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View Full Version : Homebrew help, Profession (Swindling) PF



Duboris
2012-10-01, 10:38 PM
Alright, my newest campaign involves the slums of a big city that everyone starts in, and 2 of my friends wanted to do this profession of swindling people. While I enjoy that idea, the act is still against a law. In forethought of that, I made a big, nice, not-so-complicated series of DC checks to assume whether or not they go to prison at some point in the near 3 weeks or less of the act if they fail.


Profession (Swindler)

Check: You can earn triple your Profession check result in gold pieces per week of dedicated work in comparison to the normal half. You know how to use the tools of your trade (Loaded Dice, Superior Loaded Dice, Marked Cards, Superior Marked Cards)

The use of this profession results in the roll of a 1d4, which is the number of civilians you swindle that week. Multiple swindlers increases this by 1 more civilian.

Multiple Swindlers doing the same job (No discretion for different methods) will Lower every check by 2, save for the one's against the Anti-Theft Regime and Ghis, which, instead, increase by 2. It also raises the number of civilians by 1. If multiple swindlers fail against law enforcement of any kind, this causes the offense of the act to go up 1 notch, which can potentially cause anti-theft regime to come first instead of law enforcement, and raise the offense from a level 2, to a 3, which, if you are taken to prison, will keep you there for a solid year. Getting caught again after this will result in permanent incarceration.

The DC to beat to explain why you win so often is a DC of 15(13) or higher as a bluff check.
The DC to beat to explain to a member of law enforcement is a DC of 20(18) or higher. Also a Bluff check.
The DC to beat to explain to a member of the Anti-Theft Regime is a DC of 25(27) or higher.
The DC to beat to explain to Judge Ghis is a DC of 3(32) or higher. (Ghis will only show up if you have swindled a large, large, large sum of money, and received a visit from multiple Anti-theft regime Knights.)

You can not tell the difference between regular law enforcement/Anti-theft/Ghis without a corresponding knowledge nobility check which will not be listed here, and instead in my database for future use. I will, however, inform you that they are increasingly, and potentially, exponentially difficult based on who it is. Knowledge Local can also give hints as to whether or not the guards are normal/anti theft but you can not tell ghis apart from any of these, even commoners.

It is entirely possible to receive more than 1 visit from law enforcement or Anti-Theft Regime in 1 week, assuming you get less than 20 against multiple commoners in 1 week.

All these rolls are made behind screen, and not by you, save for the rolls to beat bluff checks. Not all possible DC's are posted here, only the ones that are the easiest to think about. Any mix of Sleight of hand, Sneak, and another charming, wordy skills can potentially get you out of a bind.

If you beat either DC by 5, then that person doesn't leave with suspicion and doesn't send a higher authority to clarify later that week.

(Example Instance)

Use Loaded Dice against a common civilian
*rolls 17 bluff*
Person goes along with the idea of losing his money, but doesn't leave without suspicion.
*3 days later*
A Law Enforcement spectates a game from a distance, closely observing rolls, and comes to confront you at some point. When he does:
*rolls 21 bluff*
Law Enforcement leaves, and as per requirement, immediately informs the nearest Anti-Theft Regime Knight of this occurrence, and visits shortly after the guard tells you to not move from this area. Anti-Theft shows up:
*rolls 24 bluff*
Anti-Theft Knight is not amused, and inquires as to the procurement of your dice, and 8 weeks in prison for main offenders, and 4 weeks for guilty-by-association unless they make DC 18 Diplomacy/Bluff checks claiming they "had no idea" while swindlers are not capable of making these checks, and simply spend 8 weeks in prison.
Bradley automatically succeeds against guilty-by-association checks. The DC checks for 3rd level offenses (Multiple people Swindling) is a 25 bluff/diplomacy, which, if you fail, incarcerates you for 8 weeks.

Incarceration gives you the opportunity to perform slight of hand checks with only 1 lockpick, and the sleight of hand check must beat the perception of the various guards that are taking you into prison. While in prison, all of your equipment and items are stripped and placed into a waiting locker, unless it is for permenant incarceration, in which case everything with a value beneath 50 gold is liquidated, and everything above that sold to various shops.

Please keep in mind that despite whatever you do, the role-play value on swindling is extremely high, and you don't only have to roll knowledge/sleight of hand/sneak/bluff/diplomacy, and that there are other things you could just as easily declare a roll for, and just as many acts you could commit to get you *in good* with the anti-theft regime.

The only way the act of Swindling is good is if the money is donated to charity, namely given to the street kids that may occasionally run around. Even then, the act is Chaotic. Swindling is not capable of making you chaotically evil, but is most certainly against the Laws of Mekanos, and most definitely not a good thing to do if not donated.

Also I probably should have mentioned I would like people's opinions on this, and to tell me whether or not this is a reasonable system.

Ashtagon
2012-10-02, 03:31 AM
Can you give three different situations in which this skill should be used?

The mechanic you have given offers a way =for a PC to be arrested and imprisoned on a single die roll. Such an event should only ever be role-played.

Duboris
2012-10-02, 10:55 AM
Can you give three different situations in which this skill should be used?

The mechanic you have given offers a way =for a PC to be arrested and imprisoned on a single die roll. Such an event should only ever be role-played.

While it is indeed a profession, yes, it can only be role played. That was intentional.

Profession swindling is the thing that is used whenever someone is using methods of trickery of any sort to get extra profession money out of someone.

The Wizard in this campaign is going to be using prestidigitation to allow him bonuses to swindling, but that's all that that would do, is be bonuses.

Debihuman
2012-10-02, 08:44 PM
It strikes me that having 5 or more ranks in Bluff should give you a synergy bonus to Profession (Swindler).

Debby