cohort, loss of the Evasion ability that the cohort had gained at level 3-5.
The tunnel rider is given light barding for his mount (leather or studded leather), as well as a burrowing saddle. The burrowing saddle is described in Races of Stone, and permits the rider to accompany the badger when it burrows, though it requires fastening straps which seriously interfere with mobility - you lose your dex bonus to AC and suffer a -4 penalty on attacks while strapped on. The saddle can be used without straps when not burrowing, and has no penalties when used this way. Fastening the straps takes 3 consecutive full-round actions, and triggers attacks of opportunity.
Tricks: The Dire Badgers typically are trained with the following tricks to start: Attack, Defend, Down, Heel, Scent Fighting, and Track. Other feats that are commonly taught are Attack Unusual, Guard, Warn (though rather than 3 types of foe, this allows for nearly any number, as the rider understands the badger's language), Hunt (useful to help provide food for travelling riders), Seek, Recover.
SKills: Dire Badgers trained by tunnel riders may invest skill points earned in Spot, Listen, Survival, Hide, Move Silently, and are proficient with light armour.
Gnome Tunnel Rider
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|AC Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special
1st|
+1|
+1|
+2|
+0|
+0|Improved Toughness, Ride Bonus, AC Bonus, barding and saddle
2nd|
+2|
+1|
+3|
+0|
+0|Defensive Riding
3rd|
+3|
+2|
+3|
+1|
+1|Unbroken Charge
4th|
+4|
+2|
+4|
+1|
+1|Tunnel riding
5th|
+5|
+3|
+4|
+1|
+1|Burrowing Animal Messenger 1/day
6th|
+6|
+3|
+5|
+2|
+2|Entrenchment, Control Rage
7th|
+7|
+4|
+5|
+2|
+2|Evasion
8th|
+8|
+4|
+6|
+2|
+2|Full mounted attack
9th|
+9|
+5|
+6|
+3|
+3|Burrowing Animal Messenger 2/day
10th|
+10|
+5|
+7|
+3|
+3|Swift Turn[/table]
Improved Toughness: At first level the tunnel rider gains improved toughness, much like the Dire Badgers with which he spends so much time.
AC Bonus: At 1st level tunnel riders gain a +1 dodge bonus to AC while mounted, and it increases by +1 for every 2 tunnelrider levels beyond 1st.
Ride Bonus: Tunnel riders have a circumstance bonus to their Ride skill equal to their class level.
Defensive Riding: At 2nd level, a tunnel rider learns how to protect himself and his mount by riding defensively; the rider can't do anything else (no attack or spellcasting) doing so grants the rider a +4 dodge bonus to AC as well as a +2 to Reflex saves; the mount gains +20 ft of land speed, a +2 bonus to WIll saves, and a +4 dodge bonus to AC. The mount may move as normal.
Unbroken Charge: At 3rd level, the tunnel rider can charge through difficult terrain or through squares occupied by his allies by making a DC 15 Ride check.
Tunnel Riding: At 4th level the tunnel rider gains the feat Tunnel Riding.
Burrowing Animal Messenger: At 5th level, the tunnel rider can call a Tiny burrowing mammal (mole, shrew, ferret, groundhog, etc.) to carry a message for him, as the Animal Messenger spell. The messenger gains a boost to its burrowing speed, allowing it to move at a 30ft speed while burrowing, ensuring that the message gets to the target safely and quickly. If the recipient is a gnome, a verbal message may also be delivered, as use of this ability grants an additional use of speak with animal (burrowing mammal) to both the sender and the recipient, provided they have the ability. At 9th level the tunnel rider can use this ability a second time each day.
Entrenchment: at 6th level, the tunnel rider can effectively block a tunnel while mounted. Provided the tunnel has no dimension greater than those of himself and his mount (for typical gnome/dire badger, a 5' by 5' tunnel) he can choose to fight in such a way as to block the passage. Initiating entrenchment (blocking a tunnel) is a full round action that doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity, but doesn't allow one to make an attack (one still retains attacks of opportunity, however). Once entrenched, the tunnel rider cannot charge, and is limited to moving a maximum of 10 feet during his turn if he takes a move action, otherwise he is no longer considered entrenched. Fighting while entrenched requires that he fight defensively or use combat expertise with at least a -2 penalty to hit, though he doesn't suffer a penalty to hit (from combat expertise or fighting defensively) with his attacks of opportunity when blocking a tunnel. Alternately he can opt to take full defense actions, simply holding the tunnel.
Tumble checks made to move through his square(s) automatically fail, granting the rider a chance to send the opponent prone in a square in front of him (as per a trip attack, with no chance of being tripped in return). The rider and mount gain a +8 bonus to resist bull rushes, overruns, and trip attacks, and a DC 25 ride check allows the rider or mount to use the better of their checks (it's hard to pull a tunnel rider out of his saddle in a tight tunnel).
Control Rage: at 6th level the rider has enough of a bond with his mount that he can control the animal's raging - it no longer must bite and claw madly at its opponent when in a rage. While raging the badger still will not retreat, but it can be held back from moving into combat, allowing the rider to use the Entrenchment option in a tunnel (limiting the badger to advancing at most 10 feet in a round). A handle animal check to push the mount (a move action for an animal companion, a standard action for a wild cohort) at DC 25 can break a badger's rage - the rider's wild empathy bonus can be added to this check, if he has one - and can prevent the mount from raging for 1 aditional round + 1 round per 5 points by which the success was made.
Evasion: at 7th level the tunnel rider gains evasion; this also grants the mount the evasion ability. If either the mount or the rider already has evasion, it is increased to Improved Evasion.
Full mounted attack: As of 8th level, the tunnel rider may make a full attack if his mount has moved no more than a single move action. This cannot be combined with a charge action.
Quick Turn: At 10th level, the tunnel rider can make a DC 25 Ride check to make one turn of up to 90 degrees while mounted and running or charging. To charge an enemy the mount must still make a 10 foot straight charge at the foe. If the Ride check is failed the mount fails to turn, instead moving forward 10 feet (unless obstructed) and loses the rest of its actions for the round.