Royal Explorer

Requirements

Skills: Decipher Script 5 ranks, Intuit Direction 5 ranks, Wilderness Lore 5 ranks, Profession (cartographer) 8 ranks

Feats: Alertness, Endurance

Special: The character must be admitted to the Royal Explorers Society. This requires fulfilling all the requirements listed above and also submitting a verifiable report of a significant exploration to the society's review council. Such a report should include, at minimum, a detailed map of the area explored, descriptions of native flora and fauna, a narrative of encounters with the area's inhabitants, and a significant relic (preferably magical) brought back for the society's museum.

Summary

Keoland monarchs enjoy learning of other lands and cultures but pressing matters of state often keep them tied to their throne rooms. So, for years, they have sponsored crack teams of explorers who travel the length and breadth of the world, then return to deliver reports on faraway wonders. Accordingly, the royal library of Keoland has the best selection of maps in the world, as well as a fascinating series of journals known as the Minutes of the Royal Explorers Society.

Because the Minutes are often used in geography lessons, many a noble’s child lies awake at night, dreaming of climbing mountains along with Ahn Balic or hunting albino dire wolves with Istai Sunblessed.

However, the entrance examinations for the Royal Explorers Society are rigorous indeed. To be accepted, an applicant must not only demonstrate a thorough knowledge of geography and possess impeccable cartographic skills, but also impress the society’s admissions committee with verifiable tales of a particularly noteworthy exploration.

Academic geographers tend not to survive explorations in the wild, so most royal explorers are former bards or rogues. Adventurers in the midst of their own explorations sometimes encounter NPC royal explorers, who may either seek advice or offer it. In addition, many of them hire bands of adventurers to deal with the more dangerous denizens of the areas they’re exploring. Royal explorers also pay top coin for copies of any maps adventurers may have made of previously unexplored regions.

Role: Utility

Characteristics: Seekers and lovers of adventure and knowledge looking to add their contribution to the Minutes

Source: Song and Silence

Game Rule Information

The Royal Explorer has the following game statistics.

Abilities: Wisdom for your Wilderness Lore checks, and Intelligence for the variety of skills you'll need.

Alignment: Any

Hit Die: d8

Starting Gold: N/A

Class Skills

The Royal Explorer's class skills are Appraise (Int), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disable Device (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Intuit Direction (Wis), Jump (Str), Knowledge (geography) (Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), Use Magic Device (Cha), Use Rope (Dex), and Wilderness Lore (Wis).

Skill Points at 1st Level: (6 + Int modifier) × 4

Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 6 + Int modifier

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Royal Explorer.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A Royal Explorer is proficient with whatever they were already proficient with prior to taking levels in this class.

Bonus Language: At 1st level and each odd-numbered royal explorer level thereafter, the character gains one bonus language.

Explorer Lore: A royal explorer has a chance to know almost anything, either from his own experience or from the tales of fellow explorers. This ability functions exactly like bardic knowledge, except that the check modifier equals the character's royal explorer level + his Intelligence modifier. Bard levels stack with royal explorer levels for the purpose of determining this modifier.

Explorer Check: The royal explorer makes a Knowledge (geography) check (DC 15) once per month or whenever he travels to a new culture. Success means he can use his knowledge of the culture he is visiting to his advantage, gaining a +4 circumstance bonus on certain skill checks. At 2nd level, this bonus applies only to Diplomacy checks. For every two royal explorer levels thereafter, the bonus also applies to one additional skill, as shown on Table 1—5. He retains these circumstance bonuses until his next Knowledge (geography) check. For particularly isolated or far-off cultures, the DM can raise the DC of the Knowledge (geography) check to 20 or higher.

Track: At 2nd level, the royal explorer gains Track as a bonus feat.

Brave Ex: A royal explorer of 3rd level or higher gains a +4 morale bonus on Will saves against fear effects.

Search Bonus: At 5th level, a royal explorer gains a +2 competence bonus on Search and Wilderness lore checks made to find a path, including checks for secret doors and for following tracks.

Never Lost Ex: A royal explorer of 6th level or higher automatically succeeds at Wilderness lore and Intuit Direction checks made to avoid being lost, and maze spells don't affect him.

Skill Mastery Ex: At 7th level and higher, a royal explorer can use his skills reliably even under adverse conditions. When he first qualifies for this ability, select a number of skills equal to 3 + his Intelligence modifier for mastery. When making a check with one of these skills, the character may take 10 even if stress and distractions would normally prevent him from doing so.

Fearless Ex: A royal explorer of 9th level or higher is immune to fear effects.

Table 1-1: Royal Explorer Progression

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special
1st	+0	+2	+2	+0	Bonus language, explorer lore
2nd	+1	+3	+3	+0	Explorer check (Diplomacy), Track
3rd	+2	+3	+3	+1	Bonus language, brave
4th	+3	+4	+4	+1	Explorer check (Sense Motive)
5th	+3	+4	+4	+1	Bonus language, Search bonus
6th	+4	+5	+5	+2	Explorer check (Gather Information), never lost
7th	+5	+5	+5	+2	Bonus language, skill mastery
8th	+6	+6	+6	+2	Explorer check (Disable Device)
9th	+6	+6	+6	+3	Bonus language, fearless
10th	+7	+7	+7	+3	Explorer check (Use Magic Device)

The Minutes of the Royal Explorer's Society

Because they're map-intensive and hand-scribed, copies of the Minutes of the Royal Explorers Society are rare. Thus, they are terrific finds for characters seeking adventure (and treasure). Each bimonthly issue contains at least one lengthy report on a far-off land, typically written as a series of journal entries. Relevant maps are included, as is other data collected during the exploration. Shorter reports on explorations in progress appear in a separate "Correspondence from Afield" section.

The most interesting parts of the Minutes, however, are near the back of each issue. The "Annotations" section offers lively debate as explorers query, dispute, or praise reports from previous issues. The "Order of the Cautionary Tale" section always offers a firsthand account of some misadventure, comic or tragic, suffered by a royal explorer. The Order of the Cautionary Tale isn't a real knightly order, of course, but many royal explorers take a curious pride in attaining membership. After all, an explorer has to survive to tell a cautionary tale.