#bone ship

(art by Warriorseyes on DeviantArt)

Our special on prestige classes continues, and this time, we’re looking at something we’ve covered before… Well, not exactly. We ended up covering the 2nd Edition archetype version of this prestige class before we tackled the original! (Oops), but now we’re tackling the original, so let’s go ahead and give an overview of what we’re dealing with here.

The Bellflower Network is a collective of halfling emancipators that work wherever slavery is found in the Inner Sea Region, particularly Cheliax, and act as a constant thorn in the side of slaveowners and those that support tyranny and control such as many orders of Hellknights.

While the members of the network come in many different roles, it is the tillers, those that actively lead slaves to freedom over the border, that prove to be the workhorses of the organization. Their name, much like other members such as the harvesters (spies) and irrigators (assassins) comes from the tendency of network members to speak in code about their world, using farming terminology to refer to their crop (group of escorted slaves), their barns (safehouses), and rows (pathways used to escape).

The use of farming terms is a nice touch, as it calls back to real-world emancipation networks, while also being the perfect cover for their activities. Nobles and slaveowners usually have very little interest in the menial labor that they cannot be bothered to do themselves, after all.

As we’ll soon see, these emancipators offer a different application of the skills of sneaky classes, which I hope you’ll find interesting.

This prestige class requires knowledge of the local area and of surviving off the land in addition to stealth and deception skills, as you might imagine. Additionally, one must know a handful of teamwork feats as well as either the sneak attack class feature or at least two vigilante talents, which limits this prestige class to having at least levels in rogue, slayer, or vigilante, or any archetype for a class that grants sneak attack. However, what is notable is that the hero need not be a halfling, though only the most trusted non-halflings are afforded this training in the lore of the Lost Omens setting.

The basic training of this path teaches them to designate others as their “crop”, a priority charge that they watch over and can give instructions to in order to aid them in either escape or combat.

As emancipators, it is important to be able to move fast, and so they train to be swift runners, and can encourage their crop to match their pace.

They are also adept as aiding their crop in various tasks or actions they need to do, and can take this a step further if they are also trained as a bellflower harvester.

Acting like a metaphorical scarecrow, tillers are especially accurate and lethal when striking against those that threaten their crop.

They also learn a selection of extra teamwork feats to use alongside a trusted companion, and if they have levels in a class or archetype that allows them to use the teamwork feats without allies (such as inquisitor), or the ability to grant teamwork feats to others (such as cavalier or the bellflower harvester vigilante archetype), they can even use them with their crop.

An underhanded blow at the right moment can put down a slave hunter, and so they learn or improve upon their sneak attack arts.

Nothing is better for hiding people than a community that is on your side, and so the tillers ingratiate themselves to a community of their choice, making it an open secret of their job and goals that most suspect but none would willingly tell. With such a community bond, even those outside the Network will offer their aid, making things that much easier within the community while hiding from slavers, and providing concealed lodgings and medical care therein. As they master their art, they can bond with multiple communities to expand their network.

While this prestige class absolutely requires either the rogue, slayer, or vigilante as a base class with few exceptions, they also recommend levels in ranger or inquisitor, depending on the character’s style, such as nature-savvy guides or divine servants of a deity of freedom. Generally speaking, though, this prestige class works well with builds that mix underhanded tricks with ally support, whether you’re leading a group of former slaves or applying the benefits of your crop to more capable allies. This can be achieved with spells from certain classes, or there are plenty of rogue talents that reward team play.

Given the nature of some of their abilities, this prestige class can’t really be separated from their abolitionist origins, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use it outside of the Lost Omens setting. After all, slavery can and often is a problem in certain parts of many settings, and where it is, there are those with the courage to stand against it, fighting from the shadows.

Alkazzar’s School for the Psychically Gifted seems like a delightful concept on paper, but anyone who’s actually been there can sense that there is something very wrong. Indeed, a cerebric cyst founded the school through it’s puppets to feast upon the psychically gifted that congregate there. However, a covert team seeks to free the children and escape out of reach of the hungry ooze’s clutches, but they’ll need help.

Coveted for their fragments of genie power, geniekin planetouched are prized slaves in the land of Shakkah. However, a network of freedom fighters works to free these slaves, led by an ifrit woman known only by her byname: Brushfire.

Boneship model of a Whaler, detailed with rigging, whaleboats on davits and spare boats on deck, two anchors on chains, tryworks, cutting stage, spread-wing eagle sternboard, 19th century