Halfling Guardian
Original concept: Peter Dosik, Dragon™ Magazine January 1988
3E Modification: Matthew Hedges  mhedges@rlmsystems.com.au

Halfling Guardians are protectors and law enforcers of halfling communities.  They act as troubleshooters in peacetime and in wartime help lead the halfling militias. The patron god of all guardians is Avoreen the Defender. Guardians are taught to have the utmost respect for their patron and his clerics, as both play an important part in guardian training. Guardians are often sheriffs or deputies whose function is to keep the domestic affairs of halflings in order.

Hit Die: d8

Requirements
Alignment:  Any non-evil and non-chaotic
[The vast majority of guardians are lawful good, especially amongst those with active roles inside halfling communities. Those who are wandering guardians are more likely to possess the other alignment options.]
Race: Halfling
Base attack bonus:  +6
Feats:  Weapon Focus (Short Sword), Dodge, Alertness, Expertise
[Avoreen's favoured weapon and the perhaps the best light martial weapon. Avoreen is a defensive deity and guardian applicants must demonstrate defensive skills (Dodge, Expertise) and great awareness of their surroundings (Alertness).]
Other:  Those wishing to become guardians must find a cleric of Avoreen (or perhaps Yondalla) who is capable of providing the required training. There is no cost for this training as it is borne by the halfling community. Many applicants do not pass. Training takes in the order of 3-6 months, largely dependent upon the cleric who administers the training.

Class skills
The class skills of a Halfling Guardian reflect the martial and law enforcement duties that the guardian must carry out. They also show the guardians outdoor abilities which are a natural by-product of being an outdoor warrior.

The Halfling Guardian's class skills (and key ability for each skill) are Animal Empathy (Cha), Climb (Str), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Intuit Direction (Wis), Jump (Str), Knowledge (arbiter)* (Int), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Rope Use (Dex), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), Wilderness Lore (Wis).
Skill points at each level: 4 + Int modifier
(* arbiter is the interpretation of laws)

Class Features

Weapon and Armour Proficiency:  Halfling Guardians are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, light and medium armours and shields. Note that armour check penalties for armour heavier than leather apply to the skills Balance, Climb, Escape Artist, Hide, Jump, Move Silently, Pick Pocket and Tumble.
[Halflings have a natural aversion to heavy armour and often don’t need it as they tend to be more adept at dodging blows than other races (higher dex). Halfling guardians are trained to fight in a moving fluid style which is severely hampered by the wearing of heavy armours. Additionally they often have to travel long distances on foot and hence don’t wish to be weighed down by heavy armour.]

Tracking Skill:  If the character does not currently have the tracking feat, then they receive it without having to use one of their own slots. If they do have the tracking feat already then they receive +2 on their wilderness lore checks when tracking outdoors.

Fear Resistance:  Halfling Guardians gradually become more and more resistant to all types of fear, including magically generated and supernatural abilities. They add the appropriate bonus to their Will saving throw.

Favoured Enemy:  As per the favour enemy for the Ranger class in the Player's Handbook. 

Halfling Hospitality:  At second level a guardian can receive food and board in any halfling community or church.  Abuse of this privilege is likely to result in disciplining by a cleric of Avoreen.

Fighter Feat:  The guardian gains a feat from the list provided under the Fighter description in the Player's Handbook.

Sense Evil:  At third level, upon a successful Will saving throw (DC 20), the guardian can sense the presence or absence of evil in a 90 foot radius, after concentrating for one full action.  This can be undertaken a number of times per day equal to the halfling's guardian level minus two (eg. 1/day at 3rd, 2/day at 4th etc).

Self Healing:  The guardian is granted the ability to heal their own wounds.  This healing is a full round action and heals twice the halfling's guardian level (not character level), plus Wisdom modifier, in hit points (eg. 4th level Guardian with 12 Wisdom = 4x2+1 = 9 hit points healed).  This self healing can be performed a number of times per day equal to the guardians level minus two (eg. 4th level = 2/day etc).

Defensive Stance:  Halfling Guardians are experts in defensive tactics in combat (just like their patron Avoreen). As a result, while wearing light or medium armour, they receive the indicated dodge bonus to their armour class. Note this bonus acts just like a normal dexterity bonus, and it is lost when the character is caught flat footed (or would otherwise lose their dexterity bonus).

Fleet Foot:  The guardian gains additional movement. The character can add ten feet to his or her normal movement, while wearing light or medium armours (this should mean a movement rate of 30 feet for most halflings, as the normal halfling movement rate is 20 feet.

Avoreen's Defense:  The guardian can force all melee attacks against him to fail, for one whole round. The player simply chooses which round (before it starts) and tells the DM. All attacks against the guardian will behave just as if they had rolled a one on their attack role. This is a supernatural ability granted by Avoreen which can be used a number of times per day equal to the character's charisma modifier [representing that strength of character is encouraged by Avoreen].

Spells:  Halfling guardians are granted divine spells by Avoreen. A zero in the column indicates that the spell can only be cast if the guardian has a spell bonus for the level spell based on the wisdom score.

Halfling Guardian Spell List 
First level			Second level			Third level
Alarm				Avoreen's Strength *1 		Magic Vestment
Magic Weapon			Delay Poison 	 		Prayer
Divine Favour			Cure light wounds 		Burning Sword *3
Expeditious Retreat 		See Invisibility 			Detect Lie
Message				Snare 				Dispel Magic
Pass without trace 		Messenger 			Giantsize (Guardian Spell)
Speak with Animals 		Rapid Strikes *2 			Prayer
Weapon Shift *2			Whispering Wind			Feign Death
Humansize (Guardian spell) 	Summon Nature's Ally 2 		Locate Object
Summon Nature's Ally 1 						

*1 Same as Bull's Strength 
*2 As per page 85 Dragon ™ issue September 2000
*3 As per page 85 Dragon ™ issue September 2000 except may only be cast on short sword.

Table 1: Halfling Guardian
Level	Base Attack	Fort	Reflex	Will	Spells		Special
Bonus		Save	Save	Save	1 2 3
1	+1		0	2	2	0		Tracking Skill, Fear Resistance +1
2	+2		0	3	3	1		Favoured Enemy 1, Halfling Hospitality
3	+3		1	3	3	1 0		Fighter Feat, Sense Evil
4	+4		1	4	4	1 1		Self Healing, Fear Resistance +2
5	+5		1	4	4	2 1		Favoured Enemy 2
6	+6		2	5	5	2 2 0		Defensive Stance +1
7	+7		2	5	5	2 2 1		Fighter Feat, Fleet Foot
8	+8		2	6	6	3 2 1		Fear Resistance +3
9	+9		3	6	6	3 2 2		Fighter Feat, Defensive Stance +2
10	+10		3	7	7	3 3 2		Avoreen's Defense

Appendix A : Guardian Spells

Humansize
Transmutation
Level: 1
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Touch
Target: Creature touched
Duration: 3 rounds / level
Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless)
Spell Resistance: Yes (harmless)
This spell makes a halfling (and only a halfling) grow to the size of a human (Size: M). Everything the guardian is wearing or holding grows proportionately in size as well. In particular the halflings short sword grows to a long sword. The halfling still wields it as if it wear a short sword, in regards to bonuses, proficiencies etc., but it does damage as a long sword. The spell does not cause the halfling to become disorientated or clumsy. Additionally the halfling gains 2 points of strength for the duration of the spell. Note the halfling suffers all penalties associated with their new size including to hit and armour class modifiers.

Giantsize
Transmutation
Level: 3
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Touch
Target: Creature touched
Duration: 2 rounds / level
Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless)
Spell Resistance: Yes (harmless)
This spell makes a halfling (and only a halfling) grow to the size of a hill giant (Size: L). Everything the guardian is wearing or holding grows proportionately in size as well. In particular the halflings short sword grows to a bastard sword. The halfling still wields it as if it wear a short sword, in regards to bonuses, proficiencies etc., but it does damage as a bastard sword. The spell does not cause the halfling to become disorientated or clumsy. Additionally the halfling gains 4 points of strength for the duration of the spell. Note the halfling suffers all penalties associated with their new size including to hit and armour class modifiers.