Walker
Walkers are the ultimate wanderers, adept in any environment, at home wherever their feet take them. They have a deep and abiding curiosity about the world, and they crave the novelty of new sights and places. They show up unexpectedly, walking in and out of tales and adventures. They are in tune with nature, sometimes with a spiritual devotion, sometimes just to enjoy, explore, and learn.
As masters of travel, Walkers always seek safe ways through inhospitable terrain, leading others safely as well. Master Walkers are known to travel the multiverse, blazing trails where people have never gone before, visiting realms that defy mortal experience. Those who journey with them may delight in or regret the experience, but either way, they do not return unchanged.
Role: Walkers are competent in combat, and more than competant in natural environments. They also have the skills and abilities to make excellent naturalists, scouts, and leaders, often taking the role of the first member of a group into danger and the last one out. They are themselves highly mobile, and they help their friends move adroitly as well. Given the way that the majority of walkers wander, changing locations and seeking novelty, it is no surprise that walkers tend to be chaotic in alignment.
Requirements: The Universal System tends to offer the Walker prestige class to characters who have had remarkable experiences ...
- You are worldly and have enjoyed new vistas.
- You have a deep and abiding love of nature.
- Your curiosity has prompted you to make remarkable discoveries -- and lead you into trouble!
- You look for short cuts, long cuts, and the path less traveled.
- You have experienced the worst of weathers and most treacherous of terrains.
- You have never settled in a single place, and you feel restless before long in the same spot.
- Your knowledge of nature and geography is keen, and you have good survival skills.
- Your class abilities have focused on exploration and travel.
Base Attack Bonus: +0.75 / level.
Caster Level: Similar to +0.5 / level, see below.
Will Save: +0.5 / level.
Fort Save: +0.75 / level.
Reflex Save: +0.5 / level.
Hit Die: d8.
Table: Walker Advancement Level Base Attack Bonus Caster Level Will Save Fort Save Refx Save Special 1st +0.75 +1 +0.5 +0.75 +0.5 Prestige Signature: Terrain Mastery 2nd +1.50 +1 +1.0 +1.50 +1.0 Hidden Campfire or Professional Wayfarer 3rd +2.25 +2 +1.5 +2.25 +1.5 Firm Footing or Combat Mastery 4th +3.00 +2 +2.0 +3.00 +2.0 Double Time or Mean Man With a Map 5th +3.75 +3 +2.5 +3.75 +2.5 Prestige Tier Choice 6th +4.50 +3 +3.0 +4.50 +3.0 Master Signature: Planar Mastery 7th +5.25 +4 +3.0 +5.25 +3.5 Welcoming Campfire or Traveler Sense 8th +6.00 +4 +3.0 +6.00 +4.0 Nature's Aid or Always Walking 9th +6.75 +5 +4.0 +6.75 +4.5 Curiosity Satisfied or Short Cutter 10th +7.50 +5 +5.0 +7.50 +5.0 Master Tier Choice
Skill Proficiencies
The walker's proficient skills (and the ability scores used to boost each skill) are Climb (Str), Diplomacy (Cha), Gather Information (Chr), Handle Animal (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (Nature, Geography) (Int), Language (Int), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str), and Tumble (Dex), and Use Rope (Str).
Skill Ranks per Level: 4 + Int modifier.
Weapon and Armor Proficiencies
You gain no new proficiency with weapons or armor.
Spells and Spell Casting
Prestige classes do not add the usual fractional increase to caster level each time you advance. Instead, at some levels you add a full caster level, and at other levels you add none. The spell level of walker spells varies from walker to walker -- see these rules on prestige class spell aquisition. When you cast spells gained through this prestige class, those spells are natural by type. The casting ability score for this prestige class is strength; use your even (column B) strength modifier for walker spell DCs, and, if it is your highest casting ability score, to set concentration checks and bonus spells per day.
KNOWN SPELLS LIST: When you add a caster level, the spells you add to your known spells list are pre-selected:
- At level 1, add Longstrider and Nap Stack.
- At level 3, add Water Walk and Shrink Item.
- At level 5, add Air Walk and Grove of Respite.
- At level 7, add Transport via Plants and Nature's Call.
- At level 9, add Wind Walk and Find the Path.
Class Abilities
PRESTIGE TIER
Level 1 Walker Prestige Tier Signature Ability: Terrain Mastery (Su): Select a terrain type from the list below. Your movement is not impeded by natural nonmagical difficult terrain in your chosen terrain. You can move at a hustle for up to eight hours a day without risk of nonlethal damage or fatigue (normally the limit is one hour). Within your terrain, you are affected as by an Endure Elements spell. You may share these preceding benefits with up to one other creature per character level. In addition, each type of terrain mastery bestows a supernatural ability, available to you in any terrain:
- Badlands and Desert: Whenever you have the tired, fatigued, or exhausted conditions, your recovery time is in minutes, not hours.
- Estuaries and Oceans (including salt water shores): You gain a swim speed equal to your unenhanced land speed (without enhancement bonuses).
- Glaciers, Taiga, and Tundra: You gain cold resistance 10.
- Grasslands and Plains: Your movement is not reduced by wearing armor or carrying heavy objects.
- Hills and Mountains: You gain a climb speed equal to your unenhanced land speed (without enhancement bonuses).
- Jungles and Rain Forests: You are immune to grapple and trip attacks made by plant creatures. Magically enhanced terrain does not decrease your movement rate.
- Lakes, Rivers, Marshes, and Swamps (including fresh water shores): You can breathe under water as with a Water Breathing spell.
- Natural Caves: You gain darkvision. If you already have it, your darkvision extends an extra 60 feet.
- Temperate Forests: You are never lost in natural environments. When making Spot or Search rolls to determine surprise in natural environments, you are considered to have rolled a natural 20.
Level 2 Walker Prestige Tier Interaction Ability (pick one):
- Professional Wayfarer (Su): You gain 10 bonus ranks you can place into Profession (Fisher, Guide, Herbalist, and Trapper). You cannot exceed the normal skill rank maximum. In addition to normal uses of these skills, you may use them for the following special uses (if you have at least one rank in the skill):
- Profession (Fisher): You can use Profession (Fisher) checks instead of Knowledge (Nature) to identify creatures with a swim speed.
- Profession (Guide): Whenever you have a class ability that affects you and your allies, roll a Profession (Guide) check. The number of creatures affected is the usual number or your check result, whichever is higher.
- Profession (Herbalist): You can create a healer's kit at no cost with a DC15 Profession (Herbalist) check; this requires one hour in a natural environment. For every five points over the required DC, the circumstance bonus provided by the kit improves by +1.
- Profession (Trapper): Once per day you can try to create a magical trap, requiring only a DC15 Profession (Trapper) check and ten minutes of work. If your check beats a DC15, you create a magical trap just like a Snare spell.
Level 3 Walker Prestige Tier Combat Ability (pick one):
- Firm Footing (Su): So long as you are conscious, the prone condition never affects you against your will; if a special attack or magic effect or falling from a height or any other force would make you prone, you can ignore it. In addition, you gain your odd (column A) Wisdom bonus to your CMD and your saving throws against forces that attempt to move you against your will.
- Combat Mastery (Ex): You gain a competence bonus of +2 on attacks, damage, and saving throw DCs when battling monsters native to an environment (terrain or plane) you have selected with a Walker Signature Mastery Ability. This applies to monsters with a subtype related to the enviroment, as well as to those described in their ecology monster entry as living in that environment. If a monster has more than one environment, the bonuses do not stack.
Level 4 Walker Prestige Tier Exploration Ability (pick one):
- Double Time (Ex): Your overland movement rate (but not your tactical or local movement) is doubled whenever you are walking. You can bestow this benefit to other creatures in number up to twice your Walker level.
- Mean Man With a Map (Su): Once per day, you can read a map to deduce information that is not actually on the map. Examples of information you can deduce include the movement of vehicles, the timing of major public events, the location of a building, the way to a destination, etc. To use this ability, describe in general terms what you seek, and the game master will offer specific details, or choose to disallow the use of the ability (the map does not have that info). If the GM does not offer the info you seek, you can try again after an hour has passed.
Level 5 Walker Prestige Tier Choice: Select a Walker Prestige Tier Interaction, Combat, or Exploration ability that you have not yet chosen, or choose a feat from the Runner or Stepper Feat Trees for which you qualify, treating your own tier as if it were one step higher.
MASTER TIER
Level 6 Walker Master Tier Signature Ability: Planar Mastery (Su): Select a plane of existence from the list below. Once per day, as a full round action that provokes attacks of opportunity, you can touch any doorway, arch, or gate and convert it into a portal that links your native plane and the plane you have chosen. The portal remains in place for one minute or until you choose to close it as a free action. After passing through such a portal, you are affected as by a planar adaptation spell. You control which creatures can use your portal, up to one other creature per character level; such creatures are also protected as by planar adaptation. In addition, each type of planar mastery bestows a supernatural ability, available to you in any terrain or alternate dimension:
- Ethereal Plane: Whenever you are not surprised or flat-footed and attacked on a material plane, roll a d20; on a 19 or 20, you blink onto the Ethereal Plane and back, negating the attack for you. Force attacks are not negated. You may use lionheart points on this roll.
- Astral Plane: As a standard action, you can dimension door (as the spell cast at your character level) once every 1d4 rounds.
- Plane of Shadow: You are invisible in dim light and in darkness. If you attack, this ability "turns off" for one minute.
- Positive Energy Plane: When you are wounded, you regain one hit point per minute.
- Negative Energy Plane: If you succeed with a melee touch attack or an unarmed attack, you inflict an extra 2d6 negative energy damage to any living creature. Undead creatures are cured by this touch, and constructs are unaffected.
- Elemental Plane of Air: You are affected as by a feather fall spell whenever you fall. As a standard action, you can take the shape of a cloud, as per the Gaseous Form spell
- Elemental Plane of Earth: You gain tremorsense with a range of 30 feet.
- Elemental Plane of Fire: You gain resistance to fire 20.
- Elemental Plane of Water: You gain resistance to acid 15 and sonic damage 10.
- A chaos-aligned spiritual plane: When you cast a spell, roll a d20 (you may use lionheart points on this roll). On a 19 or 20, roll on the Wild Magic table. If a result targets the caster, you can choose to trigger the effect on any creature within short range (25 ft + 2 ft/character level) instead of centering it on yourself.
- An evil-aligned spiritual plane: Your attacks bypass the damage reduction and spell resistance of evil outsiders.
- A law-aligned spiritual plane: You are immune to polymorph and transmutation effects unless you wish to be affected.
- A neutrality-aligned spiritual plane: In any combat or dispute, you can declare yourself to be a neutral party. So long as you do not make any attacks, you cannot be targeted for an attack (you can be affected by traps, mindless creatures, and area attacks intended to hurt others). If you do attack, you cannot use this ability for the rest of the day.
Level 7 Walker Master Tier Interaction Ability (pick one):
- Welcoming Campfire (Sp): Any creature that enters your camp, invited or not, is affected as by a Calm Emotions spell, with no saving throw allowed, though spell resistance applies. You may use your Wisdom bonus in place of your Charisma bonus for Diplomacy and Gather Info checks made interacting with calmed creatures.
- Traveler Sense (Su): As a move action, you can sense a monster's native terrain and home plane, if any; or you can sense the locations in which a person was raised, and where they call home now, if anywhere. You gain proficiency with the Appraise skill; you may add your even (Column B) Wisdom Modifier instead of your Intelligence modifier when Inspecting a creature.
Level 8 Walker Master Tier Combat Ability (pick one):
- Nature's Aid (Su): Whenever you are in a natural terrain, nature comes to your aid. For example, vines writhe under your foe's feet, bugs fly in their noses, rain gets in their eyes, etc. Fighting in a natural terrain, every round as a free action on your turn, roll a d20 vs a DC10 to represent nature using the Aid Another action to help you. On a successful check, you gain a +2 sacred bonus to AC that lasts until your next turn. If you are in a terrain or plane you have selected with a Walker Signature Mastery Ability, then nature gains a +2 competence bonus on the Aid Another check.
- Always Walking (Su): So long as you are standing up, you are affected as if by a Freedom of Movement spell.
Level 9 Walker Master Tier Exploration Ability (pick one):
- Curiosity Satisfied (Sp): As a standard action, you use Teleport Major as a spell-like ability. You may use this ability once per day, and only to go to a location you have yourself never visited.
- Short Cutter (Su): Once per day, in a natural environment, you can travel via a short cut to a location within a day's travel away. The short cut is perfectly safe, and there will be no encounters along the way, bypassing hazards and foes who might otherwise interfere with your travel. The time it takes is one-quarter the normal travel time to reach the destination. You can bring along other creatures in number up to twice your Walker level.
Level 10 Walker Master Tier Choice: Select a Walker Master or Prestige Tier Interaction, Combat, or Exploration ability that you have not yet chosen, or choose a feat from the Runner or Stepper Feat Trees for which you qualify, treating your own tier as if it were one step higher.