?Don?t worry about it. I have a feeling our luck is about to change.?

?Sar Pios, layabout and fortune?s friend

The fortune?s friend lives by his luck. He doesn?t worry about much of anything, including where his next meal comes from, and trusts to luck?perhaps more than he should.

BECOMING A FORTUNE'S FRIEND

Clerics of Olidammara, monks, and rogues qualify most easily for this prestige class and make up the largest group within it, though every class finds representation. To adopt the ways of the fortune?s friend, a character need only embrace his luck.

PLAYING A FORTUNE'S FRIEND

Who needs skill? You?ve got luck on your side! Even in the heat of battle, when your very life is at stake, you remain calm and cheerful, confident that something will give you and your comrades the upper hand. Your carefree attitude is uplifting to some and grating to others. To the latter you say, ?Sour grapes!? They are envious of your ability to slide through life without a care, easily finding food, gold, lodging, and love. In your rare contemplative moments, you feel sorry for those who have to work so hard to make ends meet.

Combat

As a fortune?s friend, you are an unusual combatant, often jumping in over your head and relying on luck to get you out of a jam. Your talent isn?t a license to be stupid, though. You?re lucky, not invulnerable, and your good fortune doesn?t necessarily protect your allies.

Advancement

You don?t become a fortune?s friend so much as realize you?ve always been one. From your earliest days, good things happened to you, and others would comment on how lucky you were. As you grew older you trusted more and more to your luck, and it never let you down. Eventually you forswore practice and discipline, relying entirely on your luck to get by. On that day you truly became a fortune?s friend.

You pick up bits of know-how here and there, which translate into a smattering of skills: some generally useful (such as Spot) and some of narrower utility (such as Use Rope). Having a varied repertoire of skills comes in handy, even if you don?t practice them often. Of course, you can?t go wrong selecting even more luck feats. Each one not only gives you a new avenue of luck to explore, but another crucial luck reroll.

Resources

As in everything else, you?ve been fortunate in finding the right people to know. Many enjoy your company and marvel at your incredible string of luck. However, since most people secretly envy your good fortune, these contacts are at best helpful acquaintances. Most such so-called friends are quick to abandon you when the going gets tough. For the most part, your luck is all you have.

FORTUNE'S FRIENDS IN THE WORLD

?I used to want to be that guy. Good things always seem to happen to him. But you know what? That life is too unpredictable even for me, never knowing where your next meal is going to come from.?

?Dram Cicaeda, man on the street

Individualistic and free-wheeling, fortune?s friends fit easily into any campaign that uses the luck rules.

Organization

Though a fortune?s friend belongs to no one but himself, he seeks out companionship wherever he can find it. He isn?t picky about his comrades, as long as they aren?t judgmental about him. This arrangement does not always work out well, however. Some who recognize his abilities keep a fortune?s friend around simply as a good-luck charm. More unscrupulous groups take advantage of his good fortune, making him the fall guy for their crimes or sending him on suicide missions.

NPC Reactions

A fortune?s friend doesn?t consider himself lazy: He works just hard enough for his luck to carry him the rest of the way. This apparent tendency toward laziness causes many people to turn against a fortune?s friend.

Dwarves in particular despise those who benefit without hard work. A dwarf who recognizes a fortune?s friend has an initial unfriendly attitude toward him, and Diplomacy checks to influence that attitude have a ?10 penalty. Even the luckiest fortune?s friend is unlikely to convince a dwarf to be helpful toward him. Other characters treat a fortune?s friend with a mixture of envy and awe. Most are neutral overall: They appreciate his abilities but resent his easy life. Two fortune?s friends, should they meet, repel one another like similar magnetic poles.

FORTUNE'S FRIEND LORE

Characters with ranks in Knowledge (arcana) or Knowledge (local) can research fortune?s friends to learn more about them. When a character succeeds on a skill check, the following lore is revealed, including the information from lower DCs.

DC 10: A fortune?s friend is lucky. Almost too lucky.

DC 15: A fortune?s friend lives by luck alone. Nothing ever seems to get him down because?for him at least?everything works out in the end.

DC 20: A fortune?s friend can sometimes cheat death.

PCs rarely go looking for a fortune?s friend. A meeting just happens, as long as that would be lucky for him.

FORTUNE'S FRIENDS IN THE GAME

Fortune?s friends can be fascinating if frustrating antagonists, but they work better as allies, cohorts, or minions of more powerful foes. They make great comedic foils, bringing their brash personalities to bear against the PCs in over-the-top, melodramatic ways.

Players who like to have some control over their characters? luck should enjoy this prestige class, which can work easily with any character type. It might also appeal to those playing clerics or worshipers of a deity of fortune, particularly if they have access to the Luck domain. One fortune?s friend can join a party without endangering the overall scheme of things.

Adaptation

A fortune?s friend fits easily into almost any campaign world. You can customize the prestige class by specifying his source of luck as a deity: Olidammara in the core setting, Tymora in Faer?n, the Traveler in the world of Eberron, or an equivalent deity of your campaign. To strengthen this divine theme, you could adjust the entry requirements to include 4 ranks in Knowledge (religion) and perhaps being a worshiper of the appropriate deity.