Ruin Explorer (Apath)

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Unofficial rules compendium

A ruin explorer is a man or woman of learning, an adventurous scholar who dreams of retrieving priceless artifacts from lost vaults, restoring pieces of our common history to the light of day. Such priceless treasures are to be found, studied and understood. Their critics see them as glorified burglars, who work trapped tombs and vaults and seek to rob people of their most valuable and well-protected property.

Class Information

This is a rogue archetype.

Role: A ruin explorer deals with ancient traps and magical legacies. Curses and traps are her bread and butter. Her main abilities are in dealing with the dangers found in ruins; traps, curses, cave-ins and eternally vigilant guardians. Her specialty is traps; both magical, man-made, and in the form of natural hazards.

Ruin explorers tend to take an important role in any guilds or fraternities they become a part of, since they are studious and more organized than most other adventurers. Sometimes, they can completely change the goal of such an organization, from simple looting to the collection and categorization of knowledge. Such a guild can then train new generations of ruin explorers.

Alignment: Any. The ruin explorers of the world form a loose fraternity, keeping tabs on each others' exploits through the rumor mill.

Hit Die: d8.

Class Skills

The ruin explorer's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Acrobatics (Dex), Appraise (Int), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disable Device (Int), Escape Artist (Dex), Knowledge (any) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Perception (Wis), Profession (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Stealth (Dex), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str), and Use Magic Device (Cha).

Skill Ranks at Each Level: 6 + Int modifier.

Class Features

The ruin explorer has all the rogue's class features, except as follows.

Notepad.png This is a work in progress.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency

Ruin explorers are proficient with all simple weapons and with the light pick, heavy pick, hand crossbow, and whip. The ruin explorer gains no proficiency with armor or shields.

Bardic Knowledge

Like a bard, a ruin explorer adds half his class level (minimum 1) to all Knowledge skill checks and may make all Knowledge skill checks untrained.

This ability stacks with similar abilities from other classes.

Decipher Script

When using the Linguistics skill to understand archaic or foreign writing, add half the ruin explorer's level to the check.

Trapfinding

Like rogues, ruin explorers adds ½ her level to Perception skill checks made to locate traps and to Disable Device skill checks (minimum +1). A ruin explorer can use Disable Device to disarm magic traps. This stacks with similar abilities from other classes.

Outsmart Traps

When successfully disabling a trap, you can opt to bypass it (with your party) and leave it in place.

Trap Sense

A ruin explorer gains an intuitive sense that alerts her to danger from traps, giving you a bonus on Reflex saves made to avoid traps and a dodge bonus to AC against attacks made by traps. These bonuses increase with level and stack with similar abilities gained from other classes.

Uncanny Dodge

A ruin explorer can react to danger before her senses would normally allow her to do so. She cannot be caught flat-footed, nor does she lose her Dex bonus to AC if the attacker is invisible. She still loses her Dexterity bonus to AC if immobilized. A ruin explorer with this ability can still lose her Dexterity bonus to AC if an opponent successfully uses the feint action (see Combat) against her.

If a ruin explorer already has uncanny dodge from a different class, she automatically gains improved uncanny dodge instead. He can no longer be flanked. This defense denies another rogue the ability to sneak attack the character by flanking him, unless the attacker has at least four more rogue levels than the target does. If a character already has uncanny dodge (see above) from another class, the levels from the classes that grant uncanny dodge stack to determine the minimum rogue level required to flank the character.

Hands-on Research

When you fail a Knowledge or Linguistics check, you can try again as a standard action as often as you like. You can only use hands-on research in relation to issues immediately at hand, such as deciphering text you can read right now or remembering specific knowledge about a creature you can presently see.

Evasion (Ex)

A ruin explorer can avoid even magical and unusual attacks with great agility. If he makes a successful Reflex saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save, he instead takes no damage. Evasion can be used only if the ruin explorer is wearing light armor or no armor. A helpless rogue does not gain the benefit of evasion.

If the ruin explorer already has the evasion ability from another source, he instead gains Improved Evasion. This works like evasion, except that while the ruin explorer still takes no damage on a successful Reflex saving throw against attacks, he now takes only half damage on a failed save. A helpless ruin explorer does not gain the benefit of improved evasion.

Master Finder

As Trapfinding, but applies to all uses of the Perception skill.

Dazing Insight (Ex)

Whenever you make a Know or Linguistics roll, you can choose to replace the result of the roll with a die roll of 20 after the roll. If you do so, you are dazed until the beginning of your next turn. You can take no actions, but suffer no penalty to AC. You are unable to make attacks of opportunity or immediate actions.

Master Explorer

You can now use trap exploration and trick exploration as free actions. This allows you to take other actions or to take double moves, and still search for traps and tricks in a 15 ft. wide path.

Summary of Changed Class Abilities

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

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