Courier (3.5e Prestige Class)

Courier

The Couriers are an elite guild who boast that they can get a message or package to anyone, anywhere, in record time – for an appropriate fee. Requirements for admission to the guild are rigorous, but any courier can expect all reasonable help from any guild outpost, including a fresh mount, supplies, even an armed escort if warranted. In return, for each job the courier tithes 10% of all proceeds to the guild, or cost of guild expenses, whichever is higher. Any non-guild member who works a job with a guild member is also expected to tithe 10%.

Outposts are typically found in towns about a day's ride apart in civilized country, more sparsely in border regions. Outposts are also sources of information regarding potential contracts, available freely to all guild members.

Couriers remain steadfastly neutral in any conflict. Anyone who knowingly harms a courier, other than in self-defense, can expect at the very least a guild boycott, possibly more severe retribution.

Because of their wide array of skills, couriers are occasionally hired for extra sensitive missions, such as spying or assassination. Moonlighters act without guild aid and protection, but they are still expected to tithe 10% of proceeds to the guild.

Couriers come from virtually all classes, with the exception of paladins, whose code of honor is incompatible with courier neutrality.

Prerequisites

• Alignment: Any neutral.
• Feats: Dodge, Endurance, Run.
• Skills: Gather Information 8 ranks, Hide 8 ranks, Knowledge (geography) 4 ranks, Move Silently 8 ranks, Speak Language any 4 languages.
• Base Speed: 40 feet in any movement mode.
• Special: 2000 GP one-time referral fee. A character cannot take levels in both courier and courier mage.

Table: The Courier

Hit Die: d6

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special	Spells per Day				Spells Known
		Fort	Ref	Will		1^st	2^nd	3^rd	4^th	1^st	2^nd	3^rd	4^th
1^st	+0	+0	+2	+2	Sense of direction	0				2
2^nd	+1	+0	+3	+3	Fast movement +10	1				3
3^rd	+2	+1	+3	+3	Evasion	2	0			3	2
4^th	+3	+1	+4	+4	Unbreakable stride	3	1			4	3
5^th	+3	+1	+4	+4	Uncanny dodge	3	2	0		4	3	2
6^th	+4	+2	+5	+5	Fast movement +20	3	3	1		4	4	3
7^th	+5	+2	+5	+5	Improved evasion	3	3	2	0	4	4	3	2
8^th	+6	+2	+6	+6	Freedom of movement	3	3	3	1	4	4	4	3
9^th	+6	+3	+6	+6	Improved uncanny dodge	3	3	3	2	4	4	4	3
10^th	+7	+3	+7	+7	Fast movement +30	3	3	3	3	4	4	4	4

Class Skills (6 + Int modifier per level): Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (any) (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Forgery (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (any) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Speak Language (any) (n/a), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str), and Use Rope (Dex).

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the courier:

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A courier does not gain any proficiency with weapons or armor.

Sense of Direction (Ex): A courier has an uncanny knack for determining direction. The character can determine, at will, which way is north, and can infallibly retrace or backtrack any path she has taken before.

Fast Movement (Ex): At 2^nd level, a courier gains a +10 enhancement to base speed in her primary movement mode, when wearing light or no armor and carrying no more than a light load. This bonus increases to +20 at 6^th level and +30 at 10^th level. The bonus stacks with the fast movement ability of any other class.

Evasion (Ex): Starting at 3^rd level, if a courier makes a successful Reflex saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save, she instead takes no damage. Evasion can be used only if the courier is wearing light or no armor, and is not helpless, cowering, or stunned.

If the courier already has evasion from another class, she instead gains improved evasion.

Unbreakable Stride (Ex): Starting at 4^th level, a courier can move through any natural terrain, even underwater, at her normal speed. This ability does not prevent natural damage (e.g. from lava), does not counteract any magical effects, and does not impart any other special abilities (e.g. breathing underwater).

Furthermore, the courier can move at full normal speed without penalty to Balance, Hide, Move Silently, or Tumble checks, and can Climb at half normal speed without penalty.

Uncanny Dodge (Ex): Starting at 5^th level, a courier retains her Dexterity bonus to Armor Class (if any) regardless of being caught flat-footed or struck by an invisible attacker. She still loses any Dexterity bonus to Armor Class if immobilized.

If the character gains uncanny dodge from a second class, she instead gains improved uncanny dodge.

Improved Evasion (Ex): Starting at 7^th level, if a courier fails a Reflex saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save, she instead takes half damage. Improved evasion can be used only if the courier is wearing light or no armor, and is not helpless, cowering, or stunned.

Acquiring improved evasion from multiple classes provides no additional advantage.

Freedom of Movement (Su): Starting at 8^th level, a courier can ignore natural and magical effects that impede movement as if affected by the spell freedom of movement. This supernatural ability functions up to 10 minutes per day times the courier's character level.

Improved Uncanny Dodge (Ex): Starting at 9^th level, a courier can no longer be flanked, since she can react to opponents on opposite sides of her as easily as she can react to a single attacker. This defense denies rogues (and other classes) the ability to use flank attacks to sneak attack the courier, unless the rogue is at least four levels higher than the courier.

If a character gains uncanny dodge from a second class, the levels from those classes stack to determine the minimum rogue level required to flank the character.

Spells: A courier casts arcane spells, which are drawn from the Courier Spell List. She can cast any spell she knows without preparing it ahead of time. To learn or cast a spell, a courier must have a Charisma score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a courier's spell is 10 + the spell level + the courier's Charisma modifier.

Like other spellcasters, a courier can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. Her base daily spell allotment is given on Table: The Courier. In addition, she receives bonus spells per day if she has a high Charisma score. When Table: The Courier indicates that the courier gets 0 spells per day of a given spell level, she gains only the bonus spells she would be entitled to based on her Charisma score for that spell level.

The courier's selection of spells is extremely limited, as indicated on Table: The Courier. Unlike spells per day, the number of spells a courier knows is not affected by her Charisma score; the numbers on Table: The Courier are fixed.

At each even level, a courier can choose to learn a new spell in place of one she already knows. In effect, the courier "loses" the old spell in exchange for the new one. The new spell's level must be the same level or lower than that of the spell being exchanged, and it must be at least two levels lower than the highest-level courier spell the courier can cast. A courier may swap only a single spell at any given level, and must choose whether or not to swap the spell at the same time that she gains new spells known for the level.

Table: Courier Spell List

Level	Spells
1^st	comprehend languages, detect magic, disguise self, endure elements, expeditious retreat, feather fall, jump, knock, light, longstrider, message, obscure object, obscuring mist, pass without trace, sanctuary
2^nd	blink, blur, cat's grace, color spray, darkvision, fog cloud, hypnotic pattern, illusory script, invisibility, levitate, misdirection, see invisibility, shield, spider climb, tongues
3^rd	alter self, arcane sight, clairaudience/clairvoyance, fly, gaseous form, haste, hold person, nondetection, phantom steed, protection from energy, web
4^th	dimension door, dispel magic, freedom of movement, greater invisibility, rainbow pattern, stinking cloud

The Epic Courier

TBD

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