Runner

"When will the weather clear?" If you know the answer, you're in. If you don't, you never saw the runner who asked: the one on the rooftop, the one in the crowd, the one who left with your purse and your secrets before you finished turning around.

Adventures. Runners replace the rogue in Eldriloch. The name comes from the Veil's runners, the scouts, smugglers and thugs who carry its messages across Staerhiel's rooftops, but every city has its own. Runners scout for mercenary companies, smuggle people out of Murkwell, crack Sovereigni vaults, and pick through the ruins the War of Souls left behind. Anywhere there's a lock, a guard or a secret, there's work for a runner.

Characteristics. A runner is fast, quiet and skilled, and strikes hardest when the enemy isn't ready. They find and disarm traps, climb and leap across rooftops, slip through crowds and speak the coded language of the underworld. Runners use no magic at all, neither flux nor aether. What they have instead is practice.

Outlook. Runners range from Veil idealists to purse-cutters with no ideals at all. Most are Sullied, and most of them steal from the Sovereigni on principle.

Religion. Runners who pray favor Nylshyra, goddess of night and secrets, or Esriya, whose luck is fickle. Most trust their own hands.

Background. Most runners grew up on the streets of Staerhiel's poor rings, in the Tepor Islands, or in the alleys of Caerdydd, and learned the trade to eat. Others were scouts in the War of Souls, or apprentices to a locksmith who never asked where the work came from.

Races. Humans are the most common runners. Runekar runners make superb trap-breakers, malumtene runners are frighteningly good at going unseen, and shadow souldriven sometimes take up the trade after release.

Other Classes. Runners work with anyone who pays. They partner naturally with entertainers, who provide the distraction, and with fighters and justicars, who provide the front line. Wardens make runners nervous.

Role. The runner is the party's scout, trap-breaker and lock-picker, and a deadly striker when an enemy is flanked or caught off-guard.

Using the rogue. The runner uses the rules for the rogue in the Player's Handbook: d6 Hit Die, medium base attack, good Reflex save, 8 + Int skill points per level, the rogue's class skill list, sneak attack, trapfinding, evasion, uncanny dodge and the rogue's special abilities at 10th, 13th, 16th and 19th level. The changes below give it an Eldriloch flavor without changing its power.

Hit Die: d6.

Starting Wealth: 5d4 × 10 gl (125 gl).

Class Skills: As the rogue.

Skill Points at 1st Level: (8 + Int modifier) × 4.

Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 8 + Int modifier.

A runner has all the rogue's class features as written, with these changes.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: As the rogue, plus the pocket pistol (see Firearms).

Runner's Cant (Ex): A runner knows the coded language of Eldriloch's underworld: hand signs, chalk marks and innocent phrases about the weather that carry hidden meanings. Runners and members of the Veil, the Ebony Eye and the Gutter Kings can pass simple messages in plain sight without others noticing. An observer needs a DC 20 Sense Motive check to realize a message was passed, and can't understand it without knowing the cant.

Rooftop Runner (Ex): This replaces the rogue's trap sense. At 3rd level, a runner gains a +1 bonus on Balance, Climb and Jump checks, and can climb at half speed instead of one-quarter speed without penalty. The bonus increases by 1 every three levels, to +6 at 18th level.

Sneak Attack, Trapfinding, Evasion, Uncanny Dodge, Special Abilities: As the rogue.