The Harper

   Harpers are members of a secret society dedicated to holding back evil, preserving knowledge, and maintaining the balance between civilization and the wild. Harpers learn arcane spells and many skills to help them in their duties of espionage, stealth, and reporting information.

   Many Harpers are bards, but by no means all. Ranger, rogue, sorcerer, and wizard are common vocations for Harpers, as these classes tend to have versatility and mobility. All have some skill at manipulating others, a resistance to outside mental influences, acute abilities of perception, and a talent for solving problems.

   Not all Harpers are members of the Harper prestige class, and rank within the organization does not depend upon a character’s level in this or any other class. However, most of the higher-ranked Harpers have at least one level in the Harper prestige class.

   The highest-ranked Harpers are called the High Harpers, and they are responsible for most of the long-term planning for the organization. The High Harpers are voted into their position by a secret ballot among the other High Harpers, with the criteria being experience, exceptional service, and discretion in implementing the Harpers’ plans. Some of the High Harpers gain the favor of deities that support the Harpers, achieving power and status much like a Chosen (see the sidebar on The Chosen in the Deities chapter).

Hit Die: d6

Requirements

To qualify to become a Harper (Hrp), a character must fulfill all of the following criteria:

• Feats: Alertness, Iron Will
• Skills: Bluff 4 ranks, Diplomacy 8 ranks, Perform 5 ranks, Knowledge (local) 4 ranks, Sense Motive 2 ranks, Wilderness Lore 2 ranks.
• Special: Sponsorship by a member of the Harpers, approval of the High Harpers.
• Alignment: Any nonevil

Class Skills

The Harper's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Gather Information (Cha), Hide (Dex), Intuit Direction (Wis), Jump (Str), Knowledge (all skills taken individually) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Pick Pocket (Dex), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Speak Language (Int), Swim (Str), and Tumble (Dex).

Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Class Features

All the following are class features of the Harper prestige class:

• Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A Harper is proficient with all simple weapons and light armor.
• Skill Focus: The Harper gains the Skill Focus feat for her Perform skill and any one other Harper class skill.
• Harper Knowledge: Like a bard, a Harper has a knack for picking up odds and ends of knowledge. This ability works exactly like the bardic knowledge ability of the bard class. If a Harper has bard levels, her Harper levels and bard levels stack for bardic knowledge.
• Favored Enemy: A Harper selects a favored enemy from the following list of evil organizations that oppose the Harpers’ goals: the Church of Bane, the Cult of the Dragon, the Iron Throne, the malaugrym, the Red Wizards, or the Zhentarim. This ability works exactly like the favored enemy ability of the ranger class. If a Harper with ranger levels chooses a favored enemy which she already has chosen as a ranger, the bonuses stack. Upon reaching 4^th level as a Harper, the bonus against her first favored enemy increases to +2, and she gains a new favored enemy at +1.
• Tymora’s Smile: Once per day, the Harper can add a +2 luck bonus to a single saving throw. This bonus can be added after the die is rolled and after success or failure of the unmodified roll is determined. This is a supernatural ability.
• Deneir’s Eye: The Harper gains a +2 holy bonus to saving throws against glyphs, runes, and symbols. This is a supernatural ability.
• Lliira’s Heart: The Harper gains a +2 holy bonus to saving throws against compulsion and fear effects. This is a supernatural ability.
• Spells: Beginning at 1st level, a Harper gains the ability to cast a small number of arcane spells. The Harper’s ability to cast these spells works exactly like a bard’s ability to cast spells (they are Charisma-based and do not need to be prepared).
  • A 1^st-level Harper learns two spells from the Harper 1^st-level spell list. She learns two new Harper spells of any spell level she can cast at each Harper level thereafter. There is no limit to the number of these spells the Harper can know from this list; she may learn more by studying arcane scrolls or spellbooks.
  • Harper Spell List
    • 1st-level—change self, charm person, comprehend languages, erase, feather fall, jump, light, message, mount, read magic, scatterspray, sleep, spider climb
    • 2nd-level—cat’s grace, darkvision, detect thoughts, invisibility, knock, locate object, magic mouth, misdirection, see invisibility, shadow mask, veil of grace and splendor
    • 3rd-level—clairaudience/clairvoyance, nondetection, suggestion, tongues, undetectable alignment
• Craft Harper Item: A specialized form of the Craft Wondrous Item feat, this allows the Harper to create magic musical instruments, Harper pins, and certain potions (Charisma, detect thoughts, glibness, tongues, and truth). This ability replaces the need for any other item creation feat for the item. The Harper’s casting level for these items is her Harper level plus all other caster levels from her other spellcasting classes. All of the normal requirements for an item (such as race or spells) remain the same. All other rules for creating wondrous items or potions apply. 

Ex-Harpers

It is possible for a character to violate the code of conduct of the Harpers, endanger other Harpers through negligence or deliberate action, or intentionally turn away from the Harpers. Such an individual quickly gains a reputation among the other Harpers and can no longer progress in the Harper prestige class. Furthermore, the former Harper can no longer use the Deneir’s Eye, Lliira’s Heart, or Tymora’s Smile abilities. A petition to the High Harpers, a suitable quest decided upon by that group, and an atonement spell from a deity chosen by the High Harpers brings the former Harper back into good standing, and she can thereafter gain levels in the prestige class.

The Harper