Spy

​The Spy is a gatherer of information. At the lowest level, he is a common informant, an eavesdropper with his ears open for salable information. The expert Spy is hired by guilds and governments to infiltrate opponents' buildings and ranks to find vital, secret knowledge. ​

​Skill Progression: An effective Spy usually needs a fairly even distribution of thief skills, since his vocation can bring him into any number of diverse situations. ​

Role

Spies are vital in supporting any large organization such as a guild or government. Information is the key to success, whether thieves are preparing for a burglary or a nation is preparing for war, and the Spy's role is to provide that information.

Most Spies are in the permanent service of one such organization. A small number may be double (or triple) agents, but that is very risky. A few are freelance, and their main problem is this: to find employment, they must be known; but if they're known, they have difficulty being successful.

Spies may come from any background. A large percentage, in fact, are from the lower classes, close in touch with the word on the street and all the secret channels of society. A smaller number of elite Spies exist, either in permanent positions (e.g., a count who reports word on his liege's troop movements to a rival kingdom, or a treacherous castle steward). Most of these characters would not be of the Spy rogue kit, since spying is secondary; the focus of their life is (or at least was) something else.

But there are also talented individuals ready to go anywhere, risk any danger, and encounter a lot of excitement on the way to finding the knowledge they seek. They excel at infiltration, in finding information, not just in selling what they know. Exciting Spies, and player characters, are usually of this sort.

The standard penalty for spying (if the crime is beyond the low levels of spreading rumors, eavesdropping, and scoping out potential burglary targets) is death, and Spies from one nation to another can hardly expect anything in the line of "diplomatic immunity." ​

Distinctive Appearance

None

Special Benefits

None

Special Hindrances

None

Class

Thief ​

Attribute Requirements

Intelligence of 11 ​

Barred Beliefs

None

Race Requirement

Any ​

Bonus Weapon Proficiencies

None​

Required Weapon Proficiencies

​The normal range of weapons open for thieves' proficiencies applies to Spies as well, and they are not required to take any in particular. A Spy can use non-thief weapons (for the purpose of disguises), but cannot take proficiency in them. ​

Recommended Weapon Proficiencies

None

Barred Weapon Proficiencies

None

Bonus Non-Weapon Proficiencies

Disguise, Information Gathering, Observation ​

Recommended Non-Weapon Proficiencies

Alertness, Begging, Etiquette, Forgery, Heraldry, History (Local), Reading/Writing, Reading Lips, Trailing ​

Equipment

​They may equip themselves liberally with what is available such as boots with hidden compartments in the soles, thieves' equipment, and so forth. ​

Wealth Options

None

Homeland Terrain

None

Economic System

​None​