ROGUE - GUILDSMAN Trader Kit Description: A Trader is a wandering purveyor of goods and services, sometimes working at the behest of a large merchant company, but generally wandering on his or her own business. A Trader has a shrewd mind for business, and he or she is skilled in communicating with all characters that he or she meets, so as to better foist off his or her goods on them. Traders generally avoid displays of jewelry or other valuables to avoid attracting impulsive thieves or loot-hungry monsters. Unlike more organized merchants who can depend on their companies for legal and security support, Traders must depend on themselves and usually wear armor and weapons openly. The lack of trust among many of the wandering inhabitants of the wilderness make an unarmed, unarmored Trader appear foolish, weak, and virtually begging for trouble. Though some Traders have a flamboyant personality and dress in a distinctive or even exotic fashion, most often Traders keep themselves in tough, durable, versatile clothing and gear, well- worn from their travels but practical and always combat-ready. Requirements: As a standard Guildsman, but a 12 Charisma is required. In addition, Traders may be of any alignment and of any race except half-ogre. Weapon Proficiencies: As a standard Guildsman, but a Trader must take proficiency in at least one missile fire device at 1st level. Thief Abilities and Modifiers: Appraisal, Detect Magic, Pick Pockets, Read Languages In addition to their initial abilities, at 5th level a Trader gains the abilities to Bribe Official and Forge Document. Traders gain the normal amount of discretionary points. Special Benefits: Traders receive a +1 reaction bonus when dealing with NPC traders and merchants of all types. Agents: As a standard Guildsman, save that a Trader has only a 5% chance per level of attracting an agent at 10th level and beyond, and only one agent will be in service to the Trader at one time. Hence, once a single agent has been attracted no more agents will come unless that agent is killed or leaves the Trader's service. Character Insight: As a standard Guildsman. Fast-talking: A Trader's greatest advantage is his or her ability to talk his or her way through difficult situations. Fast-talking is the verbal equivalent of sleight of hand, the art of distraction and misdirection. It is the ability to convince another character into a certain course of behavior. The uses of Fast-talking range from outright fraud to talking one's way out of a sticky situations or simply getting a better price when buying or selling. The success of a Fast-talking attempt is determined by a Charisma check with a bonus equal to the Trader's level and a penalty equal to the level (or hit dice, if an intelligent monster) of the creature with whom the Trader is bargaining or negotiating. In addition, the roll is modified by the target creature's Intelligence and Wisdom. Note that creatures with Intelligence or Wisdom of less than 3 or more than 18 are either too dim or too insightful to be taken in by the use of this skill. For other characters, the following table should be consulted and the appropriate modifiers applied to the Trader's effective Charisma score when making the check: Ability Intelligence Wisdom Score Modifier Modifier 3 +3 +5 4-5 +2 +3 6-8 +1 +1 9-12 - - 13-15 -1 -1 16-17 -2 -3 18 -3 -5 A modifier should also be added depending on the difficulty of what the Trader is trying to pull through the use of his or her fast-talking: Situation Modifier Routine - Moderate -1d6 Difficult -2d6 A routine situation is a normal transaction for a Trader, including paying 10% less or receiving 10% more than an item's true value or persuading a target to believe a reasonable or plausible exaggeration or falsehood. A moderate situation is not beyond a Trader's ability, but is one that he or she would not want to engage in on a regular basis. Such events include getting as much as 50% more or paying 25% less than an item's value, persuading a target to believe an implausible falsehood or convincing an enemy force of power similar to the Trader's party not to attack. A difficult situation is generally beyond a reasonable expectation of success, but the payoff can be quite high. These include receiving 100% more or paying 50% less than an item's value, convincing a target of an outright and obvious lie, or talking obviously superior opponents out of an attack. Like the Bribe Official thieving skill, this power requires some role-playing to be used at full effect, and the DM should feel free to impose penalties on a Trader's Fast-talking attempts if the player makes no effort to role-play the ability. At the DM's option, reaction bonuses or penalties based on the Trader's social class, race, culture, or other factors may also be applied to this roll. In any event, Fast-talking cannot be used on other PCs. DM's Note: To expedite character creation, a simple rule of thumb can be to allow Traders to begin with double normal starting money (i.e., 4d6 x 10 g.p.), rather than playing out the use of Fast-talking for purchase of initial equipment that reflects their great bargaining skills. Public Relations: As a standard Guildsman, in that a Trader learns Modern Languages and Local History as he or she advances in level. A Trader does not, however, have the ability to inspire or motivate others through their speeches, nor do they learn the leadership skills that allow a standard Guildsman to increase their Charisma score. In addition to the normal benefits of Public Relations, however, Traders are extremely facile with spoken languages, which allows him or her to learn how to speak (but not read) two Modern Languages for every slot spent on this proficiency (not including the free languages gained at every five levels). A Trader may also attempt to use his or her linguistic skills to initiate communication with a creature whose language he or she does not understand. The creature must have a spoken language and at least Low Intelligence (5-7), and must be within 10' of the Trader and paying full attention to him or her. By successfully rolling his or her Read Languages percentage each time an attempt is made to interpret the speech of the creature or to meaningfully communicate back to it, the Trader can successfully interact. A failed roll simply indicates a total lack of understanding but carries no other ill effects. Penalties to this roll may apply if there are many distractions nearby (e.g., combat, a thunderstorm) or if the Trader and the subject creature are of radically different species (e.g., communicating with an intelligent reptile or insect). In the process of trading with the people they encounter, Traders hear a lot of news in their travels, and in many places their commerce in rumor and information is worth as much as their commerce in trade goods. Since they always keep their ears out for gossip, anytime rumors are generated for PCs a Trader will learn one extra rumor. Even if a rumor list is not included for a given adventure, the DM should make up at least one rumor and pass it on at the outset of any adventure. Smuggling: Their professional contacts in the many places to which they travel allow them a 5% chance per level of being able to buy or sell goods or items in an area where they are not usually available on the open market (e.g., fine wine from a hostile nation that is under a trade embargo, holy water or items within the borders of an evil city-state, or poison in a predominantly lawful good area). Special Hindrances: Unlike other Guildsmen, Traders are independent agents and are not a part of any established guild or organization (though some can and do found their own businesses or trading companies). As a result, they do not gain the advantages of Guild Membership or Guild Training, nor do they have the opportunity to attain Guild Advancement or Guild Leadership. In addition, many NPCs consider Traders to be rather unseemly folk, landless drifters with no solid roots, always obstreperously hawking their wares and often untrustworthy compared to larger, more established mercantile concerns, which results in a much-reduced Public Relations ability. They also gain only half the normal bonus (i.e., +1 to Charisma) when using the Local History proficiency with any character who is not also a merchant or trader of some sort. Traders also highly value mobility, allowing them to get out of trouble fast in pressure situations. Because of this, even though Traders can technically wear any type of armor they wish they tend to favor those that are light and do not impede their movement. A Trader who is operating above his or her unencumbered carrying capacity suffers a -1 penalty to attack rolls and saving throws or ability checks that involve Dexterity or the ability to dodge out of the way. A Trader will generally leave cumbersome burdens behind in order to save his or her own skin (and have a chance to come back later and reclaim the stolen goods). Finally, Traders are basically loners by nature, making relatively few long-term friends. They may have only one henchman at a time, regardless of their Charisma score, and may attract only one-half (rounding up) the normal number of henchmen during their career. A Trader's Agents (q.v.) are not counted against this total. It must also be noted that Traders are not restricted in their ability to hire clerks, mercenary guards, managers, or other employees for any business they may own or operate. Bonus Proficiencies: Haggling Preferred Proficiencies: Acting, Alertness, Animal Care, Animal Handling, Animal Training, Appraising, Awareness, Blather, Bureaucracy, Cartography, Charioteering, Direction Sense, Disguise, Distance Sense, Endurance, Etiquette, Fast-talking, Gaming, Information Gathering, Language (Modern), Law, Mercantilism, Navigation, Numeracy, Numismatics, Reading/Writing, Rope Use, Survival (any), Trail Marking, Trail Signs ***DISCLAIMER*** As with all postings by me of classes or races, it should be noted that portions of the information contained herein were inspired by or derived from information in published works of TSR, Inc., and may contain references to those works, quotations or passages of text (especially in the area of 'Character Description', where applicable sections from TSR works were often carried over more or less intact into my campaign world), or particular powers or abilities invented by TSR staff writers. No relationship with TSR, Inc., is to be implied by this use, nor is any attempt being made to solicit profit or remuneration of any kind. I have read the TSR Online Policy document, and have tried to accommodate the stipulations contained therein. In instances where I have lifted an essentially complete class or race without significant alteration, I have not included these in my postings but instead have inserted a reference to the appropriate D&D sourcebook for those curious in including it in their campaign. Only variations that include a significant component of original work, alteration, or reformulation (including the compositing elements from various TSR sources into new combinations) of have been included in this set of postings. Jason Eric Nelson < tjaden@u.washington.edu >