This character class has been culled from a back issue of Dragon(tm) Magazine and details a character classes for use in a 1st Edition AD&D game.

The Sentinel

The intruders might have been detected and overcome if Osgirand had hired a sentinel - a non-player character whose job it is to defend against both open and surprise attacks. Although sentinels fight fairly well, their primary purpose is to detect approaching invaders or assailants, and to then sound an alarm and hold off the enemy until help arrives. To accomplish this, sentinels have trained themselves to be exceptionally alert.

A sentinel must have the following minimum ability scores: strength 9, intelligence 13, wisdom 14, and dexterity 12. At the start of his career, a sentinel may be of any non-chaotic alignment. The ideal alignment for a sentinel is lawful neutral, but it's not necessary for a first-level sentinel to have that alignment. However, as a sentinel gains experience in his function, he becomes more loyal to his master or employer and more objective about those he encounters in the performance of his duties. This is reflected, in game terms, by a gradual shift to lawful neutral alignment for any sentinel who did nor begin his career with that alignment.

With every three experience levels a sentinel gains after the first level, he shifts one alignment step closer to lawful neutral. This shift favors the lawful aspect over good or evil; for example, a sentinel who starts out neutral good would first shift to lawful good and then to lawful neutral. Unlike player characters, sentinels do not lose a level for undergoing this kind of alignment change; instead, they must pay a penalty in earned experience points. A sentinel's first alignment shift will occur after he finishes rising through 4th level but before he begins progressing through 5th level, and he must forfeit 50% of all the experience points he earns while at 4th level (so that it takes twice as many points as normal to advance through 4th level). The same 50% penalty is assessed during 7th level, if a second alignment shift is necessary to bring the sentinel to lawful neutral. Every sentinel who advances to 8th level or higher will be lawful neutral since no more than two alignment shifts will ever be necessary. Of course, a sentinel who starts out as a lawful neutral character is not subject to these penalties (and thus can rise in levels more rapidly than others of his class).

By their nature, sentinels have many abilities and attributes typical of a fighter - but the class is not a subclass of fighter, and it is only open to humans and half-elves (who may not be multi-classed as a sentinel and anything else). Sentinels do not roll for exceptional strength, nor do they receive the special hit-point bonus that a fighter receives for high constitution. A sentinel with both intelligence and wisdom of 16 or higher is allowed to add a 10% bonus to earned experience.

As is evident from the accompanying table, a sentinel has a good hit-point average for a character of a given level, and members of the sentinel class continue to gain hit dice up through 15th level, the maximum level attainable. Just as the hit points of a high-level fighter reflect that character's ability to avoid serious damage as well as withstand it, so do the sentinel's hit points serve as a mirror of his ever-improving abilities to notice the unusual or imperceptible and take action against a threat before it actually comes to pass. Thanks to his high intelligence and wisdom and an inner sense sharpened by years of practice, a veteran sentinel will notice a sharp intake of breath, or the position of a weapon or the stance of a would-be opponent. By picking up on signals such as these, a sentinel is able to predict how, when, and where a weapon will strike - enabling him to take relatively less damage from the attack, assuming it hits.

A sentinel attacks on the combat table for fighters - but it must be kept in mind at all times that sentinels are used almost exclusively for defensive purposes, and generally will not strike first unless a threat is immediately obvious. A sentinel must be able to attack quickly, to parry blows, and move swiftly to block opponents from charging past them. For these reasons, a sentinel must only use weapons that have speed factors of 6 or less, and cannot wear plate armor. A sentinel can use any type of shield and almost always carries one on duty.

Special abilities

Bonus to detect invisible: Because he is by nature more alert than other characters, a sentinel is better at detecting the presence of invisible creatures or moving objects. (This ability does not apply to astral, ethereal, or out-of-phase creatures, nor to the detection of a stationary, non-living invisible object.) A sentinel is able to notice a disturbance in the air flow, a slight noise, or a slight emanation of heat or cold that signals the presence of something unseen. To detect a creature or object which is only hidden but not invisible (such as a thief hiding in shadows), the sentinel gets a bonus of 25% to the number given in the table.

The numbers in this column on the table represent a bonus to a character's normal chance to detect invisibility (see p. 60 of the DMG). As can be seen from the figures in the DMG, a sentinel's chance to detect invisibility goes up sharply at 9th level (or perhaps sooner, for sentinels with exceptionally high intelligence). But even at lower levels, a sentinel with very high intelligence gets an additional bonus: 2% for 15 intelligence, 4% for 16 intelligence, 7% for 17 intelligence, or 10% for 18 intelligence. This intelligence bonus is added to the chance given in the 'Bonus to detect invisible' column in the sentinel table, and also to the chance given in the DMG table (if applicable). For example, a 7th-level sentinel with 16 intelligence has an 11 % chance of detecting an invisible object. When that character reaches 8th level, his chance goes up to 17%. An attempt to detect invisibility is handled as per the DMG, with one roll allowed in each round during which the sentinel is within sensory range of an invisible object. Note that this ability does not have to be consciously exercised in order to work.

Hear noise: This is basically the same as the thief ability of the same name, except that a sentinel does not have to be actively listening for sounds in order to detect them.

Detect lie: The numbers in this column represent the chance a sentinel has of instinctively knowing when he is being lied to. This detection only applies against a figure or figures who are directly conversing with the sentinel, not if the sentinel happens to overhear people talking to each other. The ability is usually only brought into play if a character is talking to a sentinel in an attempt to gain entry to the place the sentinel is guarding. As with detect invisible and hear noise, this ability does not have to be consciously performed in order to work. Note that detecting a lie does not enable a sentinel to know the truth.

Surprise: The numbers in this column represent the base chance for a sentinel to be surprised. This number steadily decreases as the sentinel rises in level, down to a minimum of 3% at 11th level and above. The base chance is modified when considering adversaries who do not have the normal (2 in 6) chance to surprise other figures. For instance, a bugbear surprises foes at a chance of 3 in 6, or 16 2/3% greater than normal - so, against a bugbear, a sentinel's chance to be surprised is increased by 17% (round fractions up). Conversely, a sentinel receives a 17% decrease to his chance to be surprised by a creature that only surprises on a 1 in 6 chance, meaning that a sentinel of 7th level or above will never be surprised by such a creature unless some extraordinary circumstance prevails.

This surprise percentage is also used to determine the chance that a sleeping sentinel will be awakened by some unusual noise; this is equal to 50% minus the surprise chance. Thus, a 1st-level sentinel will be awakened by a strange noise on a 17% chance, and an 11th-level sentinel on a 97% chance.

Find traps, pits, and snares: This is a combination of the thief's ability to find traps and the power bestowed by the druid spell detect snares & pits. Unlike most of the sentinel's other abilities, this must be consciously exercised in order to succeed. Note that a sentinel can only find such traps, and cannot remove, deactivate, or set them.

If a sentinel does not wish to attack, he can choose to try to parry one attack against him per round, plus one for every three full levels of experience the sentinel has attained - 1 at 1st level, 2 at 4th level, 3 at 7th level, 4 at 10th level, and 5 at 13th level and above. The person controlling the sentinel must announce the intent to parry before any attacks are made against the character in a round, and must also specify which blow (or blows) the sentinel will attempt to block. Parrying can only be attempted against attacks from melee (hand-held) weapons and only if the sentinel is holding weapon or a shield.

Parrying is conducted as per the guidelines on p. 104 of the Players Handbook. The sentinel can make no return attack in the same round, and for purposes of determining whether an opponent's strike succeeds, the sentinel is treated as if he had an extra +2 bonus 'to hit' for strength, in addition to the actual +1 bonus 'to hit' that a sentinel with 17 or 18 strength would already have.

Other characteristics

A sentinel is initially proficient with only one weapon, but wields that weapon with a bonus of +1 “to hit.” The character gains proficiency in one new weapon every three levels thereafter (at 4th, 7th, 10th, and 13th levels), but only attacks made with the first-chosen weapon are eligible for the hit bonus. A sentinel's non-proficiency penalty is -2 - and note again that a sentinel can only use weapons with a speed factor of 6 or lower.

A sentinel makes saving throws as a fighter and is able to use all magic items permitted to that class, except for plate armor and weapons with a speed factor of 7 or higher. No sentinel will use oil in combat, since it is time-consuming and generally unreliable. An evil sentinel might not hesitate to use a poisoned blade; however, all decisions on poison use should be made by the individual DM. A sentinel never has henchmen, and attracts no followers regardless of his charisma score.

Apprenticeship of a sentinel

After one year of probationary service, the new sentinel will be granted a permanent placement in the employer's household, if the master is pleased with the newcomer's performance. If the master is displeased, he will either sell the sentinel's service to another employer or simply turn the newcomer loose to fend for himself. An aspiring sentinel who successfully get through the training and apprenticeship period will be guaranteed a place of employment in which he will be treated well and in which he will be able to perform to the best of his ability. This good treatment for services rendered is the main reason why sentinels are so loyal (and become fanatical about it as they rise in levels); in turn, this devotion helps keep sentinels in good standing with owners of estates, nobility, and other men of means who have valuable and important possessions - including themselves - to be guarded.

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