Favoured Soul - The favoured soul follows the path of the cleric but is able to channel divine power with surprising ease. She is able to perform the same tasks as her fellow divine spellcasters but with virtually no study; to her, it comes naturally. Scholars wonder if favoured souls have traces of outsider blood from unions, holy or unholy, centuries ago and generation removed. Others suggest that divine training of the proper type awakens the ability, or that favoured souls are simply imbued with their gifts by their god when they begin the cleric's path. In any case, favoured souls cast their spells naturally, as much through force of personality as through study. Though this gives them extraordinary divine abilities no normal person could ever match, they see their gift as a call to action, and so in some ways may lag behind their more studious colleagues. Favoured souls are often loners, wandering the land serving their deities. They are welcomed by their churches but treated as unusual and are sometimes misunderstood. They are emissaries of their deities and outside the church's command structure - respected mystics not requiring the support normally crucial to a priest's success. This makes them sometimes revered and sometimes envied by their cleric cousins. While favoured souls are occasionally disrespected for their perceived lack of discipline, devout worshipers know that they are a powerful message from, and indeed a living manifestation of, their deities.

Background - Favoured souls learn of their connection with the divine at a young age. Eventually, a young favoured soul understands the power that she had been wielding unintentionally. Favoured souls, as naturally inclined divine channelers, are also born loners. Unlike clerics in a temple, they gain little by sharing their knowledge and have no strong incentive to work together.

Racial Notes - The innate talent of spontaneously channeling divine power is unpredictable, and it can show up in any of the common races. Divine spellcasters from savage lands or from among brutal humanoid tribes (such as orcs or half-orcs) are more often favoured souls than clerics.

Religion - A favoured soul can be of any religion. Human favoured souls usually worship the most commonly worshipped among humans, while nonhuman races tend to worship the chief deity of their racial pantheon. Unlike clerics, favoured souls are not able to devote themselves to a cause or a source of divine power instead of a deity.

Relationships - Favoured souls have the most common with members of other self-taught classes, especially sorcerers, but also druids and rogues. They sometimes find themselves at odds with members of the more disciplined classes, specifically clerics, whom they sometimes view as too wrapped up in doctrine and rigidly defined attitudes.

Wings - At 17th level, a favoured soul gains the power to call upon temporary magical wings. (Represented as a 3/day use of haste) If good-aligned, favoured souls can call upon feathered wings, and if evil-aligned, favoured souls can call upon bat-like wings. A favoured soul who is neither good nor evil may choose either type upon reaching level 17, but must keep to whatever wing type they have chosen, unless they have an alignment change.

Fighter - The questing knight, the conquering overlord, the king's champion, the elite foot soldier, the hardened mercenary, and the bandit king - all are fighters. Fighters can be stalwart defenders of those in need, cruel marauders, or gutsy adventurerers. Some are among the land's best souls, willing to face death for the greater good. Others are among the worst, those who have no qualms about killing for private gain, or even for sport. Fighters who are not actively adventuring may be soldiers, guards, bodyguards, champions, or criminal enforcers. An adventuring fighter might call himself a warrior, a mercenary, a thug, or simply an adventurer. Most fighters see adventures, raids, and dangerous missions as their job. Some have patrons who pay them regularly. Others prefer to live like prospectors, taking great risks in hopes of the big haul. Some fighters are more civic-minded and use their combat skills to protect those in dangerous who cannot defend themselves. Whatever their initial motivations, however, fighters often wind up living for the thrill of combat and adventure.

Background - Fighters come to their profession in many ways. Most have had formal training is a noble's army or at least in the local militia. Some have trained in formal academies. Others are self taught - unpolished by well tested. A fighter may have taken up the sword as a way to escape the limits of life on the farm, or he may be following a proud family tradition. Fighters share no special identity. They do not see themselves as a group or brotherhood. Those who hail from a particular academy, mercenary company, or lord's regiment, however, share a certain camaraderie.

Racial Notes - Human fighters are usually veterans of some military service, typically from more mundane parents. Dwarven fighters are commonly former members of the well-trained strike teams that protect the underground dwarven kingdoms. They are typically members of warrior families that can trace their lineages back for millennia, and they may have rivalries or alliances with other dwarven fighters depending on their lineages. Elven fighters are typically skilled with the longsword. They are proud of their ability at swordplay and eager to demonstrate or test it. Half-orc fighters are often self-taught outcasts who have achieved enough skill to earn recognition and something akin to respect. Gnome and halfling fighters usually stay in their own lands, as part of the area militia rather than adventuring. Half-elves are rarely fighters, but they may take up swordplay in honour of the elven tradition. Among the brutal humanoids, few can manage the discipline it takes to be a true fighter. The militarisitic hobgoblins, however, produce quite a number of strong and skilled fighters.

Religion - Fighters often worship gods of valour, strength, retribution, tyranny or slaughter. A fighter may style himself as a crusader in the service of his god, or he may just want someone to pray to before putting his life on the line yet another time.

Relationships - The fighter excels in a straight fight, but he relies on others for magical support, healing, and scouting. On a team, it is his job to man the frontlines, protect the other party members, and bring the tought opponents down. Fighters might not much understand the arcane ways of wizards or share the faith of clerics, but they recognise the value of teamwork.

Monk - Dotted across the landscape are monasteries - small, walled cloisters inhabited by monks. These monks pursue personal perfection through action as well as contemplation. They train themselves to be versatile warriors skilled at fighting without weapons or armour. Monasteries headed by good masters serve as protectors of the people. Ready for battle even when barefoot and dressed in peasant clothes, monks are able to travel unnoticed among the populace, catching bandits, warlords, and corrupt nobles unawares. By contrast, monasteries headed by evil masters rule surrounding lands through fear, as an evil warlord's castle might. Evil monks make ideal spies, infiltrators, and assassins. The individual monk, however, is unlikely to care passionately about championing commoners or amassing wealth. She cares for the perfection of her art and, thereby, her personal perfection. Her goal is to achieve a state that is, frankly, beyond the mortal realm. Monks approach adventures as if they were personal tests. While not prone to showing off, monks are willing to try their skills against whatever obstacles confront them. Monks are not greedy for material wealth, by they eagerly seek that which can help them perfect their art.

Background - A monk typically trains in a monastery. Most monks were children when they joined the monastery, sent to live with the monks when their parents died, when there wasn't enough food in the family to keep them, or in return for some kindness that the monastery had performed for the family. Life in the monastery is so focused that by the time a monk sets off on her own, she feels little connection to her former family or village. In larger cities, master monks have set up monk schools to teach their arts to those who are interested and worthy. The monks of these academeies often see their rural cousins from the monasteries as backward. A monk may feel a deep connection to her monastery or school, to the monk who taught her, to the lineage into which she was trained, or to all of these. Some monks, however, have no sense of connection other than their own paths of personal development. Monks recognise each other as as elect group set apart from the rest of the populace. They may feel kinship, but they also love to compete with each other see whose ki is strongest.

Racial Notes - Monasteries are mostly found among humans, who have incorporated them into their ever-evolving culture. Thus, many monks are human (or half-orcs and half-elves who live among humans). Elves are capable of single-minded, long term devotion to an interest, art or discipline, and some of them leave the forests to become monks. The monk tradition is alien to dwarves and gnome culture, and halflings are typically too mobile to commit themselves to a monastery, so dwarves, gnomes, and halflings are very rarely monks. The savage humanoids do not have the stable social structure that allows monk training, but the occasional orphaned or abandoned child from some humanoid tribe winds up in civilised monasteries or adopted by a wandering master. The evil subterranean elves known as the drow have a small, but successful monk tradition.

Religion - A monk's training is her spiritual path. She is inner-directed, capable of private, mystic connection to the spiritual world. She needs neither clerics nor gods. Certain lawful gods, however, may appeal to monks, and monks may meditate on the gods' likenesses and attempt to emulate their deeds.

Relationships - Monks are sometimes distant from others because they have little in common with the motivations and skills of members of other classes. Monks recognise, however, that they work well with support of others, and they prove themselves reliable companions.

Slow Fall - At level 4, a monk may use a wall to slow her fall down, the higher the level, the more effective. Obviously, this is only used in roleplay situations. At level 18, a monk will take no harm, no matter how high the fall if she uses a wall to slow her fall. Otherwise the general effectiveness increases with level.

Abundant Step - At 12th level, a monk can magically slip between spaces (Solid, even), once per day. This effect lasts up to one minute. For roleplaying purposes, a monk could use this if being chased down an alley to materialise into a nearby wall, when her attackers run by, she can simply step out. For the purposes of staying in for the whole minute, the monk is then magically 'pushed' out of the solid space.

Tongue of the Sun and Moon - A monk of 17th level or above can speak with any living creature. For this reason, a monk can escape the language barriers (IE. An elf who only speaks elven, but the monk cannot speak elven) and tell a person anything they need too. However this does not allow them to understand the person they talk too.

Paladin - The compassion to pursue good, the will to uphold law, and the power to defeat evil - these are the three weapons of the paladin. Few have the purity and devotion that it takes to walk the paladin's path, but those few are rewarded with the power to protect, to heal, and to smite. In a land of scheming wizards, unholy priests, bloodthirsty dragons, and infernal fiends, the paladin is the final hope that cannot be extinguished. Paladins take their adventures seriously and have a penchant for referring to them as "quests". Even a mundane mission is, in the heart of the paladin, a personal test - an oppurtunity to demonstrate bravery, to develop martial skills, to learn tactics, and to find ways to do good. Still, the paladin really comes into her own when leading a mighty campaign against evil, not when merely looting ruins.

Background - No one ever chooses to be a paladin. Becoming a paladin is answering a call, accepting one's destiny. No one, no matter how diligent, can become a paladin through practice. The nature is either within one or not, and it is not possible to gain the paladin's nature by any act of will. It is possible to fail to recognise one's own potential, or to deny one's destiny. Some who are called to be paladins deny the call and pursue some other life instaed. Most paladins answer the call and begin training as adolescents. Typically, they become squires or assistants to experienced paladins, train for years, and finally set off on their own to further the causes of good and law. Other paladins, however, find their calling only later in life, after having pursued some other career. All paladins, regardless of background, recognise in each other an eternal bond that transcends culture, race, and even religion. Any two paladins, even from opposite sides of the world, consider themselves comrades.

Racial Notes - Humans, with their ambitious souls, make great paladins. Half-elves, who often have human ambition, may also find themselves called into service as paladins. Dwarves are sometimes paladins, ubt becoming a paladin may be hard on a dwarf because it means putting the duties of the paladin's life before duties to family, clan, and king. Elven paladins are few, and those few tend to follow quests that take them far and wide because their lawful bent puts them out of synch with life among the elves. Members of the other common races rarely hear the call to become paladins. Among the savage humanoids, paladins are all but unheard of.

Religion - Paladins need not devote themselves to a single deity. Devotion to righteousness is enough for most. Those who align themselves with particular religions prefer gods of valor, or perhaps of sun. Paladins devoted to a god are scrupulous in observing religious duties and are welcome in every associated temple.

Relationships - Even though paladins are in some ways set apart from others, they eagerly team up with those whose skills and capabilities complement their own. They work well with good and lawful clerics, and they appreciate with those who are brave, honest, and commited to good. While they cannot abide evil acts by their companions, they are otherwise willing to work with a variety of people quite different from themselves. Charismatic, trustworthy, and well respected, the paladin makes a fine leader for a team.

Detect Evil - Detect evil will not be available for paladins due to the possibility of exploitation and player harassment. That being said, another player may allow a paladin to sense their evil alignment if the non-paladin's player wishes too.

Ranger - The forests are home to fierce and cunning creatures, such as bloodthirsty owlbears and malicious displacer beasts. But more cunning and powerful than these monsters is the ranger, a skilled hunter and stalker. He knows the woods as if they were his home (as indeed they are), and he knows his prey in deadly detail. Rangers often accept the role of protector, aiding those who live in or travel through the woods. In addition, they often carry grudges against certain types of creatures and look for opportunities to find and destroy them. Additionally, rangers may adventure for all the reasons that fighters do.

Background - Some rangers gained their training as part of special military teams, but most learned their skills from solitary masters who accepted them as students and assistants. The rangers are of a particular master may count themselves as cohorts, or they may be rivals fo rthe status of "best student" and thus the rightful heir to their master's fame.

Racial Notes - Elves are commonly rangers. They are at home in the woods, and they have the grace to move stealthily. Half-elves who feel their elven parents' connection to the woods are also commonly rangers. Humans are often rangers as well, being adaptable enough to learn their way around the woods even if it doesn't come naturally. Half-orcs may find the life of a ranger more comfortable than life among cruel and taunting humans (or orcs). Gnome rangers are more common than gnome fighters, but still they tend to remain in their own lands rather than adventure among "the big people." Dwarf rangers are rare, but they can be quite effective. Instead of living in the surface wilderness, they are at home in the endless caverns beneath the earth. Here they hunt down and destroys the enemies of dwarvenkind with the relentless precision for which dwarves are known. Dwarf rangers are often known as "cavers." Halfling rangers are legendary - as in, you might hear stories about them but you'll probably never meet one. AMong the savage humanoids, only gnolls are commonly rangers, using their skills to slyly stalk their prey.

Religion - Though rangers gain their divine spells from the power of nature, like anyone else they may worship a chosen deity. Deities of the wood, deities of nature tend to be quite commonly worshipped by rangers.

Relationships - Rangers get along well with druids and to some extent with barbarians. They are known to bicker with paladins, mostly because they often share goals but differ in style, tactics, approach, philosophy, and esthetics. Since rangers don't much look to other people for support or friendship, they find it easy to tolerate people who are quite different from themselves, such as bookish wizards and preachy clerics. They just don't care enough to get upset about others' differences.

Favoured Enemy - At 1st level, a ranger may select a type of creature as a favoured enemy. (You may not choose your own race as a favoured enemy unless your alignment is of evil.) Due to his extensive study of his foes and training in the proper techniques for combating them, the ranger gains a +1 bonus to Bluff, Listen, Spot and Taunt checks, and also a +1 on weapon damage rolls against their favoured enemy. At 5th, and every five levels after that, the ranger can choose an additional favoured enemy. Your character should have a reason to favour against a certain race. Whether it be to hunt them to survive or perhaps have a general dislike and/or mistrust and therefore train against them

Animal Companion - At 4th level, a ranger gains an animal companion. See Druid for more information.