Dungeoneer

Description:

The dungeoneer is an adventurer skilled in the art of locating and disabling traps and opening locks.ÂHe is also skilled in the use of arms and armor and is an able combatant.ÂHe is first and foremost an explorer of dungeons and caves, ruins and castles.ÂHis sturdiness and dungeon scouting abilities allow him to lead a party from room to room.ÂHe is prepared to battle toe-to-toe if threatening creatures are encountered.ÂHis knowledge of dungeoneering and architecture & engineering helps him perform his duties efficiently.

Adventures:

Dungeoneers love adventuring and devote their learning and skills towards indoor exploration, spelunking, and dungeoneering.

Characteristics:

Dungeoneers are talented all-around fighters, being familiar with all simple and martial weapons, light and medium armor, and shields (except tower shields).  Their class skills are not as broad as the rogue, as their attention is split between fighting and technical expertise.

Alignment:

Dungeoneers may be of any alignment.ÂGood dungeoneers love exploration and removing threats so that others may be safer.ÂEvil dungeoneers may be motivated by greed and destruction.ÂChaotic dungeoneers enjoy the excitement of exploration, and may not need any particular reason to risk themselves with the challenges of exploration.ÂLawful dungeoneers may be more methodical in their approach, intrigued by solving technical challenges.   It should be noted that while dungeoneers can be of any alignment, it is more common to run into neutral or lawful dungeoneers, and not as common to find chaotic dungeoneers.  The reason for this is that adventurers of chaotic alignment that have similar interests tend to become rogues.

Religion:

Dungeoneers often worship Kord, god of strength, Moradin, god of the dwarves, or the lesser god, Dalt, god of portals, doors, enclosures, locks, and keys.ÂHowever, dungeoneers often choose to worship other deities as well.

In the Forgotten Realms, dungeoneers commonly worship the lesser god, Marthammor Duin, god of guides, explorers, expatriates, travelers, and lightning.  Some worship the lesser god, Ibrandul, god of caverns.  Evil dungeoneers often worship Shar, goddess of caverns, dark, dungeons, forgetfulness, loss, night, secrets, and the Underdark.

Some dungeoneers gained their training from Dwarven architects and builders.ÂOthers through informal training from rogues who sought to teach them their trade.ÂStill others have military backgrounds.

Races:

Dwarves make natural dungeoneers, being sturdy warriors and having experience in the mountains or underground.ÂHumans, being flexible, make good dungeoneers.ÂHalf-elven dungeoneers are not as common, but are still relatively easy to find.ÂHalflings and elves are less common, but are not unheard of as dungeoneers.ÂHalf-orcs can struggle with the technical aspects of dungeoneering, and it is uncommon, but not rare, to find them choosing this class.

Other Classes:

Though dungeoneers often receive some training from rogues in their early development, rogues who adventure with dungeoneers feel it a duty to the guild to show that rogues are better suited to scouting than dungeoneers.ÂRogues are also motivated by competitive pride to do the lockpicking, and trapfinding and trap removal before the dungeoneer can show them up.ÂPaladins, knights, and good clerics often prefer the company of a dungeoneer over a rogue.ÂThis is particularly true with paladins and good knights.ÂFighters respect the fighting skills of the dungeoneer, while rangers have a sense of unspoken brotherhood with dungeoneers—as they perceive them as an indoor counterpart.ÂOther classes tend to work constructively with dungeoneers.

Role:

Dungeoneers are ideally suited as scouts in indoor or underground adventures.ÂTheir fighting prowess allows them to be primary combatants in the sometimes tight quarters they explore.

 GAME RULE INFORMATION

Dungeoneers have the following game statistics.

Abilities:ÂStrength and Constitution are important to the dungeoneer for his fighting prowess.ÂDexterity and Intelligence are key to their success with theirÂtechnical skills.

Alignment:ÂAny.

Hit Die: d8.

 Class Skills

The Dungeoneer’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Climb (Str), Craft (alchemy) (Int), Craft (trapmaking) (Int), Disable Device (Int), Jump (Str), Knowledge (Architecture & Engineering) (Int), Knowledge (Dungeoneering) (Int), Listen (Wis), Open Lock (Dex), Search (Int).  See PHB Chapter 4: Skills for skill descriptions.

Skill Points at 1^st Level: (4+Int modifier) x 4.

Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the dungeoneer.

 

Weapon and Armor Proficiency:ÂA dungeoneer is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, with light and medium armor, and shields (not including tower shields).

Trapfinding (Ex):ÂDungeoneers (like rogues) can use the search skill to locate traps when the task has a Difficulty Class higher than 20.ÂFinding a nonmagical trap has a DC of at least 20, or higher if it is well hidden.ÂFinding a magic trap has a DC of 25 + the level of the spell used to create it.

Dungeoneers can use the Disable Device skill to disarm magical traps.ÂA magic trap generally has a DC of 25 + the level of the spell used to create it.

A dungeoneer who beats a trap’s DC by 10 or more with a Disable Device

check can study a trap, figure out how it works, and bypass it (with his party without disarming it).

 
Enclosed Fighting: At 2nd level, dungeoneers become adept at fighting in close quarters.ÂWhen adjacent to a wall, they get a +1 dodge bonus to their AC.  At 17th level, this dodge bonus increases to +2.

Nowhere to Hide:  At 1st level, dungeoneers get a +1 bonus to attack when their target has nowhere to hide.  A target has nowhere to hide when a dungeoneer is flanking someone against a wall (there is a wall opposite the target creature from the dungeoneer).  This bonus rises to +2 at 4th level, +3 at 7th, +4 at 10th, +5 at 13th, +6 at 16th, and +7 at 19th level.

Rough Charge:ÂAt 5th level, the dungeoneer becomes more effective at rushing into battle.ÂThey may charge over broken ground (rubble, boulders, etc.)  Also, they may charge in tight quarters.  They do not have to go in a straight line, but may go around corners, providing they have line of site to their target when initiating a rough charge.  This allows them to charge through doorways and in tighter quarters than they would otherwise be able to.  The same bonuses to attack and penalties to AC occur as with normal charging.

Here are some problems with what the thread is posing.

1 - The problem of not liking the more sly and evil aspects of rogues isn't realistic, since you, as a player, can choose which feats and skills to buff.

2 - There is already a Dungeon Delver prestige class.

3 - Trying to make a new core class creates some problems.

If it's for you, it's very hard not to tweak it to exactly the power build you like. We're all human. I like balance too, but, if I made a class for myself, it wouldn't be balanced.

If it's for your players, you tend to make the class at least slightly better than the other classes so that they players are tempted to use it. You don't want to do all this work and not have it get used, so, you power-creep without meaning to power creep.

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And I agree that this class is too good... too powerful.

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But why go to this trouble to solve the problem?

I've made Dwarf Rogue/Fighter builds that do not put ANY focus in stealing, sneaking, or other unscrupulous activity.

From that build, you can launch into many PrCs.

I build one that uses the lowest point buy and bare minimum of recommended wealth. I could have built this much better in a campaign with high-powered stats or more money, but, I used bare minimum.

This is what I came up with.

He's not bad considering the Point Buy and wealth limitations. Pretty versitile, good initiative to get in some extra damage while the enemy is flat footed.

He has Evasion too, in spite of being heavily armored.

With a bit more cash, I could easily buff the attack rolls, AC, etc.   I didn't bother to buy him a bow, but, there was enough money left to buy a MW bow and arrows.

Male Dwarf, Hill Rog2/Ftr5: CR 7;
Medium Humanoid (Dwarf); HD 2d6+4(Rogue) , 5d10+10(Fighter) ;

hp 55;
Init +6;
Spd 20;
AC:22 (Flatfooted:21 Touch:12);
Atk +8/3 base melee,
+8/3 base ranged;

+10/5 (1d10+4, Waraxe, dwarven, Masterwork);
+9/4 (1d6, Shortbow, Masterwork);

SQ: +1 Attack vs. Orcs and Goblinoids, +2 Appraise (Stone and Metal Items), +2 Craft (Stone and Metal Items), +2 Saves vs. Poison, +2 Saves vs. Spells and Spell-like Effects, +4 Dodge Bonus to AC vs. Giants, Darkvision (Ex): 60 ft., Stability (Ex), Stonecunning (Ex), Weapon Familiarity (Ex);

AL LG; SV Fort +8, Ref +8, Will +3;

STR 14, DEX 14, CON 14, INT 14, WIS 10, CHA 8.

Skills: Bluff +8, Craft (Armorsmithing) +2, Craft (Blacksmithing) +2, Craft (Stonemasonry) +2, Craft (Weaponsmithing) +2, Diplomacy +6, Disable Device +10, Disguise +2, Gather Information +2, Intimidate +4, Listen +8, Open Lock +15, Perform (Act) +2, Perform (Comedy) +2, Perform (Dance) +2, Perform (Keyboard Instruments) +2, Perform (Oratory) +2, Perform (Percussion) +2, Perform (Sing) +2, Perform (String Instruments) +2, Perform (Weapon Drill) +2, Perform (Wind Instruments) +2, Profession (Miner) +2, Search +11, Spot +10, Survival +5.

Feats: Armor Proficiency: heavy, Armor Proficiency: light, Armor Proficiency: medium, Combat Expertise, Improved Initiative, Improved Trip, Luck of Heroes, Shield Proficiency, Simple Weapon Proficiency, Tower Shield Proficiency, Weapon Focus: Waraxe, dwarven, Weapon Specialization: Waraxe, dwarven.

Possessions:
Weapons: Waraxe, dwarven, Masterwork (330 gp).
Shortbow, Masterwork (330 gp); Arrows (50) (3 gp).
Armor: +1 Full plate (2,650 gp).
Shields: Shield, light steel, Masterwork (159 gp).
Goods: Coin: gp (2 (28 gp).
Magic: Ring: Lockpicking (4,500 gp); Ring: Protection +1 (2,000 gp); Wondrous: Lens of Detection (3,500 gp); Wondrous: Circlet of Persuasion (4,500 gp); Wondrous: Cloak of Resistance +1 (1,000 gp).

For a low power campaign, this is a pretty flexible PC who can fight, but not as well as a fighter.

So again, I'm not sure what the new core class solves, why it's a core class to begin with, or how it could be considered balanced (as Merric pointed out).