Urban Druid, Ranger & Scout Alternatives

Go to Ground
Just as most druids and scouts have an almost supernatural ability to avoid being tracked in the wild, so too have others learned to blend in so fully with the urban throng that nobody remembers their passage.

Class: Druid or scout.
Level: 3rd.

Replaces: If you select this class feature, you do not gain trackless step.
Benefit: When you choose to "lay low," you become all but impossible to find without magical means. All attempts to find you with Urban Tracking (Cityscape 64) simply fail outright.


Hidden Stalker
For those who know how to use them, the ever-shiftingconcealment of the throng and the back alleys of the city provide just as much opportunity for stealth as the shadows of the trees or the early morning fog.

Class: Ranger or scout.
Level: 13th (ranger) or 8th (scout).

Replaces: If you select this class feature, you do not gain the camouflage ability, and your hide in plain sight ability (gained at higher levels) is modified.
Benefit: Upon first gaining this ability, the hidden stalker no longer takes a -5 penalty on Hide checks when moving faster than half speed, nor does she take the standard -10 penalty when attempting to hide during a brief distraction. In addition, the presence of other people within 5 feet is considered sufficient cover for her to hide, making it easy for her to vanish into a crowd.
At the second level of this ability, the hidden stalker gains hide in plain sight, but this ability functions in any urban environment, rather than only in natural environments as written.


Riposte
While most scouts rely on mobility to overcome their opponents, some focus instead on taking advantage of the openings their foes provide in combat when making their own attacks.

Class: Scout.
Level: 1st.

Replaces: If you select this class feature, you do not gain skirmish or any later improvements to that class feature.
Benefit: Any time the scout attacks a foe that has made a melee or ranged weapon attack against her within the past round (whether or not the attack hit you), her attack deals an extra 1d6 points of damage. This extra damage increases by 1d6 for every four levels gained above 1st (2d6 at 5th, 3d6 at 9th, 4d6 at 13th, and 5d6 at 17th).
This extra damage applies only against living creatures that have a discernable anatomy. Undead, constructs, oozes, plants, incorporeal creatures, and creatures immune to extra damage from critical hits are not vulnerable to this additional damage. The scout must be able to see the target well enough to pick out a vital spot and must be able to reach such a spot. She can apply this extra damage to ranged attacks, but only if the target is within 30 feet.
At 3rd level, the scout gains a +1 competence bonus to Armor Class against any creature to which she has dealt riposte damage, as described above. This bonus lasts until the start of her next turn. If she deals riposte damage to more than one creature in a round, she gains this bonus against all of them; it is not limited to a single foe. This bonus improves by 1 for every four levels gained above 3rd (+2 at 7th, +3 at 11th, +4 at 15th, and +5 at 19th level).

The scout loses this ability when wearing medium or heavy armor or when carrying a medium or heavy load.


Rival Organization
A few urban rangers, devoted to a particular organization, guild, or church, prefer to focus their studies and their efforts against a rival group, instead of a specific race.

Class: Ranger.
Level: 1st.

Replaces: If you select this class feature, you do not gain favored enemy or any later improvements to that class feature.
Benefit: At 1st level, the ranger chooses one particular organization that he has studied in depth. This could be a guild, a noble house, a church, or any similar specifically defined entity. (See Chapter 3: Politics and Power in Cityscape for definitions and samples of these groups.) Due to his knowledge of how the organization operates, he gains a +2 bonus on Bluff, Intimidate, Gather Information, Knowledge (local), and Sense Motive checks made against, or pertaining to, members of that organization. Likewise, due to his heightened awareness around these individuals, he gains a +2 bonus to Armor Class against members of this group.

At 5th level and every five levels thereafter (10th, 15th, and 20th level), the ranger may select an additional rival organization. In addition, at each such interval, the bonus against any one rival organization (including the one just selected, if so desired) increases by 2.


Urban Tracker
Many rangers of the city learn to hunt people down through interrogation and questioning, since following tracks is often all but impossible on the busy streets.

Class: Ranger.
Level: 1st.

Replaces: If you select this class feature, you do not gain Track as a bonus feat.
Benefit: He gains Urban Tracking (Cityscape 64) as a bonus feat.


Voice of the City
For some, the ability to make oneself understood in the midst of any culture is of far greater value than the ability to influence the beasts of the wild.

Class: Druid, ranger, or spirit shaman.
Level: 1st.

Replaces: If you select this class feature, you do not gain wild empathy.
Benefit: Through a combination of body language, tone, and expression, the voice of the city can make herself understood by those who do not speak her language, and she can interpret their meaning the same way. Simple concepts that can be conveyed in a few words (such as "Help!" or "Drop your weapon!") can be conveyed automatically. More complex concepts require her to make a roll: d20 + her class level + either her Wisdom modifier (if trying to understand someone else) or Charisma modifier (if trying to make someone else understand her). Roll each only once per conversation. If she fails, she cannot try to communicate with that specific individual via this ability until she has gained a level. (Thus, it is possible, if she succeeds in one roll but fails in the other, to hold a conversation where she can understand the other speaker but he cannot understand you, or vice-versa.)

The DC of the roll depends on creature type and how closely the individual's language is related to any of her own. The ability works most effectively with other humanoids. In this case, if the individual's language uses the same alphabet as any language she knows, the DC is 20. If it does not, the DC is 30. (See Speak Language, PH 82, for this information.)
The above DCs increase by 5 if the speaker is a fey, giant, or monstrous humanoid; they increase by 10 if the speaker is an elemental. If the other individual is of any other creature type, she cannot communicate via this ability.
If the speaker is deliberately trying to make himself understood, the voice of the city gains a +2 circumstance bonus on this roll. If she is attempting to interpret his speech from outside normal conversational distance (such as eavesdropping), she takes a -4 penalty on this roll.

In addition, she gains Speak Language as a class skill.