TEAMWORK BENEFITS

In D&D, PCs rarely stand alone. The wizard relies on the doughty fighter to intercept charging enemies,
and the fighter in turn depends on the cleric’s healing magic when the battle is over. But over time,
characters who adventure shoulder to shoulder together can realize teamwork benefits based on their long
history together. Likewise, PCs who adventure together can bind a guardian spirit to their group, further
strengthening their ability to function as a team.

CREATURES AND TEAMWORK

Creatures with an Intelligence score of 1 or 2 can be included on a team only if they learn the teamwork
trick. Creatures that don’t have an Intelligence score can never be part of a team. Teaching an animal the
teamwork trick requires a DC 20 Handle Animal check made as part of teamwork training. This trick
allows the animal to be part of a team and thus benefit from any teamwork benefits enjoyed by the team.
The animal must still meet any team member prerequisite required by the benefit.

WHAT IS A TEAMWORK BENEFIT?

Experienced D&D players understand the value of specific tactics that take advantage of teamwork.
However, teamwork also has a more general benefit. Once characters have trained with specific comrades,
they’re attuned to the nuances of how they fight, move, and communicate. Characters who have spent time
working as a team can derive a benefit simply from having their comrades nearby. This teamwork benefit
grants an expanded use of a skill, a bonus on certain checks, or a battlefield action otherwise unavailable to
the team members. To qualify for a teamwork benefit, PCs must meet two broad categories of
requirements: training time and prerequisites. First, the characters seeking the benefit must jointly practice
techniques relevant to the benefit for at least two weeks before acquiring the benefit. This two-week
training period must be repeated whenever a new character joins the group, as the newcomer becomes
accustomed to the operating procedures of veteran team members. Second, some teamwork benefits have
prerequisites such as skill ranks, base attack bonus, or feats. A prerequisite can take one of two different
forms.
Task Leader Prerequisites: These requirements must be met by at least one character on the team. If only
one character qualifies, and that character leaves the team, the group loses the teamwork benefit until
the character returns or is replaced by another character who meets the same prerequisites. The
designation of task leader can vary from one benefit to another; a character who serves as the task
leader for the Infiltration teamwork benefit might be a different individual from the one who functions
as the task leader for the Ranged Precision benefit. In addition to the indicated prerequisites, a task
leader must have an Intelligence score of at least 8. (While a task leader need not be a genius, nor has
he particular need of a strong personality, he must be at least reasonably capable of communicating his
thoughts to others.)
Team Member Prerequisites: Every character on the team must meet these requirements. Any character
who joins the team must meet the prerequisites in order for the team to enjoy the teamwork benefit.
For example, the Infiltration teamwork benefit has a task leader prerequisite of 8 ranks in both Hide
and Move Silently, and a team member prerequisite of 1 rank in Hide or Move Silently. This means
that at least one character in the group must have 8 or more ranks in each of the two skills, while each
other character in the team must have at least 1 rank in either of the two skills. When the team is
sneaking around, the task leader directs her less adept comrades in stealth techniques, covering any
extra noise with environmental sounds, and so on.
A team gets one teamwork benefit for every 4 Hit Dice the lowest-level member of the team has, so it earns
a new teamwork benefit whenever that character attains a new level evenly divisible by 4. If that
character’s level later drops below the required level (due to energy drain or being brought back from the
dead), the team retains all its current teamwork benefits but doesn’t gain a new one until the lowest-level
character regains his or her lost level(s) plus four more levels. Anytime a team gains a new teamwork
benefit, it also has the option to swap out a previously known teamwork benefit for a new one for which the
team qualifies. In effect, the team can elect to lose one teamwork benefit in order to gain two others. This is
most often done when the team roster has changed in such a way as to make a previously known teamwork
benefit no longer useful. Unless otherwise specified, each teamwork benefit can be taken only once. The
teamwork benefit applies whenever the characters on the team can communicate with each other, whether
verbally, with gestures, or by magical means.
THE TEAM ROSTER
Teamwork benefits are based on the notion that once characters have spent time training with their
comrades, they respond instinctively to subtle changes in body language and can anticipate their comrades’
likely moves. A group of people (PCs or NPCs) must train together for at least two weeks before all
members of the group are eligible to share the same teamwork benefits. The PCs will undoubtedly occupy
most of the positions on the team, but cohorts, animal companions, paladin mounts, familiars, and recurring
NPC allies can also be members of a team. A team must have at least two members and no more than eight.
To join a team, a character must have an Intelligence score of 3 or higher. To maintain their teamwork
benefits, the characters on a team must train together for at least four one-week periods per year. These
training periods need not be consecutive and can happen at the same time as training to earn the new class
features of a given level (as described above), so in most cases PCs won’t have to spend additional time to
keep their teamwork skills sharp. To add a new character to a team (often because a previous character died
or otherwise left the group), that character must train with the other characters on the team for at least two
weeks, learning the nuances and standard operating procedures of the team. This training can occur during
the training time required to gain the benefits of a new level. A character can join an adventuring party
without joining the team that includes other members of the party. In this case, he doesn’t gain any
teamwork benefits, but neither does his lack of prerequisites count against the team’s qualification for the
benefits. A character leaves a team at his option or by consensus of the other members of that team.

DESIGNING YOUR OWN TEAMWORK BENEFITS

When designing your own teamwork benefits, ask yourself: Is this a specific tactic, or is it an accumulation
of countless small benefits? If the benefit you imagine is analogous to a specific sequence of actions, it’s
not a teamwork benefit, just a smart tactic. If the benefit emerges from familiarity among the characters and
a shared understanding of general techniques, then it’s a teamwork benefit.

TEAMWORK BENEFIT DESCRIPTIONS

Here is the format for teamwork benefit descriptions.
Benefit Name
Description of what the benefit does or represents.
Training: A brief discussion of the training procedure required to acquire the benefit.
Task Leader Prerequisite: A base attack bonus, a feat or feats, a minimum number of ranks in one or
more skills, a class feature, or some other requirement that at least one character on the team must have
in order for the team to acquire this benefit. This entry is absent if a teamwork benefit has no task
leader prerequisite. A benefit can have more than one task leader prerequisite; the same character must
meet all task leader prerequisites for a particular benefit.
Team Member Prerequisite: These requirements must be met by every member of the team in order for
the team to acquire this benefit. This entry is absent if a teamwork benefit has no team member
prerequisite. A benefit can have more than one team member prerequisite. If another teamwork benefit
is given as a team member prerequisite, all members of the team must qualify for the prerequisite
teamwork benefit before the new benefit can be acquired.
Benefit: What the teamwork benefit enables the team members to do.
Tips: Advice for players and DMs using this teamwork benefit.

AWARENESS
- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK 2 (3.5)
Your team knows where to look and what to listen for to anticipate ambushes.
Training: To train for this benefit, you and your teammates must run through scenarios in which half of
you set up ambushes to snare the others. Through constant drilling, your team learns to listen for
specific sounds and look for random visual clues. By regularly exploring dangerous locales,
developing listening skills, and staying alert for the slightest movements, your team gradually develops
a routine for examining an area to prevent enemies from getting the drop on the group.
Task Leader Prerequisite: Listen 12 ranks and Spot 12 ranks.
Team Member Prerequisite: Listen 2 ranks or Spot 2 ranks.
Benefit: Every member of the team gains a +2 circumstance bonus on Listen and Spot checks if any other
team member is within 30 feet.
Tips: When moving into an area with poor lighting, or one that offers plenty of places for opponents to
hide, it’s best to spread out to the outer extent of this benefit’s range. By doing so, your group presents
a less attractive target to a hidden spellcaster. For example, if each character is exactly 30 feet (6
squares) away from the task leader, not everyone could be caught in a fireball or similar effect.
Editor: If you can convince your group to also do aid another Listen or Spot checks so one person has the
best chance to notice things, this get’s effective really quick.

CAMP ROUTINE
- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK 2 (3.5)
The regular routine your group has established allows you to set up, watch, and break down camp quickly
and efficiently.
Training: To develop a camp routine, the team must establish a regular schedule of tasks and
responsibilities for each member. For example, one character might set up the tents while another starts
the fire and a third prepares the evening meal. Your team must also set up a routine watch schedule so
that everyone knows who goes on watch when, and for how long.
Task Leader Prerequisite: Survival 8 ranks or Self-Sufficient.
Team Member Prerequisite: Survival 1 rank.
Benefit: Your team can set up and break camp with an eye toward defensibility and efficiency. The team
member on watch gains a +2 bonus on Spot and Listen checks, and each sleeping team member gains a
+4 bonus on Listen checks to hear any sounds within 30 feet.
Tips: Be sure to put spellcasters on the first watch or last watch so that they can get enough uninterrupted
rest to regain their spells. Your first priority when the party is attacked while you are on watch is to
wake up your allies, so you should carry a signal whistle, bell, or similar item.
Editor: While great in concept, remember that a rope trick is the best place to spend the night. Still, if
that’s not an option, and your DM loves to ambush you at night, consider this.

CIRCLE OF BLADES
- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK 2 (3.5)
The members of your team can combine their attacks to slice through the defenses of a foe they have
surrounded.
Training: You and your teammates learn to anticipate each other’s attacks and fighting maneuvers. By
correctly timing your blows, you can strike at a foe’s vulnerable points.
Task Leader Prerequisite: Weapon Specialization and base attack bonus +6.
Team Member Prerequisite: Sneak attack +1d6.
Benefit: Any team member who readies an action to attack when the task leader does gains a +2 bonus on
damage rolls against the same target.
Tip: The circle of blades teamwork benefit works best against undead, oozes, and other monsters that have
immunity to extra damage from sneak attacks.
Editor: While great in concept, the requirements limit it’s effectiveness to groups of NPC thieves.

CLIMBING SQUAD
- DUNGEONSCAPE (3.5)
Your team has developed a method to climb surfaces safely and quickly.
Training: Your team must spend a great deal of time climbing as a group, studying each other’s technique
and learning from the team’s best climber. With practice, members of a climbing squad can scale most
surfaces easily.
Task Leader Prerequisite: Climb 8 ranks.
Team Member Prerequisite: Climb 1 rank.
Benefit: When encountering a surface to be scaled, the task leader must climb it first. Upon reaching the
top (or another safe point along the climb), the leader can use the aid another action to grant a +4
bonus (instead of the usual +2) to each other member who attempts the climb. In addition, each
member after the task leader can attempt accelerated climbing and take a –2 penalty to the Climb
check. To grant these benefits, the task leader must direct each member for his entire climb (a move
action).
Tips: Despite the benefits, climbers who wear heavy armor and have high check penalties still find it
difficult to scale smooth or slippery surfaces. Knotted ropes prove helpful in most cases.
Editor: In a low level campaign, this might be of use, but there are so many ways to get climbing bonuses,
that I only see this being of use to a squad of monks.

COORDINATED AWARENESS
- FORGE OF WAR (3.5)
You and your allies have become so skilled at battlefield communication that you can keep track of what’s
happening around you without splitting your attention.
Training: By training alongside multiple allies, and against flanking foes, you learn to read your enemies’
positions in the subtle shifting and movement of your comrades.
Task Leader Prerequisite: Sense Motive 4 ranks, Spot 4 ranks, uncanny dodge.
Team Member Prerequisite: Sense Motive 2 ranks, Spot 2 ranks.
Benefit: If one team member is flanked by foes, but he has at least one other team member adjacent to him,
the enemy does not gain the standard +2 bonus on attack rolls due to the flanking (though other
flanking-related abilities, such as sneak attack, still function as normal). The team leader need not be
one of those adjacent, but he must be within 30 feet.
Editor: Now this is cheap and a very effective counter to flanking, especially if everyone sticks close by
and in two man teams,

CROWDED CHARGE
- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK 2 (3.5)
Because you and your allies know when to step out of each other’s way, you can charge even when allies
are blocking your path.
Training: The members of your team learn to step aside whenever one of them begins a charge.
Task Leader Prerequisite: Jump 8 ranks.
Team Member Prerequisite: Jump 1 rank.
Benefit: Other team members do not block movement for the purpose of determining whether a team
member can charge. However, a charging team member must still end her movement in an unoccupied
space.
Tips: This versatile benefit allows the party’s rogue or ranger to scout ahead in a dungeon or other
constrained terrain without worrying about blocking a fighter’s or barbarian’s charge. Furthermore,
because the benefit also extends to mounted team members, a paladin can charge on horseback without
worrying about trampling her comrades.
Editor: If you are a uber-charger, BEG the rest of the party to take this. The rest of the party won’t get
much out of it, but it will make things so much easier for you.

CUNNING AMBUSH
- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK 2 (3.5)
Your team can quickly take advantage of terrain to ambush opponents.
Training: The training for this benefit involves studying common environments, running through ambush
scenarios, and devising strategies that take advantage of the terrain. Your team must spend a few days
in the hills, then in the forest, and then—if possible—in the shifting sands of the desert.
Task Leader Prerequisite: Hide 8 ranks and Listen 8 ranks.
Team Member Prerequisite: Hide 1 rank.
Benefit: If the team members allow the task leader to prepare their hiding positions, he can make a special
Hide check to camouflage them. This check is modified by each team member’s armor check penalty
and Dexterity rather than the task leader’s, and the camouflage effect lasts until the team member
moves. Hiding a team member in this manner requires 10 minutes of work.
Tips: The ambush teamwork benefit is a great way to play smart. Instead of always going after the
monsters on their own turf, let them come to you. Try luring monsters into your trap with spells such
as dancing lights or major image. Failing that, buff up the party scout with defensive spells to protect
her while she acts as bait.
Editor: Great in concept, but chances are the NPCs are going to use this far more then the PCs.
CUNNING AMBUSH, IMPROVED
- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK 2 (3.5)
When you are adequately prepared, your team can set a devastating ambush.
Training: Same as for cunning ambush
Task Leader Prerequisite: Hide 12 ranks and Listen 12 ranks.
Team Member Prerequisite: Hide 3 ranks and the cunning ambush teamwork benefit.
Benefit: During the surprise round, each team member who is not surprised and has been camouflaged (see
Cunning Ambush, above) can take a full round’s worth of actions.
Tips: As with cunning ambush, this benefit is best used to draw enemies into your trap. To maximize the
benefit, try setting up ambushes in favorable terrain, such as forest (which grants a +2 bonus to AC and
a +1 bonus on Reflex saves to any character standing in a space occupied by a tree) or a position of
higher ground (which grants a +1 bonus on melee attacks). Alternatively, making ranged attacks from
the other side of an area that features uncertain footing might discourage enemies from charging you.
Editor: Again, awesome benefit, but more likely for NPCs to have the time to pull this off then PCs.

DOOR PROCEDURES
- DUNGEON MASTER’S GUIDE 2 (3.5)
Your team is accomplished at identifying and eliminating traps and other threats at doors.
Training: By studying common door traps, practicing listening techniques, and remaining alert for tiny
clues that precede a triggered trap, you gradually develop a routine that enables your team to examine a
door with minimum risk to the team.
Task Leader Prerequisite: Listen 8 ranks, Search 8 ranks.
Team Member Prerequisite: Listen 1 rank or Search 1 rank.
Benefit: When listening at or searching a door or similar portal, the task leader gains a +1 circumstance
bonus on his Listen and Search checks for each team member within 10 feet of the door. If the task
leader chooses to take 20 on a Listen or Search check made at a door, he can do so in half the normal
time (as if he had made ten attempts, rather than twenty).
Tips: The door procedures teamwork benefit is a good way to quickly adjudicate each door you approach
in a dungeon. You can quickly make the rolls and get on with the encounter on the other side. Be ready
to make these rolls when you find a closed door in the dungeon. Then make the Listen check or the
Search check, and either deal with the trap you find or get ready to open the door. Keep in mind that
you might be able to take 10 or take 20 on these checks.
Editor: If you are a bunch of dungeon crawling fools, and can convince your DM to allow you to aid
another on the leader’s listen check, every group of adventurers should take this. Roll high enough, and
the DM might give to all sorts of useful info.

EVADE INCOMING
- FORGE OF WAR (3.5)
By following the subtle cues of your most nimble comrade, you have learned to better extricate yourself
from area effects.
Training: You and your teammates train by evading area attacks that are essentially harmless, such as
clouds of flour. Utilizing a variety of environments, from open fields to rooms crowded with boxes,
you learn how best to duck and cover, avoiding any effect that detonates or spreads toward you.
Eventually, your practice switches from fake attacks to real ones, dodging fireballs and the like.
Task Leader Prerequisite: Tumble 8 ranks, base Reflex save +7, evasion.
Team Member Prerequisite: Tumble 3 ranks, base Reflex save +3.
Benefit: If the task leader and at least one other team member are subject to an area effect that allows a
Reflex save, all team members subject to that same effect receive a circumstance bonus on their Reflex
saves equal to half the number of team members caught in the effect, minimum 1. For instance, a party
of five adventurers, including the task leader, are in the area of a green dragon’s breath. Every member
of the team gains a +2 circumstance bonus on his or her Reflex save.
Editor: Saving throws are very important, as one failed throw can take you out of the combat. A bit
difficult to qualify for, but if your party can take it, you should.

EXPERT MOUNTAINEERS
- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK 2 (3.5)
Your team can work together to ascend diff cult slopes and sheer surfaces with relative ease.
Training: Constant training with expert climbers has made your team comfortable with ascents and
descents.
Task Leader Prerequisite: Climb 8 ranks and Use Rope 8 ranks.
Team Member Prerequisite: Climb 1 rank or Use Rope 1 rank.
Benefit: If a team member succeeds on a Climb check, every other team member adjacent to him gains a
+2 circumstance bonus on Climb checks made to ascend the same surface. Furthermore, each team
member can make an accelerated climb with only a –2 penalty on the Climb check. Finally, a team
member can catch a falling comrade by succeeding on a Climb check against the wall’s DC (not
against the wall’s DC + 10).
Tips: Using the appropriate climbing equipment makes Climb checks easier. So, to ensure success, invest
in pitons to make your own handholds and footholds.
Editor: User Rope Sucks.

FEARSOME ROSTER
- HEROES OF BATTLE (3.5)
By taunting your enemies and projecting an air of menace, your team can send them fleeing from the field
of battle.
Training: Intimidating enemies is more than an individual effort once the members of your team have
practiced together enough to earn this teamwork benefit. Even in a fight, your collective body language
exudes dangerous menace, and each team member responds to comrades’ telling blows with war cries
and demoralizing taunts.
Task Leader Prerequisite: Intimidate 8 ranks.
Team Member Prerequisite: Cha 13 or Intimidate 1 rank.
Benefit: Enemies who can see at least two members of your team take a penalty on morale checks equal to
1 + one-quarter of the Hit Dice of the lowest-level member of the team.
Tips: If your team has acquired this benefit, you should be keenly aware of the conditions that force your
enemies to make morale checks. Usually, individuals make morale checks when they fall to half their
hit points or less, and the surviving members of units make morale checks when half their original
numbers have fallen or flee.
Editor: An enemy running away is much easier to deal with then an enemy that stands it’s ground.

FIELD MEDIC TRAINING

- DUNGEON MASTER’S GUIDE 2 (3.5)
Your comrades can quickly stabilize grievous wounds so that a fallen ally doesn’t succumb to blood loss
and trauma.
Training: To gain this benefit, your team receives instruction from accomplished healers and practices on
the wounded.
Task Leader Prerequisite: Heal 8 ranks.
Team Member Prerequisite: Heal 1 rank.
Benefit: If two team members each attempt to stabilize the same dying creature in the same round, the
second attempt automatically succeeds.
Tips: The fastest members of the team can reach a fallen comrade most quickly.
Editor: Great for low level play and low magic worlds. Not cost effective otherwise. Still, worth a look at.
The second member should always be the one with the healing hands skill trick.

FLANKING ENHANCEMENT
- FORGE OF WAR (3.5)
Your team coordinates its attacks with great precision when surrounding a foe, gaining benefits beyond
those of standard flanking maneuvers.
Training: You spend hours gathered in carefully placed groups, coordinating attack after attack against a
sparring partner. You focus specifically on taking advantage of openings in his defense caused when
he moves to protect himself from one of your allies. You trade off flanking partners at random
 intervals, so as not to grow too accustomed to the specific patterns and techniques of any one of your
allies.
Task Leader Prerequisite: Sense Motive 8 ranks, Spot 8 ranks, uncanny dodge, coordinated awareness
teamwork ability.
Team Member Prerequisite: Sense Motive 2 ranks, Spot 2 ranks, coordinated awareness teamwork
ability.
Benefit: Your benefits increase based on the number of “flanking pairs” attacking the same foe. If you
have two pairs of flankers on a single foe, all of you gain +4 to hit, rather than the standard +2. If you
have three or more flanking pairs, the bonus increases to +6.
Editor: Difficult to qualify for, but for a group of rogues, this could be deadly.

FOE HUNTING
- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK 2 (3.5)
Your team is especially good at tracking down and destroying specific types of creatures.
Training: The training for this benefit begins with intensive research on the specific creature type to be
hunted. You and your teammates must drill on the various features and traits of the chosen creature
until you learn its every idiosyncrasy. Finally, the team must stage mock combats so that each of you
can learn to take advantage of the target creature’s weaknesses.
Task Leader Prerequisite: Favored enemy (any one) +4.
Team Member Prerequisite: Survival 1 rank and base attack bonus +4.
Benefit: Each team member who assumes a flanking position with the task leader against his favored
enemy gains a +2 bonus on damage rolls against that creature.
Tips: To make optimum use of this benefit, the task leader should wear light armor or use spells that
improve his speed.
Editor: Mostly an NPC thing. If a group hates a specific type of thing (dwarves hate orcs), then this is
great. But most of the time, not worth it.

FRIENDLY FIRE EVASION

- DUNGEON MASTER’S GUIDE 2 (3.5)
- HEROES OF BATTLE (3.5)
By attuning yourself to minute, almost subliminal changes in your environment, you get just enough
warning to avoid damaging area spells cast by your allies.
Training: During the training procedure for this benefit, the spellcasters on your team cast lightning bolts,
fireballs, flame strikes, and other area spells in their arsenal, and other team members stand on the
fringes of the spells’ area, their senses perked for the whiff of brimstone, the crackle of static
electricity, or the barely audible hum that occurs an instant before such spells go off. Then you practice
ducking, dodging, and covering so that you avoid the damage from those spells.
Task Leader Prerequisite: Spellcraft 4 ranks, evasion ability.
Team Member Prerequisite: Base Reflex save +2, Spellcraft 1 rank.
Benefit: You gain the evasion ability, but only concerning spells cast by your team members.
Tips: Use this teamwork benefit to keep tough characters in the front line despite allied damaging spells
raining down around them. Of course, you still need a pretty good Reflex save bonus to take full
advantage of this benefit.
Editor: If your wizard loves area effect spells and you have a rogue in the party, this is right up there with
door procedures.

FRIENDLY FIRE EVASION, IMPROVED

- HEROES OF BATTLE (3.5)
You have further attuned yourself to the subtle precursors of the area spells your comrades cast, so you can
usually avoid their worst effects.
Training: As described in Friendly Fire Evasion, above.
Task Leader Prerequisite: Spellcraft 6 ranks, improved evasion ability.
Team Member Prerequisite: Friendly Fire Evasion teamwork benefit, base Reflex save +3, Spellcraft 1
rank.
Benefit: You gain the improved evasion ability, but only concerning spells cast by your team members.
Tips: As with Friendly Fire Evasion, this teamwork benefit lets tough characters stay in the front line
despite allied damaging spells raining down around them. A good Reflex save bonus isn’t as crucial to
take advantage of this benefit, but it still helps.
Editor: Even more awesome.

GAZE AVERSION
- DUNGEON MASTER’S GUIDE 2 (3.5)
When facing a monster with a gaze attack (such as a medusa), you are adept at avoiding its dangerous gaze.
Training: Your team practices concise verbal descriptions, often in code, and maneuvering according to
those descriptions. Eventually you’re able to avoid looking at your target except when it’s absolutely
necessary, keeping track of the battle through the shouted instructions of your comrades.
Task Leader Prerequisite: Spot 8 ranks.
Team Member Prerequisite: Spot 1 rank.
Benefit: As long as at least one team member is looking directly at the gaze-attack monster, any team
member averting his eyes need not make a save against the gaze attack.
Tips: To make this teamwork benefit as effective as possible, it’s best if the spotter is beyond the area the
gaze attack affects, is naturally immune to the effect of the gaze, or at least has the best saving throw
among the team members.
Editor: A good mid to high level benefit, especially since it isn’t until the double digits that gaze attacks
start cropping up with any regularity. Plus it’s easy to qualify for.

GROUP ENMITY
- FORGE OF WAR (3.5)
Guided by the race-specific training of your group leader, your team takes full advantage of an opponent’s
weaknesses and habits.
Training: Much of your training involves simply sitting and listening as your companion discusses the
tactics, activities, and vital spots of her favored enemy. You take to the practice field often, your
companion acting the part of the target creature, but this is only vague preparation for what’s to come.
Only once you can meet your true enemy on the field of battle, working side by side with your allies,
do you truly understand how the tactics you have learned fit together.
Task Leader Prerequisite: Knowledge (as appropriate to the creature type in question) 8 ranks, favored
enemy (creature type in question).
Team Member Prerequisite: Knowledge (as appropriate to the creature type in question) 4 ranks.
Special: You must face a member of the creature type in combat as a group at least once before you
gain the teamwork benefit. If you go more than six months without facing a creature of that type, you
lose the benefit and must face such a creature at least once to regain it.
Benefit: The tactic provides two related benefits. Every member of the team except the task leader gains
skill and combat benefits against one of the task leader’s favored enemies. This bonus is equal to half
the task leader’s bonus. For instance, if the task leader has a +6 bonus against aberrations, the other
team members gain a +3 bonus on the same rolls and skill checks. Second, all team members,
including the task leader, gain a +2 bonus on attack rolls made to confirm a critical threat against this
creature type. A specific character can only serve as task leader for one iteration of this teamwork
benefit at a time. Thus, if you wish to gain benefits against two types of creature, you must have two
party members with favored enemies, even if one of them has multiple favored enemies.
Editor: It’s like foe hunting that doesn’t suck. Still, if you were dead set on hunting down and murdering
everything of a specific type of critter, then this and Foe Hunting should make a group of rangers the
perfect tool of racial purity.

GROUP TRANCE
- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK 2 (3.5)
You and your teammates reduce your susceptibility to sleep by learning the ways of the elves.
Training: Your team members learn the secrets of elf trance and can slip into a trance state by establishing
a physical link with the task leader. This trance state allows each member to gain the benefit of sleep
by cleansing her mind and entering a deep meditative state.
Task Leader Prerequisite: Elf blood (elf or half-elf).
Team Member Prerequisite: Concentration 1 rank.
Benefit: When team members join hands, the task leader can create a trance link that allows each of them,
regardless of race, to meditate in the same manner as elves do. Every team member gains the benefit of
8 hours of sleep after just 4 hours of meditation.
Tips: Let all the spellcasters in the group rest while the warriors stay on guard. If the group’s elf trances
with half the team at a time, your party can get by with two well-manned guard watches per night
rather than several shorter shifts.
Editor: The ability to recharge and relearn all spells in just four hours? Almost broken.

HEAVY CAVALRY
- HEROES OF BATTLE (3.5)
Not only are you an accomplished equestrian, but your comrades are as well. You have extended your
almost instinctive bond with your mount to the riders and steeds galloping at your sides. Your team can
charge enemies with your steeds running shoulder to shoulder. This tight formation often sends your foes
scattering—if they don’t panic and flee from battle entirely.
Training: At first, would-be heavy cavalry team members simply practice running across an open field,
four abreast. But as the riders and mounts grow more accustomed to each other, they gradually reduce
the space that separates one steed and rider from another. Once they’re galloping shoulder to shoulder,
the team members practice sweeping turns and maintaining their formation despite difficult terrain.
Training often concludes with practice in trampling enemies. Good-aligned heavy cavalry might
practice by running down livestock, illusory enemies created by friendly spellcasters, or wood-and-
straw jousting dummies. Evil equestrians sometimes turn prisoners or slaves loose as “trample
practice” for heavy cavalry.
Task Leader Prerequisite: Handle Animal 4 ranks, Ride 8 ranks, Mounted Combat, Trample.
Team Member Prerequisite: Ride 1 rank. The members’ mounts need not be members of the team.
Benefit: To close their formation, the team members and their mounts first line up in adjacent squares, then
move closer together so that each takes up a square half as wide as usual. For example, a Medium
character mounted on a horse or other Large creature normally takes up a 10-foot square, and a team of
four such characters would occupy a rectangle 40 feet wide and 10 feet deep. By contrast, if the same
team had trained together and acquired this teamwork benefit, they could compress their line into a
unit only 20 feet wide and 10 feet deep, making it harder for anyone they overrun to dodge between the
horses’ hooves. All team members must act on the same initiative count, so some members must delay
to match the initiative count of the slowest member in the team. As long as the characters remain in a
cohesive set of squares and move at least their speed every round, they gain the following benefits:
• They don’t take the –4 penalty on attack rolls and to AC for squeezing.
• Opponents can’t avoid overruns from team members; they must attempt to block.
• The team members’ mounts count as one size category larger for purposes of resolving overruns. For
example, a horse counts as a Huge creature (+8 bonus to overrun) rather than a Large creature (+4).
For the purposes of area spells and determining position on the battlefield, each Medium character
on a Large mount is considered to be occupying a space 5 feet wide and 10 feet long.
Tips: If you have the heavy cavalry teamwork benefit, you’ll want to know the mounted overrun rules
backward and forward. Calculate the bonus for your Strength check in advance, keeping in mind that
your mount gets an extra +4 bonus for counting as one size category larger than normal. In addition,
have that hoof attack ready to go—you’ll get lots of use out of it—and know what prone characters can
and can’t do. If all goes well, you’ll be facing a lot of prone enemies.
Editor: Down right scary, in the hands of a dedicated group of NPCs. It is doubtful that most players will
be willing to put forth the time and effort to be good at this and make it worth your while.

INDIRECT FIRE
- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK 2 (3.5)
Your team has a forward observer called a spotter, who locates enemies and reveals their positions.
Training: You and your teammates practice aiming at unseen targets using directions from allies.
Eventually, you learn to fire accurately at targets that have cover based on the body language and
gestures of the spotter.
Task Leader Prerequisite: Precise Shot and base attack bonus +6.
Team Member Prerequisite: Spot 3 ranks.
Benefit: This benefit denies opponents some of the protection normally granted by cover or concealment.
If the spotter has an unobstructed line of sight to the covered or concealed target, she can, as a move
action, use hand gestures, spoken directions, and body language to alert allies wielding ranged
weapons to the target’s position. If the target has cover, it gains only half the normal cover bonus to
Armor Class against the team’s ranged attacks. If the target has concealment, the attacker rolls the miss
chance twice to determine whether his attack hits. A spotter who can see invisible targets can use this
ability to allow a reroll on the miss chance to strike an invisible creature.
Tips: Team members with darkvision make the best spotters, since they can use their special sight to locate
creatures that are taking advantage of shadowy or dark conditions.
Editor: Very useful at low levels, especially when dealing with invisible creatures and the party cannot
afford always on anti-invisibility equipment.

INFILRATION
- DUNGEON MASTER’S GUIDE 2 (3.5)
- HEROES OF BATTLE (3.5)
You are adept at moving silently and unseen. You point out noisy ground to your comrades, identify good
hiding places for one another, and otherwise move as unobtrusively as possible. You dart ahead while your
teammates watch for enemies, then you cover your comrades while they advance. While this teamwork
benefit doesn’t help much amid the tumult of a pitched battle, you’re able to sneak behind enemy lines to
attack enemy leaders, sabotage siege engines, and otherwise give your army the upper hand before the
trumpets sound.
Training: Infiltration training involves hours of practice sneaking as a group. Elves and other woodland
denizens often play elaborate games of hide and seek (with the seeking team getting useful practice as
scouts). Subterranean races stalk the caverns and tunnels of their realms, practicing the art of hiding in
a pitch-black environment. With practice, members of an infiltration team get good at sharing hiding
spaces, darting from cover to cover, and timing their movements to be as silent and stealthy as
possible.
Task Leader Prerequisite: Hide 8 ranks, Move Silently 8 ranks.
Team Member Prerequisite: Hide 1 rank or Move Silently 1 rank.
Benefit: Your team can move at full speed without taking a –5 penalty on Hide and Move Silently checks.
Other penalties (such as from difficult terrain) still apply, and you take the normal penalties on Hide or
Move Silently checks while attacking, running, or charging. Team members are always visible to each
other despite their Hide check results and the presence of anything less than total concealment
(although cover might still block line of sight between team members). If you move to a position
where none of your comrades can see or contact you, you lose the teamwork benefit at the start of your
next turn and don’t count as part of the team until you reestablish contact with at least one member.
Tips: If you’re part of an infiltration team, keep in mind that you can take 10 on your Hide and Move
Silently checks whenever you aren’t being threatened or distracted. It’s often easiest to just tell your
DM what the lowest Hide and Move Silently check results on the team are. Those check results set the
DC for NPCs’ Spot and Listen checks.
Editor: Depending on your group’s focus, this or door procedures is a good first pick. If you can convince
your Dm to allow you to do “leap frog” style advancing to allow the group to aid another each other,
one at a time, your rolls will get scary. For example, a 6 man crew using this, has each man advance
one at a time, while everyone else watches and indicates good hiding spots. You will advance at 1/6th
speed over all, but if each member has at least 9 ranks of hide and move silently, each member can
take ten and automatically get a minimum of 29. Run it by your DM first. Or don’t. You sure don’t
want him using this against you with a team of ninja assassins.

INVISIBILITY SWEEP
- DUNGEON MASTER’S GUIDE 2 (3.5)
- HEROES OF BATTLE (3.5)
If you’re aware of the presence of an unseen enemy, you can quickly move through an area and pinpoint
your foe’s location.
Training: You practice finding invisible enemies by swinging your weapons through empty spaces and
making sudden movements that an invisible foe wouldn’t anticipate. More important, you quickly
develop a shorthand way of describing the location of an unseen enemy you have pinpointed: “At my 4
o’clock, 10 feet out,” for example. Eventually, members of your team can quickly and effectively
target a specific (apparently empty) square based on your verbal description.
Task Leader Prerequisite: Blind-Fight.
Benefit: Each team member can check for the presence of an invisible enemy by groping into four adjacent
5-foot squares within reach, making touch attacks into those squares. Doing so is a standard action. If
one team member pinpoints the location of an invisible enemy (whether through groping, Spot and
Listen checks, or other means), every other team member within earshot also has that enemy
pinpointed until that enemy moves into a different square. (Pinpointed invisible enemies still gain the
benefits of total concealment.)
Editor: One member with indirect fire and detect invisibility would be better then this, but this is far
cheaper. Only the leader needs blind-fighting.

JOINT BULL RUSH

- HEROES OF BATTLE (3.5)
Shoulder to shoulder with your allies, you can blast into the ranks of your enemies, knocking them back
with your combined force.
Training: You and your teammates practice charging wooden tackling dummies all at the same time,
moving in lockstep and delivering a powerful push at the same moment. Eventually you get so good
that you leave only splintered and sagging dummies in your wake.
Task Leader Prerequisite: Improved Bull Rush.
Benefit: To perform a joint bull rush, all the team members involved must ready the bull rush action until
the turn of the member with the slowest initiative. Then all the bull rushing team members move to
their target at the same time and make a single bull rush attempt using the Strength bonus of the
strongest team member. Each additional team member involved in the joint bull rush applies his or
her Strength bonus (minimum +1). The team members must end their movement adjacent to one
another, and they all provoke attacks of opportunity from the defender (although the defender can
only make a single attack unless he has the Combat Reflexes feat).
Editor: Great for NPCs, lousy for PCs.

JOINT GRAPPLE ESCAPE

- DUNGEON MASTER’S GUIDE 2 (3.5)
- HEROES OF BATTLE (3.5)
You use nonverbal cues to time your struggles against a grappling enemy, applying force and leverage at
just the right moment to escape the clutches of your foe.
Training: In a series of wrestling matches, you practice techniques of suddenly shifting your weight and
applying maximum effort just as a comrade outside the grapple makes a similar effort—or at least
distracts your opponent. Eventually, your timing improves to the point where you and your comrades
are working in concert with split-second timing.
Task Leader Prerequisite: Base attack bonus +4 or Improved Grapple.
Benefit: If you successfully use the aid another action to assist an adjacent team member’s next grapple
check or Escape Artist check to escape from a grapple, you provide your teammate with a bonus on
that check equal to +4 or your Strength modifier, whichever is higher.
Editor: Does your DM love grapple attacks? This is his worst nightmare.

JOINT RAM
- HEROES OF BATTLE (3.5)
Your comrades and you are practiced at bashing things down, applying maximum force at the moment of
impact.
Training: To practice for this teamwork benefit, you have to wreck stuff together, practicing your timing
and making sure you’re applying the utmost leverage to the target. Eventually, you learn to break down
doors and crumble walls that would be impervious to individual efforts.
Task Leader Prerequisite: Improved Sunder.
Benefit: When your team is employing a ram to knock down a barrier or destroy another object, the ram
deals an extra 2 points of damage for each team member wielding the ram. In addition, if a team
member is trying to break down a door or perform a feat of strength similar to ramming, she gains a +4
bonus on the check for every team member who assists with the aid another action. The DM should set
limits for how many team members can usefully help break down a particular door (typically two
Medium creatures for every 5 feet of the door’s width).
Editor: Carry around a tree in a portable hole, or an itemed ram or something. The way this reads, if you
have a 10 foot long ram, you could have up to 6 people holding it, occupying a line 15 feet long and 5
feet wide, then charge as a group to ram something. If you have read the ram rules, this gets nasty, very
quickly. Great for NPCs, lousy for PCs.

LIKE A ROCK
- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK 2 (3.5)
Like dwarves, the members of your team are stable on their feet.
Training: Your team develops resilience against unbalancing attacks by working closely with a dwarf or
some other sturdy member of the party. When the team stands together, its members are difficult to
dislodge.
Task Leader Prerequisite: Stability (as dwarf racial trait).
Team Member Prerequisite: Balance 1 rank.
Benefit: The task leader’s stability bonus against bull rush or trip attempts extends to all team members
adjacent to her. This bonus stacks with that provided by stability.
Tips: This benefit requires the team to bunch up, so if the enemy has a number of area attacks, be sure to
beef everyone up with spells and abilities that grant energy resistance. If you must spread out, don’t
move so far apart that you can’t help an ally who is knocked prone.
Editor: it’s cheap, but much more useful to close working units that stick close together, like NPCs.

LONG-RANGE ARCHERY
- HEROES OF BATTLE (3.5)
Because you’re attuned to the other archers on your team, you learn from the mistakes they make when
targeting a far-off foe.
Training: When you collectively train on the archery range, you spend time watching each other’s form
and providing pointers. After enough practice, you can see when your comrades miss a shot because
they aimed too high or too low, and you can use that information to make your own shots more
accurate.
Task Leader Prerequisite: Far Shot.
Team Member Prerequisite: Base attack bonus +1.
Benefit: When a team member misses with a ranged attack made against a target farther away than one
range increment, subsequent ranged attacks any team member makes against that foe take only half the
penalty for range (–1 per range increment). If the foe moves more than 20 feet, this benefit does not
apply until a team member shoots at and misses the foe again.
Tips: If you have this teamwork benefit, consider ordering your ranged attacks so that the team member
who is least likely to hit fires before the more reliable attackers do. This tactic helps ensure that the
benefit will apply to later attacks. Also, having a more accurate attack follow a less accurate one
almost always takes the enemy by surprise.
Editor: Again, great for a bunch of NPCs, lousy for PCs. You usually don’t have enough archers in one
group to justify this.

MASSED CHARGE
- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK 2 (3.5)
When your team charges, it smashes into the foe as a single great, implacable mass.
Training: You and your teammates learn to charge as one. You line up in a tight formation and time your
strides to move in tight synchronicity.
Task Leader Prerequisite: Balance 5 ranks.
Team Member Prerequisite: Balance 1 rank.
Benefit: The team can make a special charge attack. All team members move on the same initiative count,
and each must charge and attack the same target. Each team member gains a bonus on his attack roll
after the charge equal to the number of teammates participating.
Tips: This benefit works best against a single, large opponent. A smaller opponent presents too narrow a
point of contact for you to maximize this ability.
Editor: Scary if you had a bunch of NPC barbarians charging the same dragon. If you are using this with
PCs, the most you can normally hope to use this with is 3 on 1. If you are willing to deal with that, go
for it. Remember, not everyone in the party needs to be on the same team.

MISSILE VOLLEY
- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK 2 (3.5)
Your team excels at firing as a group, unleashing a saturated wave of arrows and bolts. Each member
places her shots so that the target cannot dodge them all.
Training: Your team practices by taking aim at a number of small targets clustered together (representing
different spots on the body of a single enemy). Each of you can learn to place your shots so as to cover
every part of a target with a single joint volley.
Task Leader Prerequisite: Far Shot and Precise Shot.
Team Member Prerequisite: Point Blank Shot.
Benefit: Every member of the team who readies an action to fire a missile weapon when the task leader
does gains a bonus on the attack roll equal to the number of team members firing. The task leader also
qualifies for the bonus, even though she did not ready an action. All these attacks must be made against
the same target.
Tips: Since everyone except the task leader must ready an action to fire, the other team members lose their
additional attacks. Thus, the team is trading a high number of attack rolls for a smaller number of
attacks that are more likely to hit. This benefit works best when a single, skilled archer (the task leader)
uses her teammates’ help to improve her accuracy.
Editor: Scary in the hands of a dozen NPCs, but usually ineffective with a group of PCs.

PRECISION ASSAULT
- FORGE OF WAR (3.5)
By carefully observing the impact and effectiveness of your allies’ most deadly strikes, you learn how best
to hit an enemy where it hurts.
Training: Teaming up many-on-one, you learn to recognize openings in a foe’s defense that expose vital
areas to attack. You spend many hours at these exercises, watching for the slightest advantage.
Task Leader Prerequisite: Sense Motive 4 ranks, base attack bonus +6.
Team Member Prerequisite: Sense Motive 2 ranks, base attack bonus +3.
Benefit: Once any member of the team confirms a critical hit against a foe, every team member’s critical
threat range on melee attacks against that foe increases by 1. (For instance, a longsword’s threat range
increases from 19–20 to 18–20.) This bonus stacks with the benefit of the Improved Critical feat or the
keen weapon property. If you make even a single attack against a different foe, the bonus disappears
until and unless you observe another successful critical hit from a teammate. In either event, the
bonuses end when the combat ends, even if you encounter the same foe later.
Editor: If your group likes crits, then this could be very useful. But most of the time, not that impressive.

RANGED PRECISION
- DUNGEON MASTER’S GUIDE 2 (3.5)
- HEROES OF BATTLE (3.5)
You know the timing of your comrades’ attacks so well that you can shift to the side for a moment, letting
ranged attacks fly past you and into your enemies.
Training: You and the rest of the team watch each other shoot ranged weapons, memorizing how much
time it takes to draw an arrow from a quiver, nock it, aim, and shoot. Then you internally count to
measure the time between arrows, shifting yourself when you know an arrow is being fired so you
don’t get in the way.
Task Leader Prerequisite: Base attack bonus +4, Precise Shot.
Team Member Prerequisite: Base attack bonus +2.
Benefit: The penalty for firing a ranged weapon into a melee is cut in half (from –4 to –2) if every ally in
the melee is on your team. The AC benefit your foe gets from cover is likewise cut in half (from +4 to
+2) if that cover consists solely of team members.
Editor: Great for a group of NPCs, lousy for PCs.

SCOUTING
- HEROES OF BATTLE (3.5)
Your team is alert for the slightest disturbance in your environment. While one of you watches straight
ahead, another scans to the side, while a third pauses for a moment to listen intently. By finding your
enemies before they find you, your team can dictate the terms of an engagement—or perhaps avoid it
entirely.
Training: Trainees divide their environment into arcs, with one soldier looking straight ahead, another
checking to the left, a third watching the right, a fourth the sky, a fifth behind him, and so on. The
soldiers concentrate their senses on those arcs, doing their best to block out distractions elsewhere.
Eventually, each member of the team instinctively knows which arc he is responsible for and which
arcs his comrades are covering, and he can switch arcs subconsciously when his comrades stop
scanning for a moment.
Task Leader Prerequisite: Listen 8 ranks, Spot 8 ranks.
Team Member Prerequisite: Listen 1 rank and Spot 1 rank; or Alertness.
Benefit: The team as a whole can make a free Spot check and a free Listen check at the end of each round,
regardless of whether any members of the team have already made such checks that round. Use the
lowest check modifier of any member of the team present, with a +1 bonus for every team member
beyond the first. In the middle of a combat when actions are precious, this teamwork benefit gives the
members detailed information about their immediate environment that they otherwise wouldn’t have.
Tips: If your team has this benefit, have your team’s Spot and Listen modifiers figured out in advance. It’s
a good idea to designate one character to make the Spot and Listen checks at the end of each round;
making it a specific character’s responsibility means the group is less likely to forget it.
Editor: Combine with Awareness and you’ll have a good chance of spotting those teams using infiltration.

SEARCH TEAM
- DUNGEONSCAPE (3.5)
Your team is skilled at finding secret doors and traps much faster than normal.
Training: By assigning members to look for specific clues, your team has developed a routine to find
secret doors and traps quickly by alerting the task leader to any anomalies.
Task Leader Prerequisite: Search 5 ranks, trap sense +1.
Team Member Prerequisite: Search 1 rank.
Benefit: As a full-round action, the task leader can apply his Search check result to every square searched
by a member of the team (excluding the task leader).
Tips: For this benefit to be effective, the task leader should have a high number of ranks in the Search skill.
Team members can use the aid another action to increase the task leader’s check.
Editor: If you love checking every square inch of a dungeon, and the group uses aid another on the team
leader, suddenly your search result goes through the roof.

SHARED MAGIC
- FORGE OF WAR (3.5)
Working alongside your spellcasting companions, you have attuned yourselves, physically and spiritually,
to their abilities.
Training: The spellcasters on the team cast multiple spells on the entire group, while everyone else
empties his or her mind and tries to concentrate on the arcane syllables and gestures.
Task Leader Prerequisite: Spellcraft 8 ranks.
Team Member Prerequisite: Spellcraft 2 ranks.
Benefit: When one member of the team casts a spell that affects a specific number of targets—such as
teleport, which allows her to bring along a certain number of creatures based on level, or mass cure
light wounds—the team counts as one person fewer for the purpose of determining who can be
affected. For instance, if a sorcerer can normally take three people along on a teleport, she could take
 four with the benefits of this ability. This technique works only if team members are the sole targets of
the spell. The caster cannot combine team members and nonmembers and still gain this benefit.
Editor: It sounds nice, but I really doesn’t often see the number of targets being an issue for most
spellcasters.

SNAP OUT OF IT
- DUNGEON MASTER’S GUIDE 2 (3.5)
Because you know your fellow team members so well, you can help them shake off the effects of magical
compulsions.
Training: Your team is trained in a variety of effects that intentionally shake the psyche of your comrades
— everything from a stinging slap to the face to an imploring “Remember us, Regdar? We’re your
friends. . . .”
Task Leader Prerequisite: Concentration 8 ranks or Iron Will.
Team Member Prerequisite: Concentration 1 rank.
Benefit: If a team member is known to be under the sway of a compulsion effect, an adjacent team member
can spend a full-round action to grant that team member a new save against the compulsion effect (as
the rogue’s slippery mind class feature, except that the second save need not happen in the second
round of the effect). No character can grant another team member more than one extra save against any
one compulsion effect. However, multiple team members can all attempt to help the same character.
Tips: This benefit only works if you know that your team members have been subverted by a compulsion
effect. Spellcraft checks can identify that a spell such as dominate person has been cast, and a Sense
Motive check can detect that the behavior of one of your team members is being influenced by an
enchantment.
Editor: A chance to resist being mind control? Priceless at any level.

SPELL BARRAGE
- DUNGEON MASTER’S GUIDE 2 (3.5)
By coordinating the release of your spells, you’re able to catch your foes when they’re unable to evade the
effects.
Training: By observing your fellow spellcasters as they’re working magic, you’re able to time your spells
so they finish when your enemies are off-balance from the first spell.
Task Leader Prerequisite: Spellcraft 8 ranks.
Team Member Prerequisite: Spellcraft 2 ranks.
Benefit: This benefit is triggered when a team member first casts a spell requiring a Reflex save. Whether
they succeed or fail on the save, all enemies within its area take a –2 penalty on Reflex saves for each
subsequent Reflex save attempted that round against an effect created by another member of the same
team.
Tips: Obviously, the more Reflex-save-requiring area spells you can cast during the round, the better.
Consider giving team members that are secondary spellcasters or have ranks in Use Magic Device a
scroll or wand with an area spell for such occasions.
Editor: A team of wizards casting fireball becomes a nightmare for those pesky rogues and monks with
evasion.

SPELL ONSLAUGHT
- FORGE OF WAR (3.5)
By sending a veritable salvo of spells against a single target, you and your companions are able to whittle
down its mystical defenses.
Training: Your training is fairly straightforward: You all prepare to launch your spells at once, while an
observer watches by means of spells such as detect magic to determine where and how the mystic
auras overlap. Only when you can place the spells perfectly are you ready to test the technique in
battle.
Task Leader Prerequisite: Spellcraft 7 ranks.
Team Member Prerequisite: Spellcraft 3 ranks.
Benefit: If you and your teammates ready an action to cast offensive spells against the same target at the
same instant, you each gain a bonus to overcome its spell resistance. This bonus is equal to 1 + the
 total number of spells being cast at it (maximum +5). The spells must target the foe specifically—area
effects do not qualify— and if a spell requires an attack roll and misses, it does not count for the
purpose of this benefit.
Editor: Spell resistance is often a game changer for most wizards. Alas, this is better for NPCs then PCs,
who generally don’t operate in large teams of spellcasters.

SPELLCASTER GUARDIAN
- DUNGEON MASTER’S GUIDE 2 (3.5)
- HEROES OF BATTLE (3.5)
You have a keen sense of the timing of the spellcasters on your team, so you can often protect them from
enemies when their spells are about to go off.
Training: Over a period of weeks, you closely observe your comrades as they cast spells, noting the exact
gestures and phrases they use when they are at their most distracted. You learn the idiosyncrasies of
your allies’ spellcasting techniques so well that you know exactly where they are in the spellcasting
process just by watching and listening to them, even if you don’t know what the words and gestures
mean.
Task Leader Prerequisite: Combat Reflexes, Spellcraft 4 ranks.
Team Member Prerequisite: Dexterity 13 or Spellcraft 1 rank.
Benefit: If a spellcaster on your team provokes attacks of opportunity by casting a spell, a team member
adjacent to the spellcaster can interpose herself between the spellcaster and one or more attackers at the
last moment, taking upon herself attacks of opportunity meant for the spellcaster. The team member
can intercept a number of attacks of opportunity equal to 1 + her Dexterity bonus. Resolve each attack
as normal, using the interposing team member’s Armor Class. If the attack hits, it damages the
interposing character but doesn’t distract the spellcaster.
Editor: As a spellcaster, you TOTALLY want the team to take this. Most of the rest of the team will be
less then thrilled at the prospect of being your personal human shield.

STEADFAST RESOLVE
- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK 2 (3.5)
Your team members can use their camaraderie and shared experience to shrug off the effect of fear.
Training: Through long experience in dealing with adversity, you and your teammates develop the trust
and support needed to bolster each other’s minds when subjected to magical fear.
Task Leader Prerequisite: Concentration 8 ranks and Iron Will.
Team Member Prerequisite: Base Will save bonus +2.
Benefit: Any team member who must make a saving throw against a fear spell or effect gains a +2
circumstance bonus on the save if he can see or hear at least one team member.
Tips: Some fear-based spells affect areas. If you cast such a spell on an area that includes both allies and
enemies, your teammates are likely to make the save while the foes run away.
Editor: Only +2 against fear? Not that impressive.

SUPERIOR FLANK
- DUNGEON MASTER’S GUIDE 2 (3.5)
- HEROES OF BATTLE (3.5)
Your team is good at harrying foes by surrounding them. If two of you get into flanking positions, you can
both time your attacks to take maximum advantage of the enemy’s divided attention. Enemies get so
distracted that every attacker benefits.
Training: This teamwork benefit happens only after all the members of the team spend countless hours
practicing two-on-one, three-on-one, and other unbalanced melee combats. Eventually the team
members develop split-second timing and a keen perception of where the enemy is concentrating his
defensive efforts.
Task Leader Prerequisite: Sneak attack +4d6.
Team Member Prerequisite: Base attack bonus +3.
Benefit: Whenever two members of your team flank the same enemy, all members of the team can make
melee attacks against that enemy as if they also flanked her. Creatures that can’t be flanked are
unaffected. Furthermore, if at least two members of your team are flanking a foe who has the improved
 uncanny dodge ability, add together the rogue levels of all team members engaged in melee with that
foe to determine whether she can be flanked. If the sum of your teammates’ rogue levels is four more
than the foe has Hit Dice, all members of your team can flank that foe.
Tips: If your team has this benefit, you get the +2 bonus for flanking on your melee attacks more
frequently. You’ll want to study how to flank unusually large creatures.
Editor: A much better choice for NPCs then PCs.

SUPERIOR TEAM EFFORT

- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK 2 (3.5)
When your team works together on a task—whether it’s battering down a door, talking a nervous innkeeper
into allowing everyone to spend the night, or sneaking past a guard—everyone on the team does a better
than average job of assisting each other’s efforts.
Training: Your team focuses on improving a particular skill. Each team member watches the task leader
and learns a few specific actions that can help her succeed.
Task Leader Prerequisite: 8 ranks in a skill and Skill Focus for the same skill.
Team Member Prerequisite: 1 rank in the skill to which the task leader’s Skill Focus feat applies.
Special: This teamwork benefit applies only to checks made with the skill to which the task leader’s Skill
Focus feat applies.
Benefit: Any team member who attempts to aid another member’s check with the relevant skill must make
a DC 5 check to succeed rather than a DC 10 check.
Editor: Now for very specific skills, this is awesome. Listen and spot checks, for example. Hide and move
silent. However, besides those, there aren’t very many skills that benefit from group efforts very much.

TEAM MELEE TACTICS

- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK 2 (3.5)
Because your group fights as an effective team in melee, its members can use the aid another action with
greater than normal efficiency.
Training: Your team studies each member’s tactics, fighting style, and tendencies. These hours of focused
observation allow each member to understand how best to help the rest of the team.
Task Leader Prerequisite: Combat Expertise and Dodge.
Team Member Prerequisite: Base attack bonus +6.
Benefit: Whenever a team member uses the aid another action to grant another member a bonus on attack
rolls, that bonus increases by 1.
Tips: The aid another action allows an ally to strike with superior accuracy at the expense of the aiding
character’s own attacks. Thus, the ally who receives the assistance should be the best qualified team
member to take down the foe—whether by virtue of damage reduction, high AC, or the ability to use
Power Attack for extra damage.
Editor: The problem is, by the time you can use this, that extra +1 just isn’t that impressive. Still, in the
hands of a dedicated group of NPCs, this could be killer.

TEAM RALLY
- HEROES OF BATTLE (3.5)
The members of your team are particularly good at setting a good example for other troops, supporting
each other and exuding an aura of competence and confidence.
Training: Most teams that acquire this benefit get it by acting as a cadre for less accomplished soldiers,
teaching them the rudiments of military discipline and how to stay cool under fire. After you’ve dealt
with enough recruits, you’re attuned to their fears and concerns. When recruits see the members of
your team acting in unison in the face of danger, they naturally try to emulate your bravery.
Task Leader Prerequisite: Charisma 13, commander rating 2.
Team Member Prerequisite: Commander rating 1.
Benefit: Whenever a team member makes a rally check, she gains a +1 bonus on the rally check for each
other team member the demoralized troops can see or hear. If a team member is successfully rallied by
another team member’s rally check, the morale of the rallied teammate improves by two categories
(such as from shaken to heartened).
Editor: NPCs rally.
TEAM RUSH
- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK 2 (3.5)
Your team travels faster than normal as a group. The efforts and assistance of the faster characters allow the
slower ones to keep up.
Training: Your team must march for a week as a group, traveling across roads, dells, forests, and mountain
passes. By so doing, each team member learns how best to help everyone move together.
Task Leader Prerequisite: Survival 8 ranks and Endurance.
Team Member Prerequisite: Survival 1 rank.
Benefit: When the entire team is traveling overland on foot, each team member moves at the task leader’s
speed. This benefit does not extend to combat and similar short-term movement situations, or to
mounted characters.
Tips: A barbarian is the best task leader for this teamwork benefit. At the cost of a prerequisite feat, he
allows his allies to travel much more quickly across the countryside. In campaigns that feature frequent
wilderness or underground travel, the time saved might prove to be a major benefit.
Editor: Meh.

TEAM SHIELD MANEUVER

- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK 2 (3.5)
When your team fights as a group, its members can close ranks to protect a badly injured ally.
Training: Your group learns to react quickly when an ally falls. You drill in pushing aside a wounded team
member before he tumbles to the ground and moving him out of harm’s way.
Task Leader Prerequisite: Shield Specialization.
Team Member Prerequisite: Shield Proficiency.
Benefit: When a team member’s hit points drop to –1 or lower, any teammate adjacent to him who carries
a shield can use an immediate action to push him out of harm’s way. The injured team member moves
10 feet before falling prone.
Tip: This tactic works best if one of the group’s second line characters has a potion or wand ready to heal
the fallen character. In this case, even a character who isn’t a member of the team can play a valuable
role in making the most of this benefit.
Editor: Oddly enough, this could be very effective in a narrow corridor, especially since it means the
member goes back 10 feet, which is usually far enough that the cleric can heal him, then he can start to
make his way back up to the front. By cycling through your fighters in this fashion, you’ll always have
the front line manned. Of course, it requires everyone carries a shield.

WALL OF STEEL
- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK 2 (3.5)
By closing ranks and locking shields together, you and your teammates form an impenetrable barrier to
shield a more vulnerable team member from enemies.
Training: Your group stands in a tight formation and locks shields while a hired mercenary or assistant
pelts everyone with blunt arrows. Each bruising shot reminds you to improve your form and teamwork.
Task Leader Prerequisite: Tower Shield Proficiency and base attack bonus +8.
Team Member Prerequisite: Shield Proficiency and base attack bonus +2.
Benefit: As a swift action, any member of the team can lose his shield bonus to AC and grant it to a single
adjacent team member instead. This bonus stacks with the recipient’s existing shield bonus, if any.
Tip: Any arcane spellcasters who are frequently exposed to missile fire might want to take the Shield
Proficiency feat to gain this teamwork benefit.
Editor: Note, it says, “Adjacent”. So you have the two handed fighters in front, and behind them some
guys who do nothing but hold wall shields. If you can hire a bunch of NPC shield bearers who run
around and protect you, while they stand behind you, this can get scary effective.