The Outdoorsman

It's Monday, so that means it's time for another class for AD&D1E.

The Outdoorsman

Some people spend a lot of time wandering the wilderness. The most elite become Rangers, but a large number just learn to live there without learning magic and druidry. Those types become Outdoorsmen, sometimes called Hunters or Scouts.

Humans, half-elves, and half-orcs are the most common outdoorsmen, but there are a few halflings who wander the wilderness as well. Halflings are limited to 5th level as outdoorsmen, while half-orcs can only reach the 7th. Half-elves can rise as high as 10th if their strength is 18 or higher, 9th with a strength of 17, or 8th level with a lower strength. An outdoorsman requires a minimum score of 12 in strength, dexterity, and constitution, and an intelligence of 10. If an outdoorsman has a score of 13 or higher in all of strength, intelligence, and dexterity, they gain a +10% bonus to experience. Outdoorsmen may be of any alignment, though there is a marked tendency for them to not be of Lawful alignments.

Outdoorsmen fight using the Cleric table. They may use any weapon less than 5’ in length and any armor except plate, splint, and banded mail. They may not use great helms or large shields. Outdoorsmen start with 2 weapon proficiencies (at least one of which must be a missile weapon) and gain another every 4th level. They suffer a penalty of -3 when using weapons with which they are not proficient.

A new outdoorsman character starts with 3d6×10 gold pieces in money and goods (most will have a collection of valuable furs and such rather than any coins), and human outdoorsmen will begin at age 14+1d4 years old. (Other races, I’m not sure yet. Make something up that seems reasonable.)

Experience Points	Level	Hit Dice (d8)	Level Title	Cover Tracks
0-1,800	1	1	Wayfinder	50%
1,801-3,600	2	2	Tracker	53%
3,601-7,500	3	3	Scout	56%
7,501-15,000	4	4	Trapper	59%
15,001-30,000	5	5	Hunter	62%
30,001-60,000	6	6	Guide	65%
60,001-120,000	7	7	Mountain Man	68%
120,001-220,000	8	8	Survivalist	71%
220,001-350,000	9	9	Outdoorsman	74%
350,001-500,000	10	9+2	Outdoorsman (10th)	77%
500,001-650,000	11	9+4	Outdoorsman (11th)	80%
650,001-850,000	12	9+6	Outdoorsman (12th)	83%

Outdoorsmen require 225,000 experience points per level after the 12th. They gain 2 hit points per level after the 9th. Cover Tracks percentage increases 3% per level.

Outdoorsmen have several special abilities (note that bonuses and penalties for thief-like abilities due to race, dexterity, armor worn, and so forth are the same as for thieves):

1. Outdoorsmen can climb cliffs and trees at the same chance as a thief of equal level can climb walls. The ability to climb cliffs also allows the outdoorsman to attempt to climb sheer walls.

2. They may hide in natural terrain using camouflage techniques at the same chance as a thief of equal level can hide in shadows.

3. Outdoorsmen may set, find, and remove traps in a natural environment at the same chance as a thief of equal level has to find and remove traps. This includes pits, snares, and the like, but does not include mechanical traps in buildings or in dungeons.

4. Outdoorsmen may attempt to cover tracks. This ability has an effect similar to the 1st level druid spell pass without trace, but is not magical in nature. An outdoorsman making use of this ability can only move at half speed, and the chance of success is listed on the table above. The ability can only affect the person using it, so an outdoorsman may not cover the tracks of others in the party. To use this ability to confound creatures that track by scent is more difficult, and requires that the outdoorsman be at least 5th level. If the outdoorsman is of appropriate level, then the check against cover tracks when used to defeat scent-based tracking is rolled at -25%.

5. Outdoorsmen surprise opponents on 1-3 on a d6, and are only surprised on a 1.

6. Outdoorsmen may track as a Ranger, but the base chance of success is 75% and outdoorsmen may not attempt to track indoors or underground.

7. When an outdoorsman is evading pursuit in an outdoor environment, and the outdoorsman is not already covering tracks, the chance to evade is increased by +10%.

8. When traveling overland, the outdoorsman may take 1d6 hours out of travel time to hunt. This requires a roll “to hit” using a missile weapon against AC10. Success provides 1d6 meals worth of standard rations (one day worth of food for one person is 3 meals).

Outdoorsmen, similar to Rangers, only keep what they can carry on themselves, a mount, and at most one baggage animal. They will never load their mount past the “unencumbered” load limit. Outdoorsmen do not gain any special benefits from building a castle or other stronghold.

(Based loosely on the Bandit class in Dragon magazine #63.)

Since the Mountebank and Bard classes in the Middle Sea world are taken directly from Adventures Dark and Deep or A Curious Volume of Forgotten Lore without significant modification, I won't be presenting them here (I could, since they are designated as Open Content, but why do it?). That just leaves the Witch and possibly the Beastmaster (still thinking on whether there are any examples of the latter in the Middle Sea world). After those, I'll probably start presenting various character classes that just interest me, but which aren't present in the Middle Sea world. Or maybe I'll just end the series. Who knows? There's also a possibility that I will present some other classes before I finish the Witch of the Middle Sea world. I should eventually work up the Bullriders of the Davrai, so that's a possibility. As well, the Corsairs of Apalach Isle might have a separate character class associated with them, or they might just be regular sailing Fighters and Magic-Users. I don't know yet - they are pretty far from the campaign starting area, so I haven't really felt the need to know.

Outside of character classes as such, I want to cover the airships of the Twelve Kingdoms that lie to the east, a couple of which can be found in the city-states of the sorcerer-kings. I also need to work up the characteristics of the main ship types that can be found sailing around the Middle Sea, the Western Coast, and the Long Sea.

I also need to spend some time one of these days learning how to use one or the other of these Virtual Tabletops. Does anyone have any recommendations for which works best for AD&D 1E? Keep in mind that my poor little laptop is pretty old (2GB, 1.73GHz Pentium M), so that might affect your recommendations.