Pathfinder

Deep beneath the earth or high on forbidding peaks, pathfinders help guide and manage caravans that seek to dabble in the extremely profitable trade with deep dwarves, Gnomes, and other races.

Pathfinders spend lonely weeks scouring the wilderness both above and below, mapping out secret paths for caravans and negotiating trade agreements with friendly or neutral humanoid tribes. A pathfinder maps out terrain,
spies on enemy camps, and keeps a sharp eye out for threats, cutting them off before they can develop into a true menace. Particularly in the labyrinthine depths of the underearth, pathfinders fulfil a critical role in the maintaining the tiny trickle of commerce that flows between the surface and the deep.

The Quintessential Rogue
Author Michael Mearls
Publisher Mongoose Publishing
Publish date 2002

Adventuring: Most pathfinders live out their lives in the service of a trade coalition or guild. Some are forced to adventure because of the dissolution, bankruptcy, or destruction of their homes, while others develop such a love for their work that rather than retire to a simpler life they wander into the world to find their fortune. As members of an adventuring band, the pathfinder’s skills with traps and scouting make him an invaluable member of the group, especially in the dark depths of caverns and dungeons. They often serve point duty for a party, ranging far ahead to identify threats and search out secret ways.

Role-Playing: Pathfinders often spend days at a time on their own, travelling across forbidding terrain and monster-infested caverns with only their knowledge and wits to protect them. Pathfinders tend to be withdrawn and secretive, speaking only when absolutely necessary and having little patience for buffoonery or other such foolishness.

Bonuses: Pathfinders excel at identifying hidden passages and setting traps. Their duty requires them to make peaceful contact with other races. Pathfinders gains two additional languages at first level. In addition, they gain a +2 competence bonus to Search checks made to discover secret doors or concealed passages.

Penalties: Pathfinders focus more on military training than the general spread of skills that most rogues acquire. They do not count the following as class skills: Bluff, Escape Artist, Forgery, Innuendo and Open Lock.