Apprentice

Role: Apprentices greatest strength lies in their adaptability. They can learn from and help those around them to become just about anything. Apprentices put great focus on who they meet and who they learn from.

Alignment: Any.

Hit Die: d8.

Starting Wealth: 3d6 × 10 gp (average 105 gp.) In addition, each character begins play with an outfit worth 10 gp or less.

Class Skills

The apprentice’s class skills are Acrobatics (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (all) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Perception (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Swim (Str), and Use Magic Device (Cha).

Skill Ranks per Level: 8 + Int modifier.

Class Features

The following are the class features of the apprentice.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency

An apprentice is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, light and medium armor, and shields (except tower shields). An apprentice can cast spells using his apprentice spell slots while wearing light or medium armor and even using a shield without incurring the normal arcane spell failure chance. This does not affect the arcane spell failure chance for arcane spells received from other classes. Like other arcane spellcasters, an apprentice wearing heavy armor incurs a chance of arcane spell failure if the spell in question has somatic components.

Apprentice Experience (Ex)

An apprentice adds 1/2 his class level (minimum 1) on all Knowledge skill checks, and may make all Knowledge skill checks untrained.

Spell Casting

An apprentice can cast spells only if he has studied with a spellcaster that day and chosen a mentor and class whose mentorship ability grants the apprentice spellcasting. Spells learned from an arcane caster are cast as arcane spells and spells learned from a divine caster are cast as divine spells. To learn or cast a spell, an apprentice must have a Charisma score equal to at least 10 + the spell’s level. The saving throw DC against an apprentice’s spell is 10 + the spell’s level + the apprentice’s Charisma modifier. This does not change even if the apprentice studies under a mentor who uses Wisdom or Intelligence to cast spells.

Like other spellcasters, an apprentice can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given on Table: Apprentice. In addition, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Charisma score.

An apprentice does not know any spells on their own. He only learns spells through mentorship with another spellcaster. For more details see the Spellcasting mentorship ability of a spellcasting class.

An apprentice need not prepare his spells in advance. He can cast any spell he knows at any time, assuming he has not yet used up his allotment of spells per day for the spell’s level.

Mentorship

Each day, and apprentice may choose to study with a mentor. A mentor can be any PC or NPC willing to spend an hour training the apprentice. Studying with a mentor requires one hour of study or training. This can be the same hour a mentor spends meditating, studying a spellbook, or doing any similar preparation for the day and the mentorship does not interfere with their preparation. When an apprentice studies with a mentor, he chooses one class that his mentor possesses levels in. For the next day, the apprentice gains the mentorship ability of that class. Some classes grant abilities only to apprentices of specific alignments. If the apprentice does not meet the alignment requirements for a mentorship, they gain no benefit from the mentorship. A full list of the different classes mentorships can be found here.

Alternatively, an apprentice may study a mentor’s class for 8 hours to permanently retrain an apprentice class level into one of their mentor’s class levels. This works identically to retraining except that it only requires 8 hours and does not cost any gold. Retraining a class level into an apprentice class level still requires the normal time and gold to be spend as per retraining rules.

At 3rd level and 9th level, an apprentice can select an additional class to study. This may be with additional mentors or with a single mentor that has multiple class levels. Regardless of how many mentors or classes the apprentice studies with, mentorship requires only an hour of study.

Cooperation Pool

An apprentice gains a pool of cooperation points, resolve used to help those who help them. The number of points in an apprentice’s cooperation pool is equal to the apprentice’s Charisma modifier. The apprentice’s cooperation pool is replenished each morning after 8 hours of rest or meditation; these hours do not need to be consecutive.

An apprentice may spend these cooperation points in several ways. As an immediate action, whenever an ally casts a spell, the apprentice may spend a cooperation point to grant a +1 bonus to the saving throw DC of that spell. As an immediate action, whenever an ally attacks an enemy within the apprentice’s reach, the apprentice may spend a cooperation point to grant a +1 bonus to that attack roll. At 8th level and every six levels thereafter the bonuses for both of these abilities increases by 1 (to a maximum of +4 at 20th level).

At 6th level, as a standard action, an apprentice may spend a cooperation point to grant an ally within 30 ft. a teamwork feat they have for 1 minute. The ally does not need to meet the prerequisites of this teamwork feat. Activating this ability does not provoke attacks of opportunity.

Helpful

At 2nd level, whenever an apprentice successfully uses the aid another action to grant bonuses to an ally, if that ally mentored the apprentice any time in the last week, that bonus is increased by 1. The bonus is increased by an additional 1 at 5th level and every three levels thereafter (to a maximum or +7 at 20th level).

At 8th level, an apprentice may use the aid another action in place of an attack during a full attack. The attack roll used to aid another uses the same bonuses and penalties the attack it replaces would use.

Approximate Expertise (Ex)

At 3rd level, an apprentice who has studied a class from a mentor at any time counts as having that class for the purpose of meeting the prerequisites of feats, treating his levels in the required class as half his apprentice level. If a feat has a prerequisite class feature, the apprentice is treated as having the class feature if their mentorship ability grants them that class feature. Apprentices only gain the benefits of these feats when they have the mentorship ability of that class.

Cooperation Power

At 4th level, an apprentice learns to use their cooperation points in more specialized ways. After studying with a mentor or mentors, the apprentice chooses one of his studied classes and learns that classes cooperation power. This choice is made every day after studying with his mentor or mentors. Cooperation powers can be found in each classes mentorship here.

At 10th level and 16th level, the apprentice can select the cooperation power of an additional class he has studied each day.

In addition, the apprentice gains additional points to their cooperation pool equal to their mentor’s ability modifier in the studied class’ key ability. For example, an apprentice studies with a wizard mentor and chooses the wizard’s cooperation power. The wizard mentor has an Intelligence modifier of 5 so the apprentice gains an additional 5 points to their cooperation pool. When an apprentice gains their second and third cooperation power, they gain additional cooperation points for each class’ cooperation power they choose. Key abilities can be found in each classes mentorship here.

Advanced Mentorship

At 5th level, an apprentice can focus more on a class as they study with a mentor. The apprentice chooses one class he studies from a mentor. In addition to the class’ mentorship ability, the apprentice also gains that class’ advanced mentorship ability. The apprentice makes this descision each day and only receives the advanced mentorship ability from the chosen class he studies that day. Each class’ advanced mentorship ability can be found in their mentorship entry here.

At 13th level, the apprentice may select two of the classes he studies with a mentor or mentors and receive the advanced mentorship ability from both classes.

At 19th level, the apprentice may select three of the classes he studies with a mentor or mentors and receive the advanced mentorship ability from all three classes.

Teamwork Training

At 6th level, an apprentice spends their time training with others for both teaching and learning. The apprentice gains a bonus teamwork feat. Whenever an apprentice studies with a mentor or mentors, the apprentice selects one teamwork feat they have. Each mentor is granted that teamwork feat for the day. The mentors do not need to meet the prerequisites of this teamwork feat. This training does not increase the time required to study with a mentor.

At 12th and 18th level, the apprentice gains an additional bonus teamwork feat and may grant an additional teamwork feat they have to mentors when they study with them.

Remembered Training

At 7th level, an apprentice retains some knowledge of mentorships they previously received. As a free action, the apprentice can spend cooperation points to regain the mentorship ability of a class they recently studied until the start of their next turn. Activating this ability cost 1 cooperation point for every day that has passed since the last time they studied that class. (For example, an apprentice studied with the local cleric last time he was in town but has spent the last two days in the wilderness training with a monk and rogue. The apprentice could spend two cooperation points to recall the spellcasting to cast a cleric spell he learned two days ago.) This ability does not grant the advanced mentorship ability or cooperation power of the recalled class.

Found My Path

At 20th level, an apprentice may choose to commit to another class they have studied. They immediately replace all apprentice levels with levels in another class as if they retrained all class levels into the new class save for a few changes. The apprentice retains all skill ranks gained through apprentice class levels instead of his new classes skill ranks. The apprentice adds his new class’ class skills to his own in addition to the class skills of the apprentice. The apprentice may also use the remembered training class feature once per day despite no longer having a cooperation pool. If this grants the apprentice spells known he may cast a single spell granted by the spellcasting mentorship ability without preparing it or using a spell slot.

If the apprentice chooses not to commit to another class, the apprentice instead commits to a life of learning. Whenever the apprentice studies with a mentor they retain all mentorship abilities, advanced mentorship abilities, and cooperation powers granted by studying a class until they study a new class. The apprentice can still only have three classes mentorship abilities, two classes advanced mentorship abilities, and three classes cooperation powers at any one time. Whenever they study with a mentor or mentors they simply replace abilities and powers granted by one class with another’s and may replace as few or as many classes as they wish. Additionally, each mentor they study a class from is treated as having 20 levels in that class for the purposes of determining the effects of the mentorship abilities they grant. If the mentor would have to make character building choices for their class abilities such as choosing new oracle revelations or new spells know, the apprentice may make those choices for the purposes of determining the benefits of their mentorship (the oracle would not actually gain the new revelation or spells known, but the apprentice gains access to them for his mentorship abilites).