ROGUE-ASSASSIN KIT

Spy

Description:  The Spy is a gatherer of information.  At the lowest levels, he or 
she is a common informant for other spies, with his or her ears open for salable 
information.  An expert Spy is often hired by guilds and governments to uncover 
information and vital secrets of enemies.  All types of Spies are engaged by 
merchant houses as a means of keeping tabs on their competition and keeping 
their own secrets safe.  In short, anywhere that secrets are kept, Spies are 
likely to be nearby.  Whether they are seeking to uncover those secrets or keep 
them safe depends on their employer and the Spy's personal goals, but they are 
drawn to secrets as flies are drawn to honey.

Requirements:  A Spy must be quick-witted and have a great deal of moxie and 
interpersonal skill to deal with those he or she encounters while spying, and in 
addition to the usual Assassin ability score requirements a Spy must have Wisdom 
of at least 13 and a Charisma score of at least 15.  A Spy can be of any 
alignment and can be of any race except half-ogre.

Weapons & Armor:  Spies have the same weapon and armor restrictions as typical 
Assassins.

Thief Abilities and Modifiers:  Climb Walls, Detect Noise, Hide in Shadows, Move 
Silently, Open Locks, Pick Pockets

Special Benefits:  Spies, as might be guessed, are the true masters of the 
Masquerade, applying a -1 penalty for every three levels of experience to saving 
throws to see through their deception.  Their skill in the arts of fakery, 
deception, and double-dealing are such that at 5th level they gain the thieving 
abilities of Bribe Official and Forge Document in addition to those at 1st 
level, and beginning at 5th level a Spy receives 30 discretionary points per 
level, rather than the usual 20 for an Assassin.

Because they are so used to spying on others, Spies are sensitive to observation 
themselves, gaining a +4 (+20%) bonus to checks to notice being observed or 
scried upon.  In addition, they are so adept at foiling detection that they have 
a 5% chance per level to be able to resist most low-level divinations (3rd level 
or less--e.g., ESP, clairvoyance, detect invisibility, detect evil) as well as 
scrying via a crystal ball or similar device.  If the roll is successful, the 
Spy is entitled to a save vs. spell to escape notice by the diviner.  This 
ability has no effect if either the roll or the saving throw is failed, and more 
powerful divinations, including know alignment, true seeing, contact other 
plane, and the like cannot be resisted with this ability.

Spies are very alert to people sneaking up on them and gain the Back Protection 
ability of a standard Assassin with a +10% bonus.  In addition, they always gain 
a +1 bonus to avoid being surprised (+2 in urban environments).  In addition to 
these enhanced Assassin abilities, Spies have several unique abilities of their 
own:

Evaluate Target:  Spies of all sorts have an uncanny ability to assess the 
general power of an opponent through observation of subtle body language and 
other cues.  Likewise, they can take complete inventory of an individual's 
belongings (especially weapons) with just a few moments of examination, checking 
especially for concealed items.  The ability to Evaluate Target can generally 
only be used with respect to humanoid targets (others at DM's option), and it 
requires a Spy to spend a full round of uninterrupted observation, though this 
may be done while conversing with the potential mark or appearing to engage in 
other tasks.  The chance of success of this ability is 25% + 5% per level of the 
Spy.  A successful roll allows the Spy to check for one of the following things 
that round:

  - Character class (including subclass and kit)
  - Character level (this will be correct to within ¤2 levels, though exact 
    information is not revealed)
  - Character race/nationality/place of origin (culture, nation, and sometimes 
    even city of origin)
  - Concealed items (including general size, location, and type of hidden 
    weapons or caches of stuff on a person (e.g., hidden within or beneath 
    clothing, stashed within easy reach beneath a table nearby), though not 
    contents of a container (e.g., a scroll case hidden in the lining of a 
    backpack might be noted, but not what is inside the main section of the 
    backpack nor what is inside the scroll case))
  - Hostile intentions (general level of hostility--low, medium, or high--toward 
    the Spy and any allies)
  - Social class/occupation (general profession, though not place of employment 
    or specific title)
  - Whether a creature is lying (If the creature believes that what is being 
    said is true, the Spy will perceive him or her as being truthful; it does 
    not separate out lies, truths, and half-truths woven together in 
    conversation, but it does reveal whether an NPC is intentionally not telling 
    the truth)

Additional checks can be made with further time spent observing the mark, with 
an additional piece of information gained with each successful roll.  Note that 
further attempts to recheck for the same piece of information will always give 
the same result as the original check.  If the check is failed, no information 
is gained.  If a natural 96 or higher is rolled, the Spy has badly misjudged the 
target in some way.  If the Spy attempts to assess a disguised target, the skill 
roll is penalized by 25% (50% for a magical illusion), but a successful check 
indicates that the Spy sees through the disguise and gets a true assessment.  If 
the roll would have succeeded but for the penalty, then the Spy is able to 
determine that the subject is disguised but cannot gain additional information.

Gather Intelligence:  Spies always have their "ear to the ground" for rumors, 
and any time that rumors are generated for the PCs, the Spy learns twice the 
number that he or she would ordinarily learn.  Even if rumors would not normally 
be generated for the PCs, the DM should generate one rumor per three levels of 
the Spy any time that he or she wants to spend some time (e.g., a few hours in a 
tavern) seeking out rumors.  When they hear such a rumor, they have a chance 
equal to their chance to Evaluate Target (see above) to be able to determine the 
truth of a rumor regardless of whether the person telling the rumor believes it 
to be true.  In addition to his rumor-mongering, Spies gain a +1 bonus to their 
Information Gathering proficiency for every three levels of experience (rounding 
up).

Spies undergo training to develop a limited photographic memory, allowing them 
to recall exacting details about anything they has seen or heard.  This can be a 
fragment of a conversation, a mental image of a place, or the words read on a 
printed page.  The chance of success of this ability is 10% + 5% per level, 
though the Spy receives a bonus to this ability based on his or her 
Intelligence:  13-15 = +5%, 16-17 = +10%, 18 = +15%, +5% per point of 
Intelligence above 18.  Failure indicates that the memory is too vague to be of 
any use.  Success indicates that the DM tells the Spy what he or she wishes to 
remember.  A natural roll of 96 or higher indicates that the Spy has 
misremembered and the DM will give some sort of misleading information about 
what he or she is trying to remember.

In addition to this general facility for memorization, Spies are very adept at 
snooping about and learning and remembering all of the important details of an 
inhabited area.  This process takes one day per 1,000 inhabitants in a given 
settlement (note that an entire city need not be searched, and much time could 
be saved by selectively spying out sections of a city or town).  Once this 
process is completed, a Spy can then recall virtually any pertinent bit of 
information about the area and its inhabitants with a memory check as described 
above, allowing him or her to identify or recognize remembered things on sight 
at a later time.  This ability can be used for mundane data (e.g., the best ale 
in town, neighborhoods with high crime rates) or specifics (e.g., at what time 
the city watch rotates).

Spying:  A Spy possesses a unique variation of the typical Assassin's 
Assassination ability.  A successful check against this ability allows Spy to 
insinuate him- or herself into a position of confidence and trust, much as the 
Assassination ability does.  Rather than forcing a target to save to avoid 
death, though, Spying forces a saving throw to avoid allowing the Spy access to 
secret documents or information, which he or she can then examine or even steal.  
Because of a Spy's nearly photographic memory (especially at higher levels), 
they often need only study an item and then carefully replace it so that no one 
is the wiser, rather than stealing it outright.  A Spy can always attempt a Pick 
Pockets roll to surreptitiously purloin or replace an item.

The owner/guardian of the secrets being spied out has the same chance to notice 
a Spying attempt as they would an Assassination attempt; repercussions of being 
caught Spying must be role-played out.  As with an Assassination, the chance of 
success of a Spying attempt may be heavily modified based on the quality of plan 
the Spy can come up with for infiltration, the precautions taken by the owner or 
guardian of the secrets to be spied out, their attitude toward the Spy (which 
may be influenced by the Spy's Masquerade ability), and the amount of time spent 
observing the intended target.

In addition to this special Spying ability, it should be noted that a Spy's 
powers of perception are so acute that their Observation proficiency is improved 
by 1 for every three levels of experience (rounding up), allowing them to notice 
subtle clues that others might miss.  Likewise, because they are so glib in 
creating cover stories and excuses on the fly, they can use the equivalent of 
the Fast-talking proficiency when trying to explain their presence in a 
restricted area, possession of secret documents, and other situations related to 
espionage, regardless of whether they actually know that proficiency.  This 
ability can only be used in situations related to espionage (DM's discretion) 
unless the Spy actually learns the proficiency; if this is done, he or she will 
gain a +3 bonus to his or her proficiency checks in such situations.

Special Hindrances:  A Spy is much less proficient at sneak attacks than a 
typical Assassin; he or she does not gain the normal Assassination ability at 
all (see Spying above), and his or her Backstab takes effect at their actual 
level, not doubled as normal for an Assassin.  In addition, a Spy has no special 
talent for poisons at all, losing the Poison Mastery ability completely.  Spies 
are also consummate lone operatives; though they can train other Spies and may 
work together on occasion when a special job calls for it, they will never 
bother retaining henchmen, as they consider them half-trained wannabes that just 
get in the way of doing the job right.

Spies do not suffer the heavy reaction penalties of most other types of 
Assassins, but they still face a grave potential danger if caught in the act of 
Spying, since they will likely be disavowed by their employer rather than risk 
incriminating them.  A Spy who is caught in the act also must potentially deal 
with Assassins sent to eliminate him or her as being someone who 'knows too 
much.'  Spies traffic in a high-stakes world of information trading, and the 
price for failure can be high.

Required Proficiencies:  Disguise, Information Gathering, Observation, Voice 
Mimicry
Preferred Proficiencies:  Acting, Acute Hearing, Alertness, Awareness, Begging, 
Bribery Etiquette, Diplomacy, Etiquette, Excellent Vision, Fast-talking, 
Grooming, Heraldry, Information Gathering, Intimidation, Investigation, Local 
History, Night Vision, Persuasion, Reading/Writing, Reading Lips, Seduction, 
Sixth Sense, Tracking, Trailing