Agent of the Crown, “The Royal Emissary”

“Unveil the Secrets of Royalty with the Prestige Class Agent of the Crown!”

Across the world, royal courts and other governments that wish to establish peaceful, or at least not outright violent, relations with their neighbor’s dispatch emissaries, ambassadors and diplomats to smooth over friction in their relationships before either side resorts to war. While most of these representatives are nothing more than they appear, an elite corps are trained in the arts of subterfuge and skulduggery, solving problems with means more subtle yet direct than a trade conference or a treaty.

The Quintessential Rogue

Author Michael Mearls

Series The Quintessential Series

Publisher Mongoose Publishing

Publish date 2002

The agent of the crown is a spy, ambassador and combat operative rolled into one. He presents a friendly, amicable front in court, but if need be he’s ready to slip into his host’s vaults and collect dispatches, documents and even treasures to help advance his majesty’s cause. The agent is equally at home in the rough and tumble world of the streets and alleys, cultivating friends, allies and business associates at all levels of society.

Agents of the crown specialise in using their wit and personality to overcome foes, talking their way past potential enemies and blending into the social fabric with a practised ease. Connections are an agent’s lifeblood, and these rogues can usually call upon a network of friends and helpers across the world. Finally, the agent enjoys the support of the crown, giving him easier access to magical and alchemical equipment.

Hit Die: d6.

Requirements

To qualify to become an agent of the crown, a character must fulfil all the following criteria.

• Feats: Skill Focus (Diplomacy or Sense Motive).
• Skills: Diplomacy 8 ranks, Knowledge (local history, nobility, royalty, or court protocol) 8 ranks, Sense Motive 8 ranks, Speak Language (two languages in addition to native language and/or common).
• Special: Gain an officially recognised position within a government as an operative, typically by fulfilling an important mission for the throne or earning the court’s trust. While the court may aid you in official capacities, most of the more esoteric missions and tasks you undertake receive no official recognition or support from the crown.

The Agent of the Crown
Class Level	Base Attack	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special
1	+0	+0	+2	+0	Agent of the Crown, Smooth Talker
2	+1	+0	+3	+0	Friends in Low Places
3	+2	+1	+3	+1	Social Chameleon
4	+3	+1	+4	+1	Man of a 1,000 Faces
5	+3	+1	+4	+1	Charming Demeanour

Class Skills

The agent of the crown’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise (Intelligence), Balance (Dexterity), Bluff (Charisma), Craft (Intelligence), Decipher Script (Intelligence), Diplomacy (Charisma), Disable Device (Intelligence), Disguise (Charisma), Escape Artist (Dexterity), Forgery (Intelligence), Gather Information (Charisma), Hide (Dexterity), Innuendo (Wisdom), Intimidate (Charisma), Jump (Strength), Knowledge (local history, nobility, royalty, court protocol) (Intelligence), Listen (Wisdom), Move Silently (Dexterity), Open Lock (Dexterity), Perform (Charisma), Pick Pocket (Dexterity), Profession (Intelligence), Read Lips (Intelligence), Ride (Dexterity)(Dexterity), Search (Intelligence), Sense Motive (Wisdom), Spot (Wisdom), and Tumble (Dexterity).

Skill points at each level: 8 + Intelligence modifier.

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the agent of the crown class.

Weapon and Armour Proficiency: The agent of the crown gains proficiency with the Dagger, Light Mace, rapier and sap. He gains no proficiencies with armour or shields.

Agent of the Crown: The agent of the crown receives several benefits from his association with the king, queen or other patron. He can demand food and shelter from the crown’s official agents, such as the military or vassals. He may requisition mundane, alchemical or magical items of up to 100 gp in total value per month.

At the Games Master’s option, he may also demand more expensive items, depending on the state of the campaign and the agent’s mission. Furthermore, the agent may demand sanctuary from the crown’s allied nations, though only in such cases as he does not abuse his host’s hospitality and is not wanted in the host country for a crime.

Smooth Talker: Agents excel at using their personal magnetism to get their way. The agent of the crown receives a +2 competence bonus to all Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate and Sense Motive checks. In addition, the agent’s powerful personality and cocky self-confidence grants him a +2 competence bonus to all Charisma checks.

Friends in Low Places: The agent’s travels and missions bring him into contact with all sorts of criminals, from petty crime lords to pick pockets and fences. The agent can always find someone to sell him illegal goods, such as poison or other controlled items, but he must pay 1d4 times the listed price if the Games Master rules the item is particularly rare. Also note that the Games Master may always rule that an item is simply unavailable in a given city or kingdom.

The agent can attempt to gather a group of brutes and thugs to help him out. Once per week, the agent may make a Gather Information roll. Divide the result of this check by five to determine the total levels of warriors and experts available to the agent. No single ally may have a higher level than the agent’s levels in this prestige class. Characters recruited in this manner serve the agent to the best of their ability for one week, after which they leave his service.

However, the agent may make another Gather Information check to recruit these followers once again. These NPCs are not suicidal. They never agree to attack anyone, though they do defend the agent and his friends to the best of their abilities. A recruit reduced to half or fewer hit points in combat attempts to flee or surrender.

For example, Marco needs some help keeping an eye on the Countess Vellana. He makes a Gather Information checks that totals a 32, divided by 5 yields 6 total levels of Non-Player Characters. Marco is a 3rd-level agent, allowing him to find a maximum of a 3rd-level warrior or expert. He opts to recruit 4 1st-level experts and a 2nd-level warrior.

Social Chameleon: The agent of the crown is adept at seamlessly fitting into almost any situation. He gains a +4 competence bonus to Bluff or Disguise checks made to convince someone that he belongs in a restricted area, is actually a member of a club, organisation or royal court, and so on. Furthermore, should his Bluff succeed his victim believes the agent’s claim until he is presented with evidence to the contrary. Of course, a superior need only order a guard to hunt down the PC, not present a case to him for that.

Man of a 1,000 Faces: At fourth level, the agent of the crown manages to establish and propagate several aliases. When travelling, he can opt to take on an alias, allowing him to disguise himself with ease. In game terms, the agent’s player must create four aliases, describing their names, jobs, personality quirks, and brief histories for the Games Master. At any time, the agent may spend an hour getting into character.

He then is considered to automatically pass all Disguise checks when masquerading as one of his aliases. He may even use his agent and other class abilities while in Disguise, utilising his alias’s friends, contacts and reputed abilities rather than his own. The only people who have any chance of piercing the disguise are close, personal friends, rivals and relatives of the agent, against whom the agent must make a Disguise check as normal with a +8 circumstance bonus.

One of the aliases may be of the opposite sex, while another one may be a different race, though the alias’s race must be the same size as the agent’s. Thus, a human agent could not use one of his aliases to pose as an ogre.

Charming Demeanour: The agent of the crown is a master of manipulation. He may make a Diplomacy or Bluff check opposed by his target’s Sense Motive check. If the agent beats his opponent’s roll by 10 or more, his target is dazzled by the agent and comes to trust him. The target acts as if successfully targeted by a charm person spell cast by the agent for a period of 3d6 minutes. The agent may only use this ability against creatures vulnerable to charm person and only a number of times per day equal to his Charisma modifier.