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mabriss lethe
2007-05-08, 06:41 PM
The Charlatan

"Step right up, Have a sample of Doc Nostrum's patented Troll Gland Salve. Made in secret by a group of ingenious dwarven mages, This baby'll do it all. Feeling a little under the weather? Sore or crampled muscles? Cut? Burns? Those embarrassing rashes? You know the ones I mean. Have no fear and worry no more. Doc Nostrum has a cure!"
-Doc Nostrum, Notorious Charlatan (Bounty 10 gold, dead or alive)

Charlatans are confidence men, "cure" peddlers, and the wheeler/dealers of the world. If you want it, they have it, or a cheap knock off of it. It's absolutely "Guaranteed" to work. What do you have to lose? It's only a few silvers anyway.

Alignment : N/A

Hit Die: d6

Skills: 6+ Intelligence modifier

Class Skills: The Charlatan's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Gather Information (Cha), Hide(Dex), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Speak Language (None), Spellcraft (Int), Swim (Str), and Tumble (Dex)

Table: The Charlatan
{table]Level|BAB*|SpAB|For|Ref|Will|Special
1|+0*|+0|+0|+2|+2|Fast Talker, Snake Oil
2|+0*|+1|+0|+3|+3|Exit Stage Right (+5 feet), Smoke and Mirrors
3|+0*|+2|+1|+3|+3|Montebank's Performance
4|+0*|+3|+1|+3|+3|Dramatic Entrance, Exit Stage Right (+10 feet)
5|+0*|+3|+1|+4|+4|Fly By Night [/table]

Class Features:

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies:
The Charlatan thinks of himself as more of a lover than a fighter. Unfortunately, he also has the bad luck to find himself in situations that warrant a more direct solution than he prefers. Charlatans are proficient with the dagger, quarterstaff, light and heavy crossbows. He is not proficient with any sort of armor or shield.

Fast Talker: The charlatan knows that his quick wits and silver tongue are the only real protection he has, gaining a bonus to Bluff, Diplomacy and Sense Motive equal to his Charlatan level.

Snake Oil: The Charlatan earns his way in the world selling useless trinkets, worthless cures, and lying..A lot. Strange things happen in a world filled with real magic though. If the Charlatan succeeds on a contested bluff check vs the target's Sense Motive check, The target believes the Snake Oil has some special property, gaining one of the effects from the following table, dependent upon the type of item sold by the charlatan and how he markets it during his speech. If the Charlatan wants to gain these benefits for himself, he must still make the roll vs his own Sense Motive. Effectively convincing himself that it'll work.

{table]Type of "Snake Oil"| Effect
Elixer, potion, or other consumable |+1 morale bonus to one type of save or +2 morale bonus to one skill for 1 hour after ingestion.
Trinket| +1 morale bonus to AC for 24 hours after first worn
Liniment, Oil, or Salve| +2 morale bonus to one physical attribute, Duration 1 hour[/table]

Exit Stage Right: At second level, the Charlatan learns that a quick set of heels is an invaluable asset. The Charlatan gains a +5 bonus to his base land speed. This bonus increases to +10 at 4th level.

Smoke and Mirrors: The Charlatan's spotty knowledge of alchemy and herbalism used in pushing his wares is enough to allow him to make a kit full of parlor tricks at second level. Smoke powders, flash paper, simple pyrotechnics mostly. The kit costs 50 gp to create and has 10 uses. Each "charge" within the kit can be used to create a variety of effects. The kit can be used to mimic the following spells. Ghost sound, Flare, and Light. it can also be used to mimic Obscuring mist, but only creates mist in a 10 ft radius from the Charlatan. All saves and durations are determined as if the charlatan was a 1st level sorcerer. Only the Charlatan who created the kit is proficient with it's uses. Everyone else won't know the proper combinations of ingredients.

Montebank's Performance: At third level, the Charlatan gains a limited version of the Bardic Music ability. If the character has 3 or more ranks in the skill Perform (Oratory), he can attempt a Montebank's Performance. It is identical to a Bard's Fascinate ability. The character is treated as having levels in bard equal to his Charlatan level -2 for determining Bardic music effects and number of uses per day. These levels stack with actual bard levels for determining such.

Dramatic Entrance: The Charlatan knows that one of the best ways to con the rubes is to get them started off right. By dressing flamboyantly, using cheap smoke and mirror style parlor tricks and exaggerated speech, he keeps his audience in the palm of his hand. After singling out a target, on a successful bluff check, the charlatan may cause the target to suffer a -2 penalty on Will saves for a number of rounds equal to his Charlatan level. The charlatan can expend a "charge" from his Smoke and Mirrors kit to create some cheap theatrics that give him a +2 circumstance bonus on his bluff check.

Fly By Night: When the show's over and the product is sold, it's time to move on and the charlatan knows it. The best time for it is after the sun sinks in the west. At fifth level, The Charlatan gains a +2 circumstance bonus on all skill rolls involving his class skills he makes under the cover of darkness.

ArmorArmadillo
2007-05-08, 10:03 PM
Cool, but seems to be missing a few things?
What are the requirements?
What is with the BAB?

I'd comment that this class seems to be built on not having much utility, but it seems like it's really more for NPC encounters than characters.

EvilElitest
2007-05-08, 10:14 PM
I think there are a pair of NPCs under teh gaming section who would love this PC
from,
EE

Magnor Criol
2007-05-08, 10:41 PM
My personal mental picture of the classic charlatan is a skinny, snakelike man with a wiry moustache and, particularly, a cane that he uses to gesture, to emphasize, and, when the situation calls, to defend. One of the charlatan's weapons he knows should be a cane - though I don't know what that'd fall under, weaponwise....perhaps a club for one size category lower? Or a quarterstaff for one saze category down, that can't be used as a double weapon (since it's half the length of a quarterstaff, you can't whack with both ends like normal.) It'd probably qualify for Weapon Finesse, too.

I think the charlatan should have a harder time convincing himself the Snake Oil items are going to work - he knows what's in them. There should probably be some sort of increased DC, like he has to beat his own Sense Motive X2 (though that's probably now on the too-high end) or something along those lines.

-E- Armor, EE's right - check this out for the description of an "NaC". (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=41977)

ArmorArmadillo
2007-05-08, 10:49 PM
Ah, NaC. I understand.

Demented
2007-05-08, 11:03 PM
Once you know what's in it, you really should need to make a save against taking negative effects. Honestly, troll gland oil? I had to make a will save the moment I tried to picture someone harvesting it.

mabriss lethe
2007-05-09, 12:35 AM
Ah, NaC. I understand.

Yeah, I meant to put in an intro section like I have with the others, but...well...Forgot to. I'll fix it soon.


I think the charlatan should have a harder time convincing himself the Snake Oil items are going to work - he knows what's in them. There should probably be some sort of increased DC, like he has to beat his own Sense Motive X2 (though that's probably now on the too-high end) or something along those lines.

I thought about something on those lines, but then remembered that he gets a class bonus to Sense motive checks at first level. So he'd have a harder time conning himself into it than he would against most other people. I just wanted to have some mechanic in place so that someone playing the charlatan wouldn't pull a potentially infinite stream of buffs out without consequences. I suppose that as a side note, if he fails to convince himself he's instead sickened for 1d4 rounds for an ingested or applied type of snake oil. Not sure if there should be a penalty to trinkets. it just doesn't make any sense.

As for the quarterstaff vs. Club... either could work. I had a version of this in mind that could integrate into a straight fantasy setting where the charlatan travels from village to village posing as a wizard while performing his shows... For a more traditional 19th century style Patent medicine seller, the club would probably be best. I really wouldn't want to mess around with using improperly sized weapons make it work.

Human Paragon 3
2007-05-10, 10:38 PM
So what's with the BAB? I'm dying of curiosity.

Winged One
2007-05-10, 10:42 PM
Small nitpick: the bonus given by Snake Oil should be morale, since it basicly stems from the character's belief that the Snake Oil works.

mabriss lethe
2007-05-10, 11:46 PM
So what's with the BAB? I'm dying of curiosity.

That's in the section of stuff about Non-Adventuring Classes I usually append to these guys. ('ll get around to editing that shortly...assuming that the boards don't go all wonky on me again.) In this sort of campaign, the characters start at 1st level in a NaC. Similar to the Job classes created for the Complete Commoner threads. After completing all five levels in the NaC, the character is free to choose a base class to continue progression. Now that we have some background, I can get around to answering your question. NaCs don't get a base attack bonus. instead they get (for lack of a snazzier name) a Special Attack Bonus (SpAB). It functions in a nearly identical manner, but the SpAB doesn't stack with BAB for the purpose of determining a character's number of attacks per round or feat prerequisites.

The reason: In the campaign setting I'm putting together, I'm delaying epic progression until Level 26 due to the 5 extra levels I tacked onto the beginning. it gives the players the full tour of the NaC without messing around with the progression of base classes and PrCs In order to keep the number of attacks per round in line with a standard 20 level game, I had to come up with some modification to the BAB. (because, yeah, Epic is right. Too many attacks per round makes gameplay grind to a halt.)


Small nitpick: the bonus given by Snake Oil should be morale, since it basicly stems from the character's belief that the Snake Oil works.

Good call on that one.