Wild scouts are the spies of the wilderness, traversing the open and wild country in search of valuable information. They are a boon to whoever employs them, though their services are often expensive. Good wild scouts seek out and report on the movements of evil creatures and forces in the wilderness, usually on behalf of a noble or community. Evil wild scouts do the same for their employers, but it is the forces of good that are the target of their clandestine observations.

Most wild scouts are barbarians, druids or rangers. Some are fighters or rogues who feel more of an affinity for the wild places than for urban areas. Sorcerers and wizards are rare among their number.

A wild scout is typically in the employ of a general, noble, or community. Characters might encounter one acting as the extreme advance guard for an approaching army or discover that they themselves are under a wild scout’s scrutiny.

Role: DPS Utility

Characteristics: It's Super Scout! Camouflage, fast tracking, and bonuses for your favored terrain, what's not to love?

Source: Silver Marches

Game Rule Information

The Wild Scout has the following game statistics.

Abilities: Wisdom for all of your tracking abilities, Charisma for helping your party to travel through the wilderness, Dexterity for going fast and getting the first hit in battle

Alignment: Any

Hit Die: d8

Starting Gold: N/A

Class Skills

The Wild Scout's class skills are Animal Empathy (Wis), Climb (Str), Handle Animal (Cha), Hide (Dex), Intuit Direction (Wis), Jump (Str), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Search (Int), Spot (Wis), and Wilderness Lore (Wis).

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

Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int modifier

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Wild Scout.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A Wild Scout is proficient with simple and martial weapons, light armor and shields except for tower shields.

Improved Track Ex: A wild scout learns the art of tracking creatures accurately without sacrificing speed. This ability functions as the Track feat, except that the wild scout does not incur any penalty to movement. In other words, a wild scout can move at his normal speed while tracking, and does not incur a penalty for moving more quickly than his base speed while tracking.

Home Turf Ex: When in an area with which they are intimately familiar, wild scouts are even more capable. At 1st level, a wild scout designates his home turf, an area no larger than one hundred square miles (about ten miles by ten miles). While in this area, the wild scout gains a +4 bonus on Animal Empathy, Hide, Intuit Direction, Move Silently, and Wilderness Lore checks. The wild scout’s home turf expands to two thousand five hundred square miles (fifty miles by fifty miles) at 4th level, and to the entire region at 8th level, reflecting the fact that he can range far and wide in service to his employer.

Wild Feat: At 1st level and again at 10th level, a wild scout gains a wilderness survival related bonus feat such as Mountaineer or Stealthy.

Fast March Ex: A wild scout travels over diverse terrain and makes arduous journeys without benefit of luxuries, and speed is often of the essence. So well does a wild scout know the lay of the land within his home turf that at 2nd level his overland speed is 1 1/2 times his normal base movement (or his mount’s base movement) and the terrain type. The wild scout can lead a party of additional travelers, conferring this advantage on a number of additional creatures equal to his class level × his Charisma modifier (if positive), or a minimum of one creature per wild scout level.

Nondetection Sp: Starting at 2nd level, a wild scout learns to tap into the nature of the wilderness itself in order to help him avoid attempts to divine his presence or actions. This spell-like ability functions exactly like the spell of the same name, but only while the wild scout is within his home turf and not within an urban area.

Camouflage Ex: A wild scout trains himself to make the most of his surroundings when he wishes to remain unseen. Beginning at 3rd level, whenever a wild scout uses natural elements (foliage, trees, boulders, sand dunes, shrubbery, and so forth) to gain cover or concealment, he increases the benefit of his cover or concealment by one step. For example, if the wild scout was hidden behind a tree conferring one half cover, he would actually gain the Armor Class bonus and Reflex save bonus for three-quarters cover. If he was concealed by dense foliage, normally three-quarters concealment and a 30% miss chance, he would actually gain the benefit of nine-tenths concealment and a 40% miss chance. At 6th level, a wild scout receives the benefit of cover or concealment two steps better than his actual situation, and at 9th level three steps better. (He must have at least one-quarter cover or concealment to receive any benefit, of course. No cover does not improve to three-quarters cover, not even for a 9th-level wild scout.)

Commune with Nature Sp: Beginning at 5th level, a wild scout becomes so keenly attuned to the wilderness that he can use the clues carried on the air and soil of the land itself to divine the presence of other places and creatures in the wild. Once per day, he may use commune with nature at a caster level equal to his wild scout level. At 7th level, a wild scout may use commune with nature twice per day, and at 10th level three times per day. The wild scout may only invoke this power when he is within his home turf.