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#1 TomCosta May 21, 2015 13:00:13	I've reworked my scout class a bit. Comments welcome.   The Scout They were proceeding onward without noise, when a scout who had been creeping about the ditches all night, to warn any stragglers from encroaching further on what was now such dangerous ground, peeped cautiously from his hiding-place, and called to them to stop. -Barnaby Rudge - A Tale Of The Riots Of 'Eighty by Dickens, Charles   In the first faint gray of the morning, when the swarming advance had paused to resume something of definition as a line of battle and skirmishers had been thrown forward, word was passed along to call the roll. -Present At A Hanging And Other Ghost Stories by Bierce, Ambrose   Spread over the grass and in among the tree trunks, he could see knots and waving lines of skirmishers who were running hither and thither and firing at the landscape. -The Red Badge of Courage by Crane, Stephen   The halfling runs swiftly and silently through the woods, keeping pace with the marching soldiers. Occasionally, she pauses to make bird calls, alerting her allies that the marchers are nearly at the ambush point. She sprints ahead, finds her spot near the trip wire trap that will assail the first in line, notches an arrow, and takes aim.   The one-eyed man slams the pommel of his sword into the orc’s head, knocking him to the ground. In moments, he’s bound his bounty, ready to drag his prey back to civilization and the justice that waits.   The elf crouches next to his wolf companion, whispering commands. In a moment the two spring from hiding and into action, circling the bugbear, each taking turns launching their attacks—a darting rapier at one moment, gnashing teeth at the next.   Scouts are master at reconnaissance and expert skirmishers.  They rely on their knowledge of the wilds, stealth, and awareness of their foes’ weaknesses to always be ahead of danger.   Trailblazing and Reconnaissance You are a skilled pathfinder and tracker who may offer your services for a fee. You always seem to find your way. Oftentimes, you are the first to detect threats to your hearth and home, whether humanoid marauders, rampaging giants, or the whims of nature. As a scout, it is your job to enter dangerous areas, gather information, and escape without being detected. You might be a frontiersman keeping abreast of threats to your village, work as a wilderness spy for a noble house or guild, or serve as an outrider for a mercenary company or your country’s military.   Ambushers and Skirmishers You are also a skilled hunter. While you excel at hunting wild game, you may also excel in hunting criminals as a bounty hunter, fighting oppressors as an insurgent, or ambusingh the unsuspecting as a bandit. You’re fighting style likely emphasizes the use of ambushes, sabotage, raids, hit and run attacks, harrying enemy lines, and other forms of guerrilla warfare.   Creating a Scout As you create your scout character, consider where your allegiances lie. Are you dedicated to your local community as a merry insurgent fighting against a wicked lord or a humble villager who keeps an eye out for danger? Perhaps you are allegiance is only to yourself and you are a bounty hunter tracking fugitives for profit or a horrible bandit marauding to survive. Or perhaps, you are dedicated to a mission bigger than yourself, serving in your nation’s military as a reconnaissance expert.    What was it that set you on the path of the adventurer? Did you fail your charges? Or, quite the opposite, did your eagle eye save the day? Did you start on one path, only to be forced on another. Perhaps you began as a military scout, but corruption among the ranks drove you to quit bitterly and become a bounty hunter. Or perhaps, your village was sacked by marauders and you joined your military to fight back.   Quick Build You can make a scout quickly by following these suggestions. First, Dexterity should be your highest ability score, followed by Wisdom. Second, choose the outlander background.
#2 TomCosta May 21, 2015 13:07:31	Class Features As a scout, you have the following class features. Hit Points Hit Dice: 1d8 per scout level Hit Points at 1st Level: 8 + your Constitution modifier Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d8 (or 5) + your Constitution modifier per scout level after 1st   Proficiencies Armor: Light armor Weapons: Simple weapons, longswords, rapiers, scimitars, shortswords, nets Tools: Trapmaker’s kit (see below) Saving Throws: Dexterity, Intelligence Skills: Choose three from Acrobatics, Animal Handling, Athletics, Insight, Investigation, Nature, Perception, Stealth, and Survival   Equipment You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background: • (a) studded leather armor or (b) leather armor • (a) a shortsword or (b) a simple melee weapon • (a) a shortbow and quiver of 20 arrows or (b) a light crossbow and case of 20 bolts • (a) explorer’s pack or (b) an dungeoneer’s pack • A dagger, steel mirror, and a trapmaker’s kit   Multiclassing Multiclassing Ability Score Minimum Prerequisites:  Dexterity 13 and Wisdom 13 Multiclassing Proficiencies Gained: Light armor, simple weapons, one skill from the class’s skill list, trapmaker’s kit Level Proficiency Bonus Sneak Attack Features 1 +2 1d6 Natural Explorer, Scout Signaling, Sneak Attack 2 +2 1d6 Cunning Action, Vigilance 3 +2 2d6 Scout Archetype 4 +2 2d6 Ability Score Improvement 5 +3 3d6 Natural Explorer improvements, Uncanny Dodge 6 +3 3d6 Bushwhacker 7 +3 4d6 Master Scout 8 +3 4d6 Ability Score Improvement 9 +4 5d6 Scout Archetype feature 10 +4 5d6 Land’s Stride, Natural Explorer improvements 11 +4 6d6 Camouflage 12 +4 6d6 Ability Score Improvement 13 +5 7d6 Stamina, Trackless Step 14 +5 7d6 Scout Archetype feature 15 +5 8d6 Evasion, Natural Explorer improvements 16 +5 8d6 Ability Score Improvement 17 +6 9d6 Ambusher 18 +6 9d6 Elusive 19 +6 10d6 Ability Score Improvement 20 +6 10d6 Deadly Accuracy
#3 TomCosta Jul 03, 2015 19:24:14	Natural Explorer Starting at 1st level, as a ranger. You choose additional favored terrain types at 5th, 10th, and 15th level.   Scout Signaling During your training, you learned how to use a flags, mirrors, hand gestures, whistles, and animal calls to send secret or coded alerts about basic dangers to your companions and to other scouts about troop movements. You can also leave hidden or coded trail markers recognizable by other scouts as warnings of possible dangers or hazards or so that they may more easily follow your trail.   Sneak Attack Beginning at 1st level, as a rogue.   Cunning Action Starting at 2nd level, as a rogue.   Vigilance At 2nd level, you add your Wisdom modifier (if positive) to your initiative rolls.   Scout Archetype At 3rd level, you choose an archetype that you emulate: Beast Master, Bounty Hunter, or Skirmisher, all detailed at the end of the class description. Your archetype choice grants you features at 3rd level and then again at 9th, and 14th level.   Ability Score Improvement When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.   Uncanny Dodge Starting at 5th level, as a rogue.   Bushwhacker Beginning at 6th level, as an assassin rogue’s Assassinate.   Master Scout Starting at 7th level, as a thief rogue’s Supreme Sneak.   Land’s Stride Beginning at 10th level, as a ranger.   Camouflage Starting at 11th level, as a ranger’s Hide in Plain Sight.   Stamina Beginning at 13th level, you have advantage on Constitution checks and saving throws involving lack of sleep, laboring without rest, running a marathon, forced marches, food and water deprivation, holding your breath, extreme temperatures, and against other nonmagical effects that can result in exhaustion, such as certain illnesses and diseases.   Trackless Step Starting at 13th level, you can’t be tracked by nonmagical means, unless you choose to leave trail.   Evasion Beginning at 15th level, as a rogue.   Ambusher Starting at 17th level, as thief’s rogue’s Thief’s Reflexes.   Elusive Beginning at 18th level, as a rogue.   Deadly Accuracy At 20th level, as an assassin rogue’s Death Strike.
#4 TomCosta Jul 03, 2015 18:39:44	Scout Archetypes Scouts share many features in common, but can still come in many varieties. Many scouts take the Sharpshooter and Skulker feats to become snipers that can harry their enemies. Beyond the use of feats, two archetypes are detailed below, the bounty hunter and the skirmisher.   Bounty Hunter   Hunting game was only the beginning for you. You hunt more important and lucrative prey now. You are particularly skilled at capturing your prey alive to collect the bounty on their heads.   Bring ‘Em Back Alive Starting at 3rd level, you can attempt to stun your target instead of causing sneak attack damage. For each 2d6 of damage, you can stun your target for 1 round. The target must make a Constitution saving throw (DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus +your Dexterity modifier) to resist the effect. You can use as many of your Sneak Attack damage dice for this affect as you choose and use the remainder to cause damage.   Hogtie By the time you’ve chosen this archetype at 3rd level, you’ve become an expert at binding targets with rope. You can add your proficiency bonus to any Dexterity ability checks you make involving rope, including making a firm or special type of knot, tying up a prisoner, or splicing two ropes together, among other tasks. Similarly, you can add your proficiency bonus to the DC of any Strength or Dexterity checks a prisoner makes to break or wriggle free of bonds you’ve successfully tied. A bound target is restrained until they break or wriggle free of or are released from their bonds.   Mark Beginning at 3rd level, you can target, or mark, an individual foe to better hunt that enemy. To do so, you must focus on a creature who is present and visible, or on the depiction or description of one who is not, for 10 minutes. Once this study is complete, that creature is called a mark. Initially, you can have only one mark at a time. You can focus on  two marks at the same time at 9th level and three marks at the same time at 14th level. You can choose to give up on an existing mark as a free action, though such actions may affect your reputation as a bounty hunter.  You have advantage on several checks involving your mark, including Intelligence (Investigation) checks, Wisdom (Survival) checks, and Charisma checks to gather information (treated as Charisma [Streetwise] checks in some campaigns). You also have advantage on any ability checks involving a contest against your mark.   One Step Ahead At 9th level, you can use the bonus action granted by your Cunning Action feature to take the Ready action so long as the circumstances that trigger your reaction have to do with your mark. You also gain advantage on attack rolls against your mark if you act before your mark in the round. (This allows you to Sneak Attack if you have the higher initiative. If you don’t have the higher initiative, you can take the Ready action to move yourself earlier in the initiative order.)   Inscrutable Starting at 14th level, you automatically detect attempts to sense your emotions, read your thoughts, contact you telepathically, or target you with a divination spell. You cannot determine who is trying to do so (aside from any obvious clues), and these attempts only work if you allow them to do so. If you allow a telepathic conversation to begin, you can terminate it as a free action. In addition, Wisdom (Insight) checks made to ascertain your intentions or sincerity have disadvantage.
#5 TomCosta May 21, 2015 13:05:28	Skirmisher    As a skirmisher, you are the prototypical scout. With the criminal background, you become a bandit, highwayman, or, perhaps, a smuggler. With the folk hero background, you become the local guide or insurgent against an evil lord. With the outlander background, you become ideal hunter, trapper, and trailblazer. And with the soldier background, you become the military scout carrying out reconnaissance missions.   Hit and Run Starting at 3rd level, opportunity attacks against you are made with disadvantage.   Trap Breaker You are as skilled at disabling traps as crafting them. When you choose this archetype at 3rd level, you gain proficiency with thieves’ tools.   Mobile Sneak Attack Beginning at 9th level, when you use the bonus action granted by your Cunning Action to take the Dash or Disengage action and have moved at least 10 feet, you can use Sneak Attack with any melee or missile attack you make on your turn.   Blindsense Starting at 14th level, if you are able to hear, you are aware of the location of any hidden or invisible creature within 10 feet of you.     Tools Trapmaker’s Kit Cost: 25 gp; Weight: 10 lb. This kit contains a small shovel and a variety of ropes, wires, snares, spikes, and other equipment to make traps of various sorts. Proficiency with these tools lets you add your proficiency bonus to any ability checks you make to craft traps.
#6 TomCosta May 21, 2015 13:08:00	Designer Notes Throughout the history of D&D, there have been multiple versions of the scout. Usually, it involved grafting a kit or some other mechanism to the rogue class. Because the rogue class has generally been based on an urban thief, the scout often involved a bit of force fitting, wherein you often gained abilities that did not fit the theme. Conversely, the ranger has generally had a fair amount of magical abilities that often didn’t seem appropriate either. Even with some spell-less ranger variants, the class still seemed more front line warrior or straight-up archer than skirmisher. In 3.5E, a separate scout class was introduced with a modified sneak attack mechanic called skirmish. I thought it was a great idea with only a few execution problems. Early versions of the 5E play test included the scout as a rogue variant, but this was dropped as the game reached its completion. I could have gone with that start and made a rogue with some tweaks to skill choices and thieves’ cant, a new archetype, and the outlander background, but it still felt as though something was missing. I wanted a class that could compete with the ranger in survival skills, but had more of the sneak attack aesthetic of the rogue. I didn’t necessarily want to recreate existing workable rules either. I decided to use the rogue (assassin) as the starting point and ended up with the scout (skirmisher) as an end point. Here’s a comparison at each tier of play.   First tier (levels 1-4): The scout starts off with similar hit points and proficiencies to the rogue, but comes in at a minor disadvantage. Instead of proficiency with the hand crossbow and thieves’ tools, the scout gains proficiency with the scimitar, net, and the new trapmakers’ kit. This is, if you will, a “net” negative because both classes have enough weapon choices that a couple different options is not such a big deal, but the loss of thieves’ tools is because disarming traps and locks is much more prevalent than setting traps. In addition, scouts lose one skill proficiency and have somewhat fewer choices from which to select skill proficiencies. We’ll have to make up these losses to keep balance.   Also, like most classes, the rogue gains an ability score improvement at 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th levels, but gains an additional ability score improvement at 10th level. We’ll keep the standard, but talk about a replacement for the one at 10th level below. The scout is more narrowly focused than the rogue, which can probably cover the most thematic ground of any class, and we can come up with something to fit the bill.   Looking at 1st level, we’ll replace expertise with the ranger’s natural explorer class feature. This is arguably a fair trade. Expertise offers more flexibility in the interaction and/or exploration pillars, but natural explorer gives you a little more bang in the right terrain in the exploration pillar. That’s okay, scouts are going to lose some of the rogue options to enhance the interaction pillar in favor of the exploration pillar. This is a key feature thematically and we’re going to want to grant the scout new favored terrains just as the ranger does (or perhaps a bit better than the ranger does). We’ll also replace thieves’ cant with a similar, but new feature called scout signaling. Scout signaling is arguably a bit more useful in that you can communicate to a limited degree with folks who don’t have this feature, but in the end, they are near equals, and neither is a game changing feature. We’ll keep the rogue’s core abilities of sneak at 1st level and cunning action at 2nd level. But at 2nd level, it’s also time to make up for some lost ground, so let’s give the scout a little bump to their initiative due to their heightened awareness that we’ll call vigilance. This gives us a minor bump to our combat abilities. Like the rogue, we’ll start the archetypes at 3rd level. In our comparison, the rogue (assassin) gains proficiency in two sets of tools to help with the interaction (and perhaps combat) pillar and the assassinate combat feature. The scout (skirmisher) is going to pull a feature from the ranger (hunter), escape the horde (and rename it “hit and run” to fit our theme) and gain proficiency in thieves’ tools (we’ll call it trap breaker). The ranger feature is normally gained at 7th level, but it’s more defensively oriented compared to the more offensive assassinate feature and proficiency in a poisoner’s kit. By the end of the tier, they should be close to balanced.   Second tier (levels 5-10). At 5th level, we’ll stick with uncanny dodge (the last of the core rogue abilities). We’ll also improve natural explorer at 5th and 10th levels.  At 6th level, we trade the improvements to Expertise with the rogue (assassin) assassinate combat feature, which is normally gained at 3rd level.  At 7th level, we’ll give the scout the rogue (thief) supreme sneak exploration and combat oriented feature that is normally gained at 9th level. This isn’t a make or break feature, but it plays to the scout’s strengths, which is cool. (We’ll also rename it “master scout” to fit the theme.) That said, the rogue normally gains evasion at this level and that is definitely better. At 9th level, the rogue (assassin) gains the interaction benefit of infiltration, but we’re still thinking that we took a bit of hit with the loss of evasion, so we’ll go with an offensive combat bonus in the form of a new class feature, mobile sneak attack that allows the scout (skirmisher) to apply sneak attack damage when he uses cunning action to move. This compares favorably to the 3rd level rogue (swashbuckler) feature toujours l’audace. That’s pretty cool, fits our theme, and has probably evened things out again. At 10th level, the rogue gains another ability score improvement or feat. That’s a tall order with a huge amount of flexibility, but maybe we did a little better last level, so let’s go with the ranger’s land stride exploration feature normally gained at 8th level and another favored terrain for natural explorer. All in all, I think we’re still fairly balanced.   Third tier (levels 11-16): At 11th level, the rogue normally gets reliable talent which takes their proficient skills to even higher heights. We’re going to go with the ranger’s exploration class feature hide in plain sight normally gained at 10th level (and rename it “camouflage”). The scout definitely got the shorter end of the stick at this level. At 13th level, the rogue (assassin) normally gains the imposter interaction-oriented class feature. That doesn’t fit our theme, so we look to the ranger and see the vanish class feature normally gained at 14th level, except we can already hide as a bonus action through cunning action, so we’ll take the part of vanish we don’t have and rename it trackless step. That’s not really enough, plus we probably need to balance out 11th level a bit, so we’ll give the scout the new stamina class feature, which is an exploration and combat feature. It allows the scout to run long distances and deal with hostile environments without fear of tiring. At 14th level, the rogue gains blindsense, which works for us as well, so we’ll keep it. At 15th level, the rogue gets slippery mind, which is very good, but doesn’t fit our theme. Looking at the ranger (hunter), we see it can choose evasion as an option—which provides defensive benefits akin to slippery mind and is normally granted to rogue’s at 7th level—and that works great for us too. We’ll also go with one more favored terrain. Things are still looking on the whole balanced.   Fourth tier (levels 17-20): At 17th level, the rogue (assassin) gains death strike, which is cool, but we look at the rogue (thief) and see thief’s reflexes. That feature is perfect for the scout and plays back into the scout’s vigilance class feature, but not in any way that should break anything; neat.  Let’s take that. At 18th level, the rogue normally gets elusive, which works for the scout as well, so we’ll keep it. Finally at 20th, the scout needs a capstone feature. The rogue gets stroke of luck and the ranger get’s foe slayer, neither of which is right thematically, but I’m still thinking about the rogue (assassin) death strike class feature. Let’s try that and rename it deadly accuracy.   In the end, the scout has 10 rogue class features, 6 ranger class features, and 4 new class features. It has about 13 combat-oriented class features and 10 exploration (and to a much lesser extent, interaction) class features, while the rogue has 11 combat-oriented class features and 8 exploration and interaction class features (counting the better proficiencies as an additional class feature). That said, several of the scout’s class features are obviously less powerful (and flexible) than the rogues, so again, they are probably balanced on the whole.   Now let’s create some archetypes. I’ve already settled on the skirmisher. I’m also thinking I can make a military scout that can help maneuver troops and maybe a bounty hunter of some sort. I look into a sniper archetype, but the sharpshooter and sniper feats seem to cover that pretty well, maybe I can just note that somewhere. I also consider some sort of trap expert option, but the rules for trap making are rudimentary and I don’t want to draft new rules at this time or overly complicate things.   Looking at my archetype options and the class features I have, I settle on levels 3, 9, and 14 for archetype class features. This is on the low end of archetype variability, but it should still work. My initial archetype, the skirmisher will get hit and run at 3rd level, mobile sneak attack at 9th level, and blindsense at 14th. So far, so good; although, I may want to revisit blindsense. It fits my class theme, but may not be accentuating my archetype theme as much as I’d like….   I also worked up the bounty hunter, which we’ll compare to the skirmisher. While the skirmisher gets hit and run and trap breaker, the bounty hunter gets bring ‘em back alive and hogtie. Those seem comparable.  Bring ‘em back alive is an offensive feature, but comes at fairly high cost. Nevertheless, it plays well with hogtie, which is otherwise comparable to a tool proficiency. The bounty hunter also gets its mark feature, which has nice flavor and a little punch with its bonus in contests, but given that it’s limited to situations with one to three specific individuals, is not much of a game breaker. One step ahead might be a bit better than mobile sneak attack, but again is only useful against the bounty hunter’s marks, which take 10 minutes to focus on. Finally, inscrutable seems somewhat comparable to blindsense. Perhaps it is somewhat less useful, but arguably, the bounty hunter got a slight edge at earlier levels.   I also considered three other archetypes, the sniper, the military scout, and the trapper. The sniper could have gotten some sort of low-light vision with increased vision distance, increased range, and the archery fighting style, but in this case, the Sharpshooter and Skulker feats capture this very easily. I was going to give the military scout access to some maneuvers like the battle master fighter, but in the end, decided the skirmisher captured the feel I was looking for. The trapper would have involved the creation of an entire rules module, as 5E lacks detailed trap creation rules. That was more than I felt like taking on for an archetype.
#7 mictrepanier May 22, 2015 14:14:25	Hogtie: You should use it to tie a  foe... in combat, to restrain him. Otherwise, good ideas, but did you check my work at  http://community.wizards.com/forum/player-help/threads/4172486 ?
#8 Marandahir May 23, 2015 14:33:42	This class really feels like it should be a subclass of Rogue that gains Ranger class features like Natural Explorer and 1/3 spells from the Druid list.   It just is stepping all over the design space of the Rogue and Ranger otherwise, especially with the spell-less Rogue in UA.  I realise you felt it didn't quite fit, but I don't think it passes the "is this broad enough to be a bunch of different things" test. Bounty Hunter and Skirmisher would both be interesting Martial Archetypes for Ranger, as well. It's the same idea as with the Assassin being broken up into the Roguish Archetype of Assassin and the Way of Shadow Monk. You don't need a single class to capture this concept. If you REALLY wanted to go the Roguish-Ranger non-caster way, I'd take cues from the UA and make a spell-less Ranger with different features than the healing salves. Just my opinion.
#9 TomCosta May 26, 2015 17:04:25	Thanks for the comments. I'll clarify that being bound with a rope results in the target being restrained. Good catch.   That said, I did not see your version mictrepanier. In looking at, I see some neat ideas, but overall I worry about all the bonuses.   Marandahir, we'll have to agree to disagree. I definitely do not want the spellcasting of the ranger so the idea of a rogue archetype with 1/3 druid casting misses the point. I did draft my version before the UA spell-less ranger, but still feel it has a nice balance of ranger and rogue abilities which neither can duplicate on their own. (As an aside, I totally love all of the niches that 5E covers with its archetypes. They've taken 3E substitution levels (which PF heavily uses) and refined them to the next level. But there are still a few archetypes that I don't feel are captured well. The alchemist, scout, and shaman are probably top the list for me, though I think the scout is probably the easiest to almost get to with the existing rules.) All that said, ultimately I think that the rogue and not the ranger is the place to start, but there are simply too many things in the rogue that don't fit. Likewise, giving the ranger sneak attack and cunning action will probably break the ranger. Which is why, I think I've embraced the spirit of the rules in the DMG and the online article about crafting my own. Hopefully, its balanced.
#10 TomCosta Jul 03, 2015 18:46:40	I also thought you could add the beast master archetype....   Beast Master   This archetype is nearly identical to the ranger archetype of the same name (PH 93).   Scout’s Companion At 3rd level, as a beast master ranger’s Ranger’s Companion. Official errata should also be applied:  Like any creature, the beast can spend Hit Dice during a short rest. If you are incapacitated or absent, the beast acts on its own, focusing on protecting you and itself. It never requires your command to use its reaction, such as when making an opportunity attack.   Exceptional Training At 9th level, as a beast master ranger.   Bestial Fury At 9th level, as a beast master ranger. Official errata should also be applied:  When you command the beast to take the Attack action, the beast can attack twice or take the Multiattack action if it has that action.   Beastly Coordination Beginning at 14th level, when an attacker that you can see hits your beast companion with an attack, you can call out a warning. If your beast companion can hear you, it can use its reaction to halve the attack’s damage against it.   Game Design Notes: Finally, I added in the beast master option. While I'm sure some will see this as more reason to not have created this class, I thought it fit nicely as I had not cribbed any of the scout’s class features from this archetype. Since the scout archetype generally gains its abilities at a later level, the scout does not gain the ranger’s Extra Attack feature, and there are concerns about the power levels of the beast master, I gave the scout archetype both the 7th-level Exceptional Training and 11th-level Bestial Fury class features at 9th level. In addition, I gave the spell-less ranger variant’s 15th-level Beastly Coordination class feature at 14th level. In comparing it to the other archetypes, I think it should be mostly balanced. I see the 3rd level class feature as a bit weaker than the other archetypes with the 9th level class features making up for some of that weakness, while the 14th level seems somewhat comparable.