Base Requirements

• Races: Any
• Sub-Classes: Any
• Ability Requirements: No ability score below 11
• Alignments: Any
• Starting Cash: By class

Weapon Proficiencies

• Weapon Slots: +1 slot
• Bonus Weapon Proficiencies: Net
• Required Weapon Proficiencies: none
• Allowed Weapons: Any one-handed melee weapons, Any missle weapon
• Allowed Armors: By class

Non-Weapon Proficiencies:

• Non-weapon Slots: By class
• Available Categories: By class, plus Martial
• Bonus Non-weapon Proficiencies: Disguise, Information Gathering, Toxicology, Tracking, Trailing
• Required Proficiencies: none
• Recommended Proficiencies: Alertness, Animal Handling, Animal Noise, Animal Training, Appraising, Blacksmithing, Blind-fighting, Boating, Camouflage, Direction Sense, Endurance, Fast Talking, Fire-building, Gaming, Herbalism, Heraldry, Hunting, Juggling, Jumping, Land-based Riding, Local History, Looting, Modern Languages, Mountaineering, Rope Use, Running, Set Snares, Survival, Tumbling, Voice Mimicry
• Forbidden Proficiencies: none

Overview: The bounty hunter is a mercenary justice bringer hired to track down and capture people accused of serious crimes. Prisoners are returned for trial and punishment whenever possible. In extreme cases, the bounty hunter functions as an assassin, but other punishments may be meted out to the victim if warranted.

Many bounty hunters are a ruthless mercenaries, worshipping little besides the price on their target’s head, recognizing few laws save the contractual distinction between “kill” and “capture.” He may be found serving the state, capturing criminals and bringing them to justice; or he may serve the shadowy lords of the underworld, avenging the twisted honor found among thieves and criminals. Pursuit of his quarry may take him through a thousand hostile environments, to foreign lands, even to alien planes. He is a hunter of men.

More noble-minded bounty hunters must be convinced of the truth of the charges made against his victim, so he must think like a detective and assemble sufficient evidence while on the hunt to prove the victim’s guilt before taking action against him. Such a bounty hunter does not act against a subject if there is considerable doubt in his mind as to that person’s actual guilt.

Description: A bounty hunter has no special appearance, as he is most effective when he confronts his quarry by surprise. He cultivates a “gray” look: very low key, no flash, every bit a normal part of the world that no one would look at twice. Typical disguises include a dock worker, farmer, town guard, street vendor, errand runner, shopkeeper, beggar, and bureaucrat. Some bounty hunter remain in one disguise or another without rest.

Role-Playing: The bounty hunter can easily be played as something other than what he is. With the disguise proficiency in use, he could be any sort of adventurer within the bounds of reason. Completion of the mission he takes on is paramount; the DM can tailor any adventure for a group of other characters to fit the bounty hunter’s needs by adding in a secret mission for the bounty hunter to catch an NPC known to be in the area of the adventure (even in a dungeon).

The bounty hunter label covers many possible roles, and he can be played in many ways: investigator, detective, manhunter, avenger, vigilante, assassin, spy, etc. His borderline-criminal status is important; he is not an authorized law enforcer, and dealings with him are never to be admitted openly.

Special Abilities:

• The bounty hunter gains a +1 bonus on his Disguise and Tracking proficiencies for every four levels (rounded down).

Special Disadvantages:

• Although the Bounty Hunter fetches those who need fetching, he is not regarded well. His trade is in flesh, and people dislike his company. He receives a –2 reaction penalty when dealing with good-aligned people. In evil society, they hate him, even if he is evil, because he and his kind are responsible for the capture of friends and allies. He receives a –2 penalty there as well.
• Regardless of class, a bounty hunter gains no followers. He is essentially a loner who may work with allies but not with underlings he doesn’t trust.
• Regardless of class, a bounty hunter may not use magical scrolls (neither spell scrolls, nor protection scrolls).
• To be able to move quickly, a bounty hunter never travels with more than light encumbrance. He uses or wears nothing that might slow him down if he needs to chase someone or flee attack.

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