Halfling Opportunist (Apath)

Unofficial rules compendium

Even more so than the rest of their kind, halfling opportunists make their own luck. Shamelessly willing to take advantage of their foes, they can instantly assess a situation in order to find a way to turn it to their own benefit. When a giant swings his club, the halfling opportunist leaps onto it and uses the momentum to make her jump go that much further. When a spellcaster hurls a bolt of magical energy, the halfling opportunist steps in front of a door and uses the power to help her to smash through so she can make her escape. When a courtier tries to blacken her name, the halfling opportunist lets loose such a stream of cheeky accusations that the courtier ends up looking like the traitor instead. Halfling opportunists’ ability to exploit their enemies gives them a breezy self-confidence and the sheer audacity to take risks few others would dare. Perhaps because of this brazenness, they seem blessed by amazing strokes of good fortune. However, they rarely take their luck for granted. Instead they rely upon their keen senses to sidestep danger and their adaptability to carry them through both combat and social settings.

Class Information

This is a prestige class archetype.

Prestige Class: halfling opportunist.

Build Classes: Rogue.

Role: Their amazing luck, acute sense of danger, and ability to assess and then seize the advantage in virtually any situation makes halfling opportunists ideally suited for scouting or taking the front of party lines, especially when fighting only one enemy.

Alignment: Halfling opportunists view deception and taking advantage of others as a way of life. This makes it very difficult (but not impossible) for lawful characters that choose this prestige class to stick to their principles.

Hit Die: d8.

Class Features

The halfling opportunist has all the rogue's class features, except as follows.

Agile Maneuvers

A halfling opportunist uses speed and wit to get into just the right position for a sucker punch. She gains the Agile Maneuvers feat as a bonus feat at 1st level. This replaces advanced talents.

Exploitive Maneuver (Ex)

At 2nd level a halfling opportunist can use an enemy’s actions in combat for her own gain, as if the opponent were using aid another to assist the opportunist, giving her a bonus on her next skill check, attack roll, or to AC against the next attack. The enemy must be able to reach the opportunist, and the opportunist must activate this ability as an immediate action and succeed at a combat maneuver check against the enemy’s CMD. If the halfling succeeds at this combat maneuver check, she adds the aid another bonus to her action on her next turn and subtracts that bonus from the enemy’s roll for the action (or adds it to her own saving throw, as appropriate).

Note that if the combat maneuver check is successful, the outcome of the enemy’s roll is irrelevant to this ability—a halfling opportunist can use a giant’s swinging club to jump farther whether the giant hits or misses with its attack roll.

The GM decides whether the enemy’s action can benefit the opportunist in the desired manner. Circumstances occurring between the enemy’s turn and the halfling’s turn may prevent her from following through with the desired action); if this occurs, she loses the bonus from aid another but can take her turn normally. This replaces the rogue talent gained at level 2.

Example: Piria is a halfling opportunist battling an ogre in a walled arena. On the ogre’s turn, it swings at her with its club; Piria’s player wants to use her exploitive ability to catch the club and use its movement to boost her toward the top of the arena wall, giving her a bonus on her Acrobatics check to jump. The GM decides this is a reasonable use, has the player make a combat maneuver check against the giant’s CMD. She succeeds and will gain the aid another bonus on her Climb check on her next turn. The GM rolls the ogre’s attack with a –2 penalty, hits Piria, and deals damage, but Piria still gets the aid another bonus on her next Acrobatics check— perhaps as the ogre’s club hit her, she grabbed it, flipped onto it, and on her turn can jump from the swinging club using the +2 bonus from aid another.

Excellent Aid (Ex)

At third level halfling opportunist has an amazing talent for getting the most out of those who assist her. Increase the bonus she gets from aid another by +1. This increases by another +1 at 6th level and every 6 levels thereafter to a maximum pf +4 at level 18. This increase does not apply to when she uses aid another to help others, only when others aid her. This replaces trap sense abilities from level 3, 6, 12, and 18.

Defensive Combat Training

A halfling opportunist is hard to catch at a disadvantage. She gains the Defensive Combat Training feat as a bonus feat at 4th level. This replaces the rogue talent from level 4.

Trap Spotter (Ex)

A halfling opportunist has a keen ability to notice and react to danger. She gains the trap spotter rogue talent as her level 6 rogue talent.

Fit In (Ex)

At 8th level, a halfling opportunist masters the art of sending out nonverbal cues that suggest agreement and affiliation. This enables her to act as if she belongs in any situation, whether an aristocratic garden party or an evil cult’s inner sanctum. She can make a Disguise check in lieu of a Diplomacy check to influence the initial attitudes of NPCs. She does not need to change her appearance to make this check—this ability relies on instinctively knowing how to act to make it appear she belongs. If multiple creatures with differing views of appropriate behavior are present, she cannot simultaneously affect them and must choose a target creature or group to influence—she can’t pretend to be a guest at a fancy party to impress the nobles and pretend to be a maid to mingle with the servants at the same time. This replaces the rogue talent from level 8.

Exceptionally Lucky (Ex)

At 9th level, a halfling opportunist learns how to squeeze even more from her innate luck. Her halfling racial bonus on saving throws increases to +2. This bonus increases to +3 at 15th level. This replaces trap sense abilities from level 9 and 15.

Improved Trap Spotter (Ex)

At 10th level, the range of the opportunist’s trap spotter ability increases to 20 feet. This replaces the rogue talent from level 10.

Opportunity Attacker (Ex)

At 12th level, a halfling opportunist masters the art of striking foes when they are at their most vulnerable. When making an attack of opportunity, she deals her sneak attack damage even if her target is not flat-footed or otherwise denied its Dexterity bonus to AC. This replaces the rogue talent from level 12.

Redirect Trap (Ex)

A halfling opportunist of 14th level can move in a way that would normally trigger a trap and avoid triggering it. If an enemy attacks the halfling opportunist in melee when she is on or adjacent to the trap trigger, the trap triggers, attacking normally. The triggering opponent is moved the trapped area as required to be harmed by the trap, while the halfling opportunist is not harmed by the trap. This replaces the rogue talent from level 14.

Opportunist (Ex)

A halfling opportunist can explot an opening created by an ally or duped enemy. She gains the opportunist rogue talent as her level 16 rogue talent.

Redirect Attack (Ex)

At 18th level, when successfully using exploitive maneuver against an attack, the halfling opportunist can redirect that attack against an adjacent enemy instead of claiming an aid other bonus. In this case, the attacker receives a bonus on his attack roll rather than a penalty and adds the halfling opportunist's sneak attack damage to the damage of his attack. This replaces the rogue talent from level 18.

Defensive Opening (Ex)

When an opponent attacks the halfling opportunist and she escapes damage, either because the attack missed, was redirected, or because of a successful saving throw, the halfling opportunist can make an attack of opportunity against the original attacker if he is within reach, or a ranged attack with sneak attack damage bonus as an immediate action if he is not. This replaces the rogue talent from level 10.

Table: Halfling Opportunist

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special
1st	+0	+0	+2	+0	Agile Maneuvers, sneak attack +1d6, trapfinding
2nd	+1	+0	+3	+0	Evasion, Exploitive maneuver
3rd	+2	+1	+3	+1	Excellent aid (+1), sneak attack +2d6
4th	+3	+1	+4	+1	Defensive Combat Training, uncanny dodge
5th	+3	+1	+4	+1	Sneak attack +3d6
6th	+4	+2	+5	+2	Excellent aid (+2), trap spotter
7th	+5	+2	+5	+2	Sneak attack +4d6
8th	+6/+1	+2	+6	+2	Fit in, improved uncanny dodge
9th	+6/+1	+3	+6	+3	Exceptionally lucky (+3), sneak attack +5d6
10th	+7/+2	+3	+7	+3	Improved trap spotter
11th	+8/+3	+3	+7	+3	Sneak attack +6d6
12th	+9/+4	+4	+8	+4	Excellent aid (+3), opportunity attacker
13th	+9/+4	+4	+8	+4	Sneak attack +7d6
14th	+10/+5	+4	+9	+4	Redirect trap
15th	+11/+6/+1	+5	+9	+5	Exceptionally lucky (+3), sneak attack +8d6
16th	+12/+7/+2	+5	+10	+5	Opportunist
17th	+12/+7/+2	+5	+10	+5	Sneak attack +9d6
18th	+13/+8/+3	+6	+11	+6	Rogue talent, trap sense +6
19th	+14/+9/+4	+6	+11	+6	Sneak attack +10d6
20th	+15/+10/+5	+6	+12	+6	Defensive opening, master strike

Summary of Changed Class Abilities

These abilities of the rogue are lost or modified in this archetype:

• Rogue Talents (all)
• Trap Sense (all)
• Advanced Talents