The Field Guide is a logistical wizard, a master of getting into and out of dangerous places (usually far from friendly civilization). In addition to his transportational acumen, the Field Guides also an expert at dealing with the locals—a valuable asset when the natives decide you've been asking too many questions. Between gigs a Field Guide might work as a smuggler or even a tour group operator to pay the bills, but he's really an adventurer at heart.

Select this advanced class if you want your character to be the one who always knows what to do in a strange situation or foreign land.

The fastest path into this advanced class is from a combination of Smart hero with either Tough hero or Dedicated hero. Some would-be Field Guides take one or more levels in Charismatic hero to help deal with all the interesting people they meet.

To qualify to become a Field Guide, a character must fulfill the following criteria.

Skills: Gather Information 4 ranks, Navigate 6 ranks, Speak Language [any three], Survival 6 ranks

Feats: Aircraft Operation or Surface Vehicle Operation

The following information pertains to the Field Guide advanced class.

Hit Die: 1d8

Action Points: 6 + one-half character level, rounded down, every time the Field Guide attains a new level in this class.

The Field Guide’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are:

Climb (Str), Diplomacy (Cha), Drive (Dex), Forgery (Int), Gamble (Wis), Gather Information (Cha), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Navigation (Int), Pilot (Dex), Repair (Int), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str), Treat Injury (Wis)

Skill Points at Each Level: 6 + Int modifier.

The following features pertain to the Field Guide advanced class.

A good Field Guide has a potential ally in every city, town, settlement, or encampment across the Stellar Ring. By spending an action point, the Field Guide can attempt to track down an information contact, expert contact, or resource contact in virtually any locale. To determine if the attempt succeeds,the Field Guide rolls 1d20 and adds his class level and Charisma modifier, then consults the chart below. A Field Guide can use this ability once every 24 hours.

For a Field Guide, it's often far more important that something work right now than it work later. At 2nd level, the Field Guide gains a +2 bonus to Repair checks made to attempt jury-rigged (temporary) repairs. At 8th level, this bonus increases to +4 and the Field Guide can make jury-rigged repairs as a standard action rather than a full-round action.

At 3rd, 6th, and 9th level, the Field Guide gets a bonus feat. The bonus feat must be selected from the following list, and the Field Guide must meet all the prerequisites of the feat to select it.

Aircraft Operation, Alertness, Athletic, Brawl, Endurance, Guide, Personal Firearms Proficiency, Surface Vehicle Operation, Trustworthy, Vehicle Expert

At 4th level, a Field Guide selects a number of skills from his class list equal to 3 + his Intelligence modifier. When making a skill check using one of these skills, the Field Guide may take 10 even if stress and distractions would normally prevent him from doing so. The Field Guide prides himself on his ability to accomplish difficult tasks under pressure.

Some Field Guides thrive on attention and recognition for their work, while others would prefer to remain as anonymous as possible. At 5th level, the Field Guide must decide whether his reputation becomes widespread or low-key by selecting either Renown or Low Profile as a bonus feat. He may select one of these feats even if he has already taken it (this is an exception to the normal rule that a feat can only be selected once).

By 7th level, the Field Guide has become accustomed to working with barter economies or in situations where cash isn't readily available. He may add his class level to any Knowledge checks made to appraise the value of an object. He may make such Knowledge checks even if he has no ranks in the appropriate Knowledge skill. (He still can't make normal untrained Knowledge checks.)

Once per day, a 10th-level Field Guide can elect to spend two action points to improve a single d20 roll (instead of the normal limit of one). Each action point is rolled separately to determine the bonus applied to the d20 roll. However, if any action point die rolled comes up as a one, no bonus is applied to the d20 roll for that action point (but the action point is still spent). If the Field Guide has already spent an action point this round, he can't use this ability.