General Prestige Class : Dungeon Delver
In many ways, the dungeon delver is the ultimate expression of the adventuring rogue. He's skilled at moving stealthily through all types of dungeon terrain, detecting and disarming inconvenient traps, bypassing locks, locating treasure, and filching protected items.
The typical dungeon delver has forsaken people skills to concentrate on the nuts and bolts of dungeon exploration and treasure retrieval. Rogues make excellent dungeon delvers, as do the rare bards and rangers who choose to pursue this track. Most bards would miss their admiring audiences, however, and rangers might find it difficult to acquire all the necessary skills.)
Since a dungeon delver frequently works alone, he must learn to think and act independently, relying upon no one but himself. Even when exploring a dungeon in the company of other adventurers, he often keeps to himself-scouting ahead, disarming traps a safe distance from the group, or seeking treasure while the others are distracted.
The best dungeon delvers become legends and are sought after by anyone with a particularly inaccessible treasure to recover. Some even accept regular stipends from various nobles to leave their treasures alone. Only the best dungeon delvers survive to make names for themselves, however, Those who lack the necessary skill and savvy perish anonymously on unsuccessful expeditions, leaving behind their bones for some luckier compatriot to discover.
Requirements
To qualify to become a Dungeon Delver, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:
- Skills: Climb 10 ranks, Craft (stonemasonry), 5 ranks, Disable Device 10 ranks, Hide 5 ranks, Move Silently 5 ranks, Open Lock 10 ranks, Search 10 ranks.
- Feats: Alertness, Blind-fight.
- Special: To become a dungeon delver, a character must first survive a great trial underground. This usually takes one of three forms:
- A solo dungeon expedition that earns the character one-half of the experience points needed for advancement to the next level. (For example, a 7th-level character must earn 3,500 XP on such a solo run.) The character must complete the venture in one week, though he may leave the dungeon and return as often as desired during that time.
- Survival of a cave-in or other collapse (see Cave Ins and Collapses).
- Living for a year without seeing the light of the sun, usually among underground denizens such as the deep dwarves or drow.
Class Skills
The dungeon delver's class skills are Appraise, Balance, Climb, Craft, Disable Device, Hide, Jump, Listen, Move Silently, Open Lock, Search, Spot, Survival, Swim, Tumble, Use Magic Device, and Use Rope.
Skill Points at Each Level: 8 + Int modifier.
Class Features
All the following are class features of the dungeon delver prestige class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Dungeon delvers are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, as well as with light armor.
Danger Sense: The dungeon delver possesses an uncanny intuition that warns him of impending danger. This grants him a +2 insight bonus on Reflex saves to avoid traps, a +2 dodge bonus to AC against attacks by traps, and a +4 insight bonus on Spot checks made to spot creatures at the beginning of an encounter (see the Encounter Distance rules in Chapter 3 of the DUNGEON MASTER'S Guide). At 6th level, these bonuses increase to +4, +4, and +6, respectively.
Traps: At 1st level, the dungeon delver acquires the traps ability if he does not already have it from a previous class (see the Rogue section in Chapter 3 of the Player's Handbook).
Blindsight (Ex): At 2nd level, the dungeon delver gains acute sensitivity to sounds, smells, movement, and other disturbances within 20 feet. This enhanced spatial sense enables him to maneuver and fight as well as he can under normal conditions, regardless of the ambient lighting. Invisibility is irrelevant, though the character cannot sense ethereal creatures. Blindsight does nor replace normal vision. Activating this ability is a standard action, and the effect lasts for 10 minutes. This ability is not dependent upon hearing, so deafness and similar effects do not negate it. At 8th level, the dungeon delver's blindsight range increases to 40 feet.
Stonecunning (Ex): A 3rd-level dungeon delver gains the stonecunning ability. This functions exactly as it does for dwarves (see Dwarf in Chapter 2 of the Player's Handbook), except that the check modifiers are competence bonuses rather than racial bonuses.
Reduce (Sp): At 4th level, the dungeon delver can squeeze through narrow crevices, half-collapsed passages, prison bars, and other tight spots that would normally block a character of his size and bulk. This ability, usable three times a day, works exactly like a reduce spell cast by a 5th-level sorcerer.
Darkvision (Sp): Ar 5th level, the dungeon delver gains the ability to use darkvision at will, with a range of 60 feet. If he already has darkvision as a class feature or racial ability, the ranges do nor stack.
Treasure Sense (Su): At 7th level, the dungeon delver can sense an accumulation of treasure worth 1,000 gp or more within a range of 200 feet per dungeon delver level. He does not know the exact composition or nature of the treasure thus located, only its direction and distance from him (with a 10-foot margin of error). All valuables within 10 feet of a given point count as a single treasure, so two piles of gold pieces separated by 5 feet would register as one treasure, not two. Treasure sense always locates the treasure with the greatest market value if more than one accumulation is within range. This ability does not grant any knowledge about the safest path (if any) between the dungeon delver and the treasure; it merely provides direction and distance.
Find the Path (Sp): Three times per day, a dungeon delver of 9th level or higher can find his way into and out of the most confounding mazes and dungeons. This ability functions like a find the path spell cast by a 16th-level sorcerer, except that it affects the user only.
Phase Door (Sp): At 10th level, the dungeon delver gains the ability to create a phase door once per day. This enables him to bypass cave-ins, walk through dead ends and immovable obstructions (such as a portcullis welded into place), and make quick escapes through walls. This ability functions exactly like a phase door spell cast by an 18th-level sorcerer, except that the dungeon delver can create an ethereal passage through any nonliving substance, not just wood, plaster, and stone.
Dungeon Delver | Hit Die: d6 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
CL | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special |
1st | +0 | +2 | +2 | +0 | Danger sense +2/+4, traps |
2nd | +1 | +3 | +3 | +0 | Blindsight 20 ft. |
3rd | +2 | +3 | +3 | +1 | Stonecunning |
4th | +3 | +4 | +4 | ~1 | Reduce |
5th | +3 | +4 | +4 | +1 | Darkvision |
6th | +4 | +5 | +5 | +2 | Danger sense |
7th | +5 | +5 | +5 | +2 | Treasure sense |
8th | +6 | +6 | +6 | +2 | Blindsight 40 ft. |
9th | +6 | +6 | +6 | +3 | Find the path |
10th | +7 | +7 | +7 | +3 | Phase door |
Source: Complete Adventurer
Song and Silence