Watchers are individuals who have been chosen to protect their world from war and darkness. Only the most knowledgeable are permitted entry into the order, and those who do must forsake all other loyalties.

The Watchers, sometimes known as the Green Watchers, are a very secretive guild based in Cormanthor. Indeed, most of the Realms is not even aware of its existance for the few times the members leave their hidden sanctuary, they always travel under magical disguises. The elven masters of the order work carefully to make sure it stays that way, only involving themselves when the fabric of the weave itself is threatened. Watchers are most often encountered as wanderers (albeit not being recognized as Watchers), and these Watchers travel for long periods of time without the company of their brethren, seeking to learn more about the world at large. Almost all Watchers obey a hierarchy, and their leaders spend most of their time focusing on avoiding major catastrophes. Watchers seek to maintain balance across the globe and prevent war, but they are not above fighting on the battlefield should the need arise. Otherwise they serve as advisors, guides, and behind the scenes watchers (hence their name) working to make others aware of potential dangers without revealing their own presence. The wizards of the order are dedicated to the preservation of magic. They study and exchange information, create magic items to help support the guilds goals, and sometimes offer their services as advisors to people in place of power, pretending to be unaligned but well meaning mages.

The majority of the order's members are wizards, but other arcane spellcasters are not unheard of. Sorcerers are sometimes invited into the order and bards are occassionally associate members, gaining access to much the same information as do the wizards, but deriving less immediate benefit from it, since they acquire their spells differently from wizards.

     Hit Die: d4

Requirements
To qualify to become a Watcher, a character must meat the following requirements.
     Alignment: any non-evil
     Alchemy: 4 ranks
     Knowledge (arcana): 8 ranks
     Scry: 4 ranks
     Spellcraft: 8 ranks
     Feats: Scribe Scroll, any one metamagic feat, Spell Penetration or Spell Focus
     Spellcasting: Ability to cast 3rd level arcane spells
     Special: Must be nominated by another Watcher and must forsake all other loyalties to any political power or nation. Prospective members must pass a test of some sort set by the council. Often the prospective member is never even aware that the test is being performed.

Class Skills
The Watcher's class skills are:
Alchemy, Concentration, Craft, Diplomacy, Gather Information, Knowledge, Profession, Scry, Sense Motive, Spellcraft

     Skill Poins at Each Level: 4 + Int Modifier.

Class Features
Below are the class features of the Watcher prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The Watcher gains no weapon or armor proficiencies.

Spells per Day: A Watcher's training focuses on magic, thus when a character gains a new level of Watcher she gains new spells per day as if she had also gained a level in whatever spellcasting class she had belonged to before she added the prestige class. She does not however gain any other benefits a character of that class would have gained (Metamagic or Item Creation feats for example). If a character had more than one spellcasting class before she became a Watcher, she must decide to which class she adds each level of Watcher for purposes of determining spells per day when she adds the new level.

Membership: The character becomes a full member of the Watchers. She is entitled to vote on issues before the entire membership, use the order's library and workrooms (though access to these facilities is based on seniority), and replenish her store of material components (common components are usually free or carry a nominal fee, while components carry a gold piece value are available "at cost"). Membership in the order incures the following duties and responsibilities:

• Monthly membership dues of 25 gold pieces (payable upto one year in advance).
• Obedience to the rulings of the Masters.
• Aid to elves (other than drow) in time of need (this normally means aiding elves who are in danger, but can mean aiding them in their other endeavors as well).
• Defense of elven cities when called upon by the Masters or legitimate authorities of the elven people.
• Devotion of personal time and energy to the order (10% XP penalty). This last is usually considered the most onerous requirement of membership in the order. Each season, a member must spennd 10 days directly aiding the order. This can mean anything the Masters deem it to mean: serving as a arcane guardian or advisor for a private concern, taking a turn as guardian of the valley, creating magic items, performing administrative duties, and so on. The form this aid takes need not be detailed unless desired. Regardless of its form, it results in a XP penalty of 10%, cumulative with any other penalty the character has incurred (such as from multiclassing). This represents the cost of creating magic items soley for the order, XP cost for spellcasting, and other personal energies contributed to the order (the character still pays full gold piece and XP cost for any magic items created for her own use).

Improved Spell Acquisition: At each level of advancement in the Watcher prestige class, a character gains three common spells of her choice of any level she can cast to add to her spellbook.

Communication (Sp): At 1st level, the Watcher can invoke tongues and comprehend languages on himself as the spells of the same name, at will. This is a spell-like ability.

Spellpool (Sp): Beginning at 2nd level, members can call 1st through 3rd level spells from a common source known as a spellpool. At 6th level, they may call upto 6th level spells from the spellpool. At 10th level, they may call upto 9th level spells from the spellpool.

Bonus Item Creation Feat: At 3rd level, a member of the order may select a bonus item creation feat (she must still meet the prerequisites for gaining the feat).

Sense Magic (Sp): Watchers gain the Sense Magic feat.

Bonus Language: Members of the order study the art across cultural boundaries. As such, they pick up other languages so that they may enhance their studies. The character may add one additional language to the list of those she already knows. She may include ancient languages.

Improved Counterspell Feat: At 5th level, the character gains the improved counterspell feat. Often Watchers must stop rogue spellcasters from destroying the homelands they guard. As a result, the order has perfected its ability to use counterspell techniques to eliminate the threat of such reckless magic use. The Masters feel that this is preferable to harming the irresponsible magic user, leaving the punishment of such a person to the elven authorities.

Focused Dispel: Sometimes members of the order must deal with lingering magical effects. Over the years. its members have developed more effective dispelling skills. Beginning at 7th level, they may add +2 to any caster's level checks to dispel magic.

Incredible Memory (Ex): At 9th level, the Watcher gains the ability to recall any memory with surprising accuracy. This gives the Watcher a +5 competence bonus on all Knowledge checks. This ability is useful in combat, as it gives the Watcher a +2 competence bonus to attack rolls against any opponent he has fought during a prior encounter. This is an extraordinary ability.