ROGUE - THIEF Beggar Kit Description: Beggars are common in virtually any urban setting, but Beggars of the Thief class represent those beggars who have decided to turn their misfortune into the misfortune of others. In most cases, Beggars are predators of the urban byways, waylaying the incautious while maintaining a facade of innocuous misery. Some good-aligned Beggars use their position to liberate the 'excess cash' of the wealthy upper classes and aristocracy and to distribute largesse to others who are down on their luck. Regardless of their particular motivations and outlook on life, Beggars of the Thief class are generally very protective of vagabonds, tramps, scavengers, and other homeless and impoverished street people, often exacting a grim vengeance upon those who abuse the indigent poor. Requirements: As a standard Thief, but Beggars must be very hardy to survive on the streets and must have a Constitution of at least 14. In addition, elves cannot become Beggars. Weapon Proficiencies: The Beggar's initial weapon proficiencies must be taken from the following weapons: chain, club (any), dart, garrote, knife (any except main-gauche), sling, and staff. Subsequent weapon proficiencies are as normal for Thieves. Thief Abilities and Modifiers: Climb Walls, Detect Noise, Escape Bonds, Find/Remove Traps, Hide in Shadows (+10), Move Silently, Open Locks, Pick Pockets (+10) Special Benefits: Beggars gain a variety of special skills derived from their unusual lifestyle and their survival along the margins of society's dark and seamy underbelly: Backstab: As a standard Thief. In addition, Beggars are masters at looking innocuous just before attacking, and with a successful Charisma check in a noncombat situation they can lull an intelligent creature into a state of unwariness, allowing the Beggar to attempt to surprise the victim with a -4 penalty to the victim's roll. If the victim is surprised, the Beggar can backstab the victim (regardless of whether he or she is actually behind the target). Even if the victim is not surprised, the Beggar gains a +2 bonus to hit due to the unexpected attack. Enhanced Surprise: As a standard Thief. Evaluate Target: As a standard Thief, but Beggars have a very good eye for potential targets of their panhandling, gaining a +10% bonus to this ability. Knockout: As a standard Thief. Scrounging: Regardless of the success of their begging, Beggars are always able to eke out a marginal existence in any urban setting, gaining free Survival proficiency in urban environments only (i.e., settlements of 1,000 or more people). Likewise, as Beggars make their rounds they are often able to find "loose" equipment that is poorly guarded or not watched. If such is found, the Beggar can attempt to steal the item or items with a chance of success equal to his or her Pick Pockets roll with a +10% bonus to his or her Pick Pockets skill and with the chance of being detected reduced by 10%. Such equipment can be almost any type of normal equipment, possibly even livestock, at the DM's discretion. The chance for the Beggar to be able to find such "loose" equipment is determined by the size of the settlement that the Beggar is in, as follows: Chance of Success Type of Settlement 20% Small village (rural area, pop. 1-250) 25% Medium village (rural area, pop. 251-500) 30% Large village (rural area, pop. 501-1,000) 40% Small town (urban area, pop. 1,000-2,500) 60% Large town (urban area, pop. 2,500-5,000) 80% City (urban area, pop. 5,001+) Street Smarts: Besides the advantages of their harmless and undistinguished appearance, Beggars are better plugged in to the "grapevine" than most other characters; hence, whenever rumors are generated for the PCs, Beggars gain one more rumor than they would normally be allotted. Their ability to befriend other beggars, tramps, and wanderers also allows them to learn many secrets about a city. Hence, in urban environments they have a 5% chance per level of being able to find out just about anything of interest in the city by making the rounds and talking with the other vagabonds and street people of a city for one full day. This chance of success is doubled for relatively common information (e.g., the location of a certain business or the residence of a well-known wizard or sage) but it is halved if trying to discover highly secret information (e.g., the location of the Thieves' Guild headquarters or the name of the king's mistress). Use of this ability requires no money, but simply an investment of time by the Beggar. This ability cannot be used outside of urban areas. In addition to digging up such information, Beggars are masters at slipping unnoticed into crowds, avoiding being followed, and masking their trail. Any character attempting to use the Tracking or Trailing proficiencies to follow a Beggar suffers a -1 penalty, plus an additional -1 penalty per level of the Beggar; if not in an urban setting, this penalty is halved (rounding up). Special Hindrances: Beggars are rarely found as a part of a typical Thieves' Guild, often forming their own rival 'Beggars' Guild', though this is more often a loose association for mutual support and protection than an organized guild. As a result, they do not gain the Guild Affiliation ability of typical Thieves (including the ability to use Thieves' Cant). Also, since Beggars need to expend most of their effort on the mere act of survival in conditions of abject urban poverty, they have little time to devote to studying arcane and mysterious arts, so they never gain the Thief's ability to Read Magical Writings. Beggar-thieves are beggars in fact as well as in name. Because of their abject poverty, Beggars start out with only one-tenth normal starting money (i.e., 2d6 g.p.), although they can attempt to supplement this through begging or wheedling money out of other PCs. Likewise, as Beggars are considered to inhabit the lowest rung of society, most intelligent "civilized" creatures react to a Beggar with a -4 penalty unless he or she is disguised. Beggars tend to have very little in the way of equipment. A simple bowl and perhaps a musical instrument are about the limits of splendor that a beggar can afford (or at least can afford to reveal). Even modest clothing (rather than moth-eaten rags) penalize the character's Begging proficiency by 5, including leather, padded, or hide armor. Any form of fancy dress negates the chance entirely, as does any form of armor other than those listed above. Besides impacting his or her Begging activities, any Beggar wearing visible armor will be unable to use his or her Street Smarts (contacts will avoid him or her, and he or she will stick out and be unable to 'blend into crowds') or his or her special Backstab ability. Bonus Proficiencies: Begging, Disease Resistance, Survival (urban) Preferred Proficiencies: Alms, Appraising, Blather, Chanting, Disguise, Drinking, Eating, Forgery, Gaming, Haggling, Juggling, Local History, Musical Instrument, Prestidigitation, Singing ***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 >