[3.5 + PF] The Perfect Agent Provocateur

[Palanan]

I'm looking for suggestions for a character who lays the groundwork for invasion or rebellion--someone who spreads propaganda, sways local sentiment and invisibly shapes public opinion.

The character will be no more than fourth level, and I'd like to do this without psionics, but otherwise I'm open to all suggestions.

.

[Aergoth]

Edition/Game Specifics would be handy here. Not knowing that, the humble Bard strikes me as a good place to start but if you're playing PF there's an archetype or two you might consider. If you're in Eberron your Agent Provocateur simply must be a changeling (there's really no one better for the job)

[Palanan]

Open to suggestions from 3.5 or Pathfinder, and I'd be interested to hear about those archetypes you mentioned.

Changeling is one possibility, but I'd be interested in hearing about other races as well.

[Aergoth]

Depending on what precisely your agent provocateur is aiming for (societal breakdown, mass rioting, a decent excuse for war) there's a few ways you can operate. I'm a pathfinder person myself, so I'm focusing there.

Bards: Overall it's a good choice since you've got a lot of variety in the spell-list. As far as archetypes here's my three favourites to mess with other people without neccesarily implying combat as a bard:
Magician You get additional spells, bonuses to UMD and the ability to alter the DC of wands that you use (eventually). Your bardic performances also let you tinker with spells. Excellent if you want your Agent to put a spell on folks.
Negotiator The Magician's less magical counterpart. You get bonuses to social skills and the ability to nab rogue talents (Which you could parley into a combat feat or a ninja trick if you needed one).
Sandman A little bit of both here. You trade a lot of your bardic buffing for the ability to knock people out with sleep-inducing performances, steal spells from enemy casters, disguise the fact that you're casting spells, bonuses to some rogue skills and trapfinding, your bard mojo works better on people you get the drop on. To top it all off you get sneak attack.


Rogues: Thematically appropriate. There's a handful of rogue archetypes that give you various sneaky abilities. The Chameleon and Spy come to the top of this list. The Couterfeit Mage doesn't stack with either of those but works along similar (if more mundane) lines to the magician. Runners up: Scout, Poisoner, Roof Runner
Of particular interest is this archetype.
Underground Chemist: Combine this with spy if you want to make a slightly more villainous variation. You gain bonuses to using alchemical weapons and access to alchemist discoveries through your advanced talents. Mixing this with poison use pays off once you have alchemist discoveries available.

Rangers: A little harder, but if you don't mind dropping the spells (some people will think I'm crazy for this) you could pick up the trapper archetype. This eventually turns you into the green arrow as you gain the ability to launch ranger traps with thrown weapons or ammunition. Pair with Urban ranger for maximum superheroics.
If you want to run a ranger that's a little lighter on gear, the infiltrator archetype has some useful if easy to replicate access to things through their adaptation class feature.


Honourable Mention:
Witches: The disguise hex is pretty useful here, they have access to a wide variety of curses which will ruin lives and access to a familiar is handy. For similar reasons the Hexcrafter Magus must be included. The half-elf exclusive Bonded Witch archetype gives you a broader spell-list but replaces the familiar.

Investigator: Specifically the Infiltrator, who gets bonuses to being other people without being a changeling (would hate to consider the implications of stacking the two).

Slayer: The Cleaner Archetype is great if you want to simply implicate others in crimes.

Spellcasters: For obvious reasons a sufficiently prepared spellcaster can do a lot of things on this list. But that's kind of boring.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Aergoth
Depending on what precisely your agent provocateur is aiming for (societal breakdown, mass rioting, a decent excuse for war) there's a few ways you can operate. I'm a pathfinder person myself, so I'm focusing there.

This is comprehensive and very helpful, thank you.

The Negotiator is probably closest to what I'm looking for, although at fourth level it doesn't seem to add all that much--apart from the rogue talent, which could be interesting.

What sort of feats would you recommend for this archetype? I don't know the feat landscape for Pathfinder at all.

[Spore]

An elegant solution would be a 6th level Demagogue. But that exceeds your level range.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Sporeegg
An elegant solution would be a 6th level Demagogue.

Care to elaborate? I don't really know Pathfinder that well, so what's obvious to you won't be to me.

[Aergoth]

The Demagogue is a bard archetype that manipulates crowds of people with bardic performance. Sadly it all comes online after 5th level.
Pathfinder's feat landscape is pretty similar to 3.5s in many respects. As far as the rogue talents there's one that might pique your interest: Convincing Lie (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/rogue/rogue-talents/paizo---rogue-talents/convincing-lie-ex) allows anyone repeating lies that you've told them to use your bluff score, rather than their own, provided you've fooled them. Even if they've got a higher bluff modifier you provide a bonus.

I'm not an optimizer so what I'm suggesting is mostly things that are relevant to your intended flavour that happen to also work mechanically.
Secret Signs might work well for you if you're going for some more sneaky bard spellcasting. There's a few feats that offer flat bonuses to assorted skills which you could take if you find nothing else. Weapon Finesse is a classic on a bard in case you have to fight. You sadly don't get to take extra rogue talent since you won't qualify for it until 4th level. you can use your rogue talent to acquire a combat feat if you find your build requires an extra feat somewhere.
Sorry I can't be much help here.

[ILM]

How about ye olde Diplomancer? If I remember it right, it begins with a half-elf bard/marshal 1/warlock 1, going into Evangelist. Got up to +80 or +90 around 6th level, I think.

[Spore]

Care to elaborate? I don't really know Pathfinder that well, so what's obvious to you won't be to me.

As Aergoth said, it's a bard archetype (and from the main books no less, so no fiddling in 3rd party) that makes the bard able to incite hate against a specific target for all people the bard has fascinated.

And yes, this is basically Fantasy Hitler.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Aergoth
I'm not an optimizer so what I'm suggesting is mostly things that are relevant to your intended flavour that happen to also work mechanically.

What you've been suggesting is excellent and very helpful, thank you.

And Secret Signs is in tune (so to speak) with what I'm looking for. Any other suggestions along these lines would be quite welcome.




Originally Posted by Sporeegg
And yes, this is basically...

Not what I'm looking for, and the unpleasant historical reference doesn't help.

[Feint's End]

You already got some great things covered but let me throw in one more.

Kitsune with the Kitsune Trickster archetype for rogues. Take realistic likeness as your first feat. You can now change shape into any human you have previously met making you a slightly weaker version of the 3.5 changeling. Kitsune trickster replaces some more or less useless features with some nice social options. Very flavourful but not the strongest build possible (telepath psion probably)

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Feint's End
Kitsune with the Kitsune Trickster archetype for rogues. Take realistic likeness as your first feat. You can now change shape into any human you have previously met making you a slightly weaker version of the 3.5 changeling. Kitsune trickster replaces some more or less useless features with some nice social options.

This is a really cool option, thanks. Not what I was originally thinking of, but a very fun flavor.

I especially like the part about adopting the form of anyone you've met. Talk about social cachet. :smalltongue: