Modern war is not fought along rigid lines that clearly delineate one faction’s territory from another. In light of the this, faction forces need to remain flexible, moving from base to base, nation to nation, and system to system, sometimes on a moment’s notice. Such maneuverability and secrecy requires a multitude of small bases throughout the world in unpopulated areas.
The forces employs a group of scouts – sometimes called pathfinders – who work alone or in small groups, scouring the galaxy to find viable locations for secret bases. When they find a suitably remote site that fits the needs of their current mission, they begin preparing it with defenses, concealment, power, and other basic requirements.
Although pathfinders are used most often by groups focused on guerrilla warfare, others have need for their expertise as well. For example, organized governments have been known to use pathfinders to establish black ops centers, and some corporate entities hire pathfinders when they want to establish divisions that are best hidden from public scrutiny.
Pathfinders are experts in survival and exploration in desolate areas. They receive special training in quickly creating operational zones, including basic offensive and defensive measures.
REQUIREMENTS
To qualify to become a pathfinder, a character must fulfill the following criteria.- Minimum Level: 7th
- Trained Skills: Perception, Survival
- Talents: At least two talents from the Awareness, Camouflage, or Survivor talent trees (Scout base class)
GAME RULE INFORMATION
Pathfinders have the following game statistics.HIT POINTS
At each level, pathfinders gain 1d10 hit points + their Constitution modifier.HERO POINTS
Pathfinders gain a number of Hero Points equal to 6 + one-half their character level, rounded down, every time they gain a new level in this class.| LEVEL | BASE ATTACK BONUS | CLASS FEATURES |
| 1st | +0 | Defense bonuses, talent |
| 2nd | +1 | Create cover (1 square) |
| 3rd | +2 | Talent |
| 4th | +3 | Create cover (2 squares) |
| 5th | +3 | Talent |
| 6th | +4 | Create cover (3 squares) |
| 7th | +5 | Talent |
| 8th | +6 | Create cover (4 squares) |
| 9th | +6 | Talent |
| 10th | +7 | Create cover (5 squares) |
CLASS FEATURES
The following are features of the pathfinder prestige class.DEFENSE BONUSES
At 1st level, you gain a +4 class bonus to your Fortitude Defense and a +2 class bonus to your Reflex Defense.TALENTS
At every odd-numbered level (1st. 3rd, 5th, and so on), the pathfinder selects a talent. This talent must be selected from the Pathfinder talent tree (see below) or from the Awareness or Survivor talent trees (Scout base class). The pathfinder must meet the prerequisites (if any) of the chosen talent. No talent can be selected more than once unless expressly indicated.PATHFINDER TALENT TREE
You specialize in finding and creating optimal locations from which your allies can fight, and then making sure that they reach those locales safely. In combat, you use your eye for finding secure locations to pick the best spots from which to launch your attacks.Bunker Blaster: If you are adjacent to an object that can provide you with cover from a target, you can aim at that target as a move action.
Defensive Measures: All enemies treat your safe zone as difficult terrain.
Prerequisite: Safe Zone.
Enhance Cover: As a swift action, you can designate a single ally within your line of sight who has cover from one or more enemies. That ally is considered instead to have improved cover against those enemies until the start of your next turn as long as the ally still has cover.
Escort Fighter: You can spend a swift action to designate one adjacent ally. Until the start of your next turn, if you move, that ally can also move the same number of squares, provided that the ally ends its movement adjacent to you. You cannot move a distance greater than the ally’s speed.
Launch Point: Any ally who starts his or her turn within your safe zone and then exits the zone gains a +2 bonus to attack rolls before the end of that ally’s turn, provided that the ally is not within your safe zone when the attack is made.
Prerequisite: Safe Zone.
Obscuring Defenses: Enemies that fire into your safe zone take a -2 penalty to attack rolls.
Prerequisite: Safe Zone.
Relocate: You can dismiss your safe zone as a swift action, ending its current effects. Any allies in the space your safe zone was occupying gain a +2 bonus to their speed until the start of your next turn. When you use this talent, you cannot create a new safe zone until the start of your next turn.
Prerequisite: Safe Zone.
Safe Passage: Once per turn, you can spend a move action to allow one ally within line of sight to move up to its speed as a reaction. If a target makes an attack of opportunity against the ally during its movement, you can make an attack of opportunity against that target.
Prerequisite: Escort Fighter.
Safe Zone: As a standard action, you can identify a safe zone, within which your allies gain certain advantages. You designate a 4-by-4 square area of the combat area as a safe zone; at least 1 square of the safe zone must be the square that you currently occupy. Each ally who starts his or her turn within the safe zone gains a +2 circumstance bonus to his or her Fortitude Defense and Will Defense until the start of the ally’s next turn. The safe zone lasts until the end of the encounter, and you can have only one safe zone in effect at a time. You can create a new safe zone as a standard action, dismissing the old safe zone and replacing it with the new one. but no square of the old safe zone can overlap with any square of the new safe zone. You cannot create a safe zone in a space that overlaps another pathfinder’s safe zone.
Zone of Recuperation: Any ally who catches a second wind while within your safe zone regains a number of additional hit points equal to your class level.
Prerequisite: Safe Zone.