The Brown Cloaks are a specially trained section of 'The Museum'. They are the highest ranking members of the Acquisitions department, and their job is to seek out and recover historical, magical, and religious artifacts. To these ends, they specialize in bypassing traps, exploring compounds, deciphering puzzles, and dealing with hostile creatures. The Brown Cloaks typically travel with a small team of hirelings and one apprentice to assist in field work. In addition to their duties to the Museum, some Brown Cloaks undertake quests on behalf of certain arcane, religious, and historical groups. Brown Cloaks are typically rogues, but there are some wizards and bards in the organization who have only a small amount of rogue training. Brown Cloaks depend heavily on the research provided by the White Cloak Loremasters who run the Intelligence department.
Prerequisites:
Race: Gnome
Skills: 4 ranks each in Knowedge (history) and Knowledge (arcana); 5 ranks each in Decipher Script and Appraise; 10 ranks each in Disable Device and Search.
Feats: Alertness
Special: Traps ability.
Alignment: Non-evil
Hit Dice: d6
Skills points: 8 + Int
Class Skills: Appraise, Balance, Climb, Craft, Decipher Script, Disable Device, Escape Artist , Gather Information, Hide, Intuit Direction, Jump, Knowledge (anything pertinent to archaeology, including History, Religion, and Arcana), Listen, Move Silently, Open Lock, Search, Spot, Swim, Tumble, Use Magic Device, and Use Rope.
BAB, Saves, Weapon and Armor Proficiency: same as Rogue
Level Special abilities
1 Discerning Eye, Artifact Lore
2 Trap Study (+2)
3 Scent
4
5 Sense Magic
6 Trap Study (+3)
7 Locate Object
8
9 Artifact Communion
10 Trap Study (+4)
Discerning Eye: Through intensive Brown Cloak training, the character becomes well versed in noticing anything out of the ordinary. When the character walks (no faster than normal movement) within 5 feet of a hidden trap, secret door, or illusionary wall, the character gets a free Search check at -5 to notice it. This requires normal lighting conditions and full visibility. At 4th level the range increases to 10 feet.
Artifact Lore: Through their association with the Loremasters, Brown Cloaks pick up bits and pieces of information relevant to their trade. The character may make a special Artifact Lore check, with a bonus equal to his level + his Intelligence modifier, to see if he knows any relevant information about a local magical or legendary item. This check will not explicitly reveal the powers of a magic item but may give a hint as to its general function. The character cannot take 10 on the roll, since this type of knowledge is essentially random. Any levels of Loremaster or Bard are also added to the roll. The DM will determine the difficulty class from the table below.
DC Type of Knowledge
-- -----------------
10 Common, known by at least a substantial minority of the local population.
20 Uncommon but available, known by only a few people in the area.
25 Obscure, known by few, hard to come by.
30 Extremely obscure, known by very few, possibly forgotten by most who once knew it, possibly known only by those who don't understand the significance of the knowledge.
Trap Study: By 2nd level, extensive study of traps has trained the character to be alert and resourceful, giving a +2 bonus to all Search and Disable Device checks to find or disarm a trap. Brown Cloak training also helps the character to react quickly in the event that a trap is overlooked, giving the same bonus to reflex saves made to avoid traps, and as a dodge bonus to AC against attacks by traps. The bonus goes up by +1 every four levels.
Scent: By 3rd level, the character has developed his keen sense of smell to the point where he gains the Scent ability to a distance of 20 feet. At 8th level it increases to 30 feet.
Sense Magic: By 5th level, Brown Cloaks have acquired the ability to "sniff out" magic. As a standard action, the character can sense the presence of magical auras in any one direction. The area of effect is a quarter circle emanating from the character out to a range of 5 feet/level. This detection is blocked by 1 foot of stone, 1 inch of metal, a thin sheet of lead, or 3 feet of wood or dirt. It is an extraordinary ability and can be used at will. At 8th level, if the character spends two rounds, he can also determine the number of different magical auras and the strength of the strongest aura.
Locate Object: At 7th level, the character gains the ability to instinctively know the location of any object he is looking for. This acts exactly like a Locate Object spell cast by a 15th level sorceror. It is a supernatural ability and can be used three times a day.
Artifact Communion: By concentrating on an object, the Brown Cloak can see visions of the past. These visions reveal the object's approximate age, the alignment and physical appearance of the object's creator and all subsequent owners, and brief memories of noteworthy events involving the object, such as the death of an owner, or the use of the object in an epic battle. These visions may give further clues about the powers and abilities of a magical item, although the examined object need not be magical or even legendary. This ability works on incomplete or broken objects, but the information revealed will be equally fragmented. The time it takes to get all the information is 5 minutes for every year since the object's creation. This ability is supernatural and can be performed only once a week. If the character is interrupted (other than to sleep and eat), he gets partial information and must wait a week to start again.
EDIT: took out sneak attack and added some class skills. it comes out one ability worse than pure rogue, but I guess Scent is powerful enough to count as two abilities...
EDIT II: changed skill list again
Prerequisites:
Race: Gnome
Skills: 4 ranks each in Knowedge (history) and Knowledge (arcana); 5 ranks each in Decipher Script and Appraise; 10 ranks each in Disable Device and Search.
Feats: Alertness
Special: Traps ability.
Alignment: Non-evil
Hit Dice: d6
Skills points: 8 + Int
Class Skills: Appraise, Balance, Climb, Craft, Decipher Script, Disable Device, Escape Artist , Gather Information, Hide, Intuit Direction, Jump, Knowledge (anything pertinent to archaeology, including History, Religion, and Arcana), Listen, Move Silently, Open Lock, Search, Spot, Swim, Tumble, Use Magic Device, and Use Rope.
BAB, Saves, Weapon and Armor Proficiency: same as Rogue
Level Special abilities
1 Discerning Eye, Artifact Lore
2 Trap Study (+2)
3 Scent
4
5 Sense Magic
6 Trap Study (+3)
7 Locate Object
8
9 Artifact Communion
10 Trap Study (+4)
Discerning Eye: Through intensive Brown Cloak training, the character becomes well versed in noticing anything out of the ordinary. When the character walks (no faster than normal movement) within 5 feet of a hidden trap, secret door, or illusionary wall, the character gets a free Search check at -5 to notice it. This requires normal lighting conditions and full visibility. At 4th level the range increases to 10 feet.
Artifact Lore: Through their association with the Loremasters, Brown Cloaks pick up bits and pieces of information relevant to their trade. The character may make a special Artifact Lore check, with a bonus equal to his level + his Intelligence modifier, to see if he knows any relevant information about a local magical or legendary item. This check will not explicitly reveal the powers of a magic item but may give a hint as to its general function. The character cannot take 10 on the roll, since this type of knowledge is essentially random. Any levels of Loremaster or Bard are also added to the roll. The DM will determine the difficulty class from the table below.
DC Type of Knowledge
-- -----------------
10 Common, known by at least a substantial minority of the local population.
20 Uncommon but available, known by only a few people in the area.
25 Obscure, known by few, hard to come by.
30 Extremely obscure, known by very few, possibly forgotten by most who once knew it, possibly known only by those who don't understand the significance of the knowledge.
Trap Study: By 2nd level, extensive study of traps has trained the character to be alert and resourceful, giving a +2 bonus to all Search and Disable Device checks to find or disarm a trap. Brown Cloak training also helps the character to react quickly in the event that a trap is overlooked, giving the same bonus to reflex saves made to avoid traps, and as a dodge bonus to AC against attacks by traps. The bonus goes up by +1 every four levels.
Scent: By 3rd level, the character has developed his keen sense of smell to the point where he gains the Scent ability to a distance of 20 feet. At 8th level it increases to 30 feet.
Sense Magic: By 5th level, Brown Cloaks have acquired the ability to "sniff out" magic. As a standard action, the character can sense the presence of magical auras in any one direction. The area of effect is a quarter circle emanating from the character out to a range of 5 feet/level. This detection is blocked by 1 foot of stone, 1 inch of metal, a thin sheet of lead, or 3 feet of wood or dirt. It is an extraordinary ability and can be used at will. At 8th level, if the character spends two rounds, he can also determine the number of different magical auras and the strength of the strongest aura.
Locate Object: At 7th level, the character gains the ability to instinctively know the location of any object he is looking for. This acts exactly like a Locate Object spell cast by a 15th level sorceror. It is a supernatural ability and can be used three times a day.
Artifact Communion: By concentrating on an object, the Brown Cloak can see visions of the past. These visions reveal the object's approximate age, the alignment and physical appearance of the object's creator and all subsequent owners, and brief memories of noteworthy events involving the object, such as the death of an owner, or the use of the object in an epic battle. These visions may give further clues about the powers and abilities of a magical item, although the examined object need not be magical or even legendary. This ability works on incomplete or broken objects, but the information revealed will be equally fragmented. The time it takes to get all the information is 5 minutes for every year since the object's creation. This ability is supernatural and can be performed only once a week. If the character is interrupted (other than to sleep and eat), he gets partial information and must wait a week to start again.
EDIT: took out sneak attack and added some class skills. it comes out one ability worse than pure rogue, but I guess Scent is powerful enough to count as two abilities...
EDIT II: changed skill list again
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