In touch with the heart of a force known only as “The Storyteller”, guides are a fey-blessed lot who offer divine guidance to their parties. Chosen by the Storyteller for a task, guides are the meekest of souls but they carry within them the strength to ignite the hearts of heroes.
A guide has all the answers. Though their connection to The Storyteller they have access to the infinite knowledge of the universe. However, with an (ostensibly) infinite amount of information at their fingertips they require a great deal of time to locate it. Contained within the information in a guide’s database is not only all the “real” information but a much larger amount of “potential” information that could or might have existed under different circumstances and even projections about the future.
The Storyteller takes only the meekest of the fey as his earthly agents and pixies, brownies, and even the occasional dryad are typically found in his employ.. He is a shy creature in his own right and generally avoids contact with anyone of a size category larger than him (small sized). Though non-fey guides are rare, occasionally the Storyteller will seek out a particular individual for a specific task where their race would be an asset.
Guides possess the ability to enter a bauble - a form that protects them from harm for a period of time - as well as having keen observational skills that are unrivalled. They provide an integral role as a utility character and while they are not as useful on the frontline of combat, they have a number of unique abilities that can aid their charge.
Hit Dice: d4
InspIratIons: A guide draws from a number of sources for inspirations but primarily draws from good natured fairies and the literary archetype of “the fairy godmother”.
Race: A guide may be from any race, though The Storyteller prefers fey, those with a touch of fey blood in them, creatures of a Small size category or smaller, or at the very least, particularly wise.
Suggestions: Gathlain, Gnome, or Halfling
| Allowing a player to play a guide will impact the way you run your game so you should be aware of the benefits and changes of the choice. Guides are excellent for delivering exposition and vital information, directing a party, or just providing information. However, you will have to share information with a guide that you would not typically share with a normal player. A guide might become privy to things like the location of traps, the statistics of creatures, the DC of saves/challenges, and other such information. Don’t stifle this relationship, encourage it. Work with your party’s guide and let him look over your shoulder from time to time. Give him information you want the party to A) get and B) trust. Allow your guide to be a sort of “sub-gm”, working part with you and part with the rest of your players. If all else fails, a guide can make the perfect NPC for a GM to play! It allows the GM to play a less intrusive character that has a reason for guiding and offering exposition. |
Role: Guides are the masters of support and knowledge checks. While having even fewer Hit Points than a Wizard they have defensive abilities that can sustain them temporarily if the situation arises.
Alignment: any
Guides are drawn to parties who share their alignment and whose goal is not opposed to their beliefs. Evil guides are often in the employ of wicked sorceress, serving as their eyes and ears. Good aligned guides are found wandering the world and helping out those who don’t yet have the strength to stand up for themselves. There are many stories in which guides help children achieve their dreams; be they the dreams of a low-born boy to become a knight, the tears of a little girl who wants to become a beautiful princess and meet Mr. Right, or even the cries for help of an overburdened young hero who just needs to know how to defeat a specific type of enemy.
The Storyteller[]
Guides are empowered by the enigmatic fairy king known only as “The Storyteller”. While his power exceeds that of a normal fey lord, being more akin to a lesser deity, he seems to be content to watch the history of the world unfold. While he doesn’t answer clerics, writers sometimes spill a bit of ink on the ground as a salute to him. So captivated by a good story is he that he will dispatch guides, sometimes on both sides, to make the story even more dramatic. However, being of a chaotic good alignment, he is a sucker for happy endings and truth triumphing over evil.
The Storyteller seems to be almost cognizant in the meta-sense of all information and helps guide it into the form of stories fit for reading by later generations. He is a shy, polite, bashful man who normally takes the form of an old male pixie or halfling with a long white beard and a tall, scruffy looking, patched, cap. Very few mortals/creatures, even amongst the guides, have ever seen or directly conversed with him. Often their actions are guided by him and they are relatively unaware of his tampering in their existence beyond the powers he grants them.
If your campaign setting has a more appropriate deity or being of great power, please feel free to use that in place of The Storyteller. He is merely a placeholder for a benevolent deity with lots of knowledge.
Starting Wealth: 2d6 × 10 gp (average 70gp.) In addition, each guide begins play with an outfit worth 10 gp or less.
Class Skills: The guide class skills are Diplomacy (Cha), Fly (Dex), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (all) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Perception (Wis), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), and Survival (Wis).
Skill Ranks Per Level: 8 + Int modifier
Class Features[]
| Level | Base Attack Bonus | Fort Save | Ref Save | Will Save | Special |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | +0 | +0 | +2 | +2 | Bauble form, charm of protection, interaction |
| 2nd | +1 | +0 | +3 | +3 | Etheric aura (20 ), ray of light |
| 3rd | +1 | +1 | +3 | +3 | Interaction, healing light |
| 4th | +2 | +1 | +4 | +4 | Early warning, nondetection |
| 5th | +2 | +1 | +4 | +4 | Interaction, shell enhancement |
| 6th | +3 | +2 | +5 | +5 | Revealing gaze |
| 7th | +3 | +2 | +5 | +5 | Interaction |
| 8th | +4 | +2 | +6 | +6 | Wildwards |
| 9th | +4 | +3 | +6 | +6 | Interaction, shell enhancement |
| 10th | +5 | +3 | +7 | +7 | Hand of the Storyteller, heroes’ hearts, limited wishes |
| 11th | +5 | +3 | +7 | +7 | Interaction |
| 12th | +6/+1 | +4 | +8 | +8 | Etheric aura (50 ) |
| 13th | +6/+1 | +4 | +8 | +8 | Interaction, shell enhancement |
| 14th | +7/+2 | +4 | +9 | +9 | Nondetection |
| 15th | +7/+2 | +5 | +9 | +9 | Interaction |
| 16th | +8/+3 | +5 | +10 | +10 | True sight |
| 17th | +8/+3 | +5 | +10 | +10 | Interaction, shell enhancement |
| 18th | +9/+4 | +6 | +11 | +11 | Wildwards |
| 19th | +9/+4 | +6 | +11 | +11 | Interaction |
| 20th | +10/+5 | +6 | +12 | +12 | Empowered wishes |
The following are the class features of the guide.
Weapon And Armor Proficiencies[]
The guide is proficient with no weapons or armor.
| Though the guide has no spells it has an effective caster level for the purpose of determining the effectiveness of her class features equal to her guide level. The save for a guide’s spells and abilities are Wisdom based. |
Bauble (Su)[]
At 1st level, a guide gains the ability to become nothing more than a diminutive-sized orb of light. While in this form she becomes a Tiny sized etheric creature. The guide may enter this form as a move action and resume her own form as a swift action. A guide may indefinitely remain in her bauble state.
She gains the following characteristics while in her bauble form:
- A guide can shed a soft colored light on command. This allows her to shed light like a light spell at will and change her color at will.
- She gains a fly speed equal to her land speed with average maneuverability.
- She gains no benefit from armor or shield bonuses to her AC.
As she is a glowing mote of light her creature type changes to that of an elemental. It provides the following benefits:
- Immunity to bleed, paralysis, poison, sleep effects, and stunning.
- Not subject to critical hits or flanking. Does not take additional damage from precision-based attacks, such as sneak attack.
- As she has no limbs or hands she may not wield weapons, carry objects, or otherwise take actions that require hands or the like.
- All objects on her person merge into her form and are considered weightless for the purpose of determining their weight for her encumbrance, so long as the amount does not exceed her maximum encumbrance.
As a Tiny sized creature she has the following adjustments.
- +2 size bonus to their AC, a +2 size bonus on attack rolls, a –2 penalty on combat maneuver checks and to their CMD, and a +8 size bonus on Stealth checks. Keep in mind that a guide in her bauble form sheds light like a torch.
- Tiny characters take up a space of 2-1/2 feet by 2-1/2 feet, so up to four of these characters can fit into a single square. Tiny creatures have a natural reach of 0 feet, meaning they can’t reach into adjacent squares. They must enter an opponent’s square to attack it in melee. This provokes an attack of opportunity from the opponent. Since they have no natural reach, they do not threaten the squares around them. Other creatures can move through those squares without provoking attacks of opportunity. Tiny creatures cannot flank an enemy.
| In this class, abilities marked with a “(B)” can only be used while in bauble form. Anything marked with a “[A]” can be used while in any form. |
Charm of Protection (Ex) (B)[]
While in their bauble form a guide gains a luck bonus to their AC equal to their Charisma modifier.
Interactions (Sp) (B)[]
At 1st level, when in a bauble form a guide gains unique abilities - known as interactions - to interact with the world around her. A guide can use these interactions when in her bauble form.
At 1st level and every odd level thereafter they must select 1 new interaction.
(Guide Interactions can be found here)
Ray Of Light (Sp) (B)[]
At 2nd level, a guide can focus her energy and shoot several small beam of energy while in her bauble form. This allows her to cast scorching ray as a spell-like ability, though without the normal limitation of a maximum number of rays (normally imposed at 11th level). A guide may do this a number of times per day equal to her Wisdom modifier. Additionally, a guide may cast magic missile at will at 2nd level.
Etheric Aura (Su) (B)[]
At 2nd level, while in her bauble form attacks against the guide have a 20% miss chance. At 12th level this improves to a 50% miss chance. Abilities that bypass ethereal miss chances (such as those granted by ethereal jaunt) bypass this miss chance as well.
Healing Light (Su) (B)[]
At 3rd level the light of a guide can cure the wounds of a creature within 30 feet as a swift action (or an immediate action). She has 2d6s per guide level that she can heal per day with this ability. As a swift action she may heal a creature for as many d6s as she wishes so long as she has d6s of healing remaining. A guide must be in her bauble form to utilize this class feature. A guide may not heal herself with this ability.
Early Warning (Ex) (B)[]
At 4th level, the guide develops a supernatural sense of danger. While in her bauble form a guide gains the all-around vision monsters ability. In addition, a guide always gets to act during an enemy’s surprise round. Furthermore, she may elect to grant her ability to act during the surprise round to an ally adjacent to her at the start of combat.
Nondetection (Sp) [A][]
At 4th level, the guide is constantly under the effects of nondetection as a spell-like ability. She may lower or resume this as a swift action. At 14th level, this additionally functions as per detect scrying and envelops all allies within 30 feet of the guide.
Shell Enhancement (Ex) (B)[]
At 5th level and every 4 levels thereafter a guide gains a further benefit from being in her bauble state as she learns to manipulate her “shell”. A thin web of magic protects the guide and she learns to strengthen it with her force of spirit and emotions.
(Guide Shell Enhancements can be found here)
Revealing Gaze (Su) [A][]
At 6th level, a guide gains the ability to peel back the layers of reality and see beneath them. At will, a guide gains the benefit of x-ray vision as a swift action.This benefit is maintained as long as she takes a swift action to maintain it on her turn.
X-ray vision allows her to see into and through solid matter at a range equal to their own visual range. The guide sees as if she were looking at something in normal light even if there is no illumination. X-ray vision can penetrate 1 foot of stone, 1 inch of common metal, or up to 3 feet of wood or dirt. At 10th level a guide can see through twice that amount of each substance. Thicker substances or a thin sheet of lead blocks the vision.
Wildwards (Su) [A][]
At 8th level, all allies within 30 feet of a guide (including herself) gain Spell Resistance equal 10 + her guide level. At 18th level, once per day a guide may cast spell immunity as a spell-like ability. This may be raised or lower by the recipient as a free action.
Hand Of The Storyteller[]
At 10th level, the guide’s rapport with the Storyteller grows to a point where she can be trusted by him with greater power. Any interaction ability that can be utilized a number of times per day equal to her Wisdom modifier can be instead utilized a number of times per day equal to 1/2 her guide level + her Wisdom modifier.
Heroes’ Hearts (Sp) [A][]
At 10th level a guide can establish a telepathic link between her friends at will, as a standard action. This functions as per the spell telepathic bond.
Limited Wishes (Sp) [A][]
At 10th level, once per week the guide can use limited wish as a spell-like ability. However, the guide may not request the wish and the ability will fail if the guide seeks to influence the request (at the GM’s discretion. A guide cannot ask someone else to wish for something for them for example). The wish must benefit the creature wishing and must be approved by the guide (she has a choice if she wishes to grant the wish or not). A guide need not have the material component for the limited wish spell and may cast it as a swift action.
True Sight (Sp) [A][]
A guide of 16th level gains the ability to see the world as it truly is. At will, a guide can use true seeing, as the spell, as a swift action. This benefit is maintained as long as she takes a swift action to maintain it on her turn.
Empowered Wishes (Sp) [A][]
At 20th level, once per week the guide can use wish as a spell-like ability. However, the guide may not request the wish and the ability will fail if the guide seeks to influence the request (at the GM’s discretion. A guide cannot ask someone else to wish for something for them for example). The wish must benefit the creature wishing and must be approved by the guide (she has a choice if she wishes to grant the wish or not). A guide need not have the material component for the wish spell and may cast it as a swift action.
This replaces the limited wishes class feature of the guide.