Changeling Huckster
Advanced Changeling class — see Classes for the full list.
While the call of profit draws members of all races, trading in foreign lands can bring suspicion and doubt upon one’s name. Enter the changeling huckster: his name may be known in many lands, but he is always at home with the local culture.
Changeling Huckster Level Progression
| Experience | Title | Level | Hit Dice |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Tinker | 1 | 1d6 |
| 1,750 | Trader | 2 | 2d6 |
| 3,500 | Arbitrager | 3 | 3d6 |
| 7,000 | Commissary | 4 | 4d6 |
| 14,000 | Mercantilist | 5 | 5d6 |
| 28,000 | Enterpriser | 6 | 6d6 |
| 55,000 | Huckster | 7 | 7d6 |
| 110,000 | Merchant Venturer | 8 | 8d6 |
| 235,000 | Merchant Prince | 9 | 9d6 |
| 360,000 | Merchant Prince, 10th level | 10 | 9d6 + 2* |
| 485,000 | Merchant Prince, 11th level | 11 | 9d6 + 4* |
| 610,000 | Merchant Prince, 12th level | 12 | 9d6 + 6* |
| 735,000 | Merchant Prince, 13th level | 13 | 9d6 + 8* |
Huckster Saving Throws and Attack Bonus
| Level | Paralysis | Death | Blast | Implement | Spells | Attack Bonus |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-2 | 13+ | 13+ | 13+ | 14+ | 15+ | +0 |
| 3-4 | 12+ | 12+ | 12+ | 13+ | 14+ | +1 |
| 5-6 | 11+ | 11+ | 11+ | 12+ | 13+ | +2 |
| 7-8 | 10+ | 10+ | 10+ | 11+ | 12+ | +3 |
| 9-10 | 9+ | 9+ | 9+ | 10+ | 11+ | +4 |
| 11-12 | 8+ | 8+ | 8+ | 9+ | 10+ | +5 |
| 13 | 7+ | 7+ | 7+ | 8+ | 9+ | +6 |
Combat Characteristics
Hucksters are trained combatants, although not as skilled as fighters. They prefer to stay mobile and rely on ranged attacks while their comrades do the close-quarters combat.
Combat Proficiencies: Hucksters have weapon proficiency with arbalests, composite bows, crossbows, daggers, long bows, short bows, and short swords. They have armor proficiency with medium, light, and very light armor. They have fighting style proficiency with the weapon and shield style, but not with the two-handed weapon or dual weapon styles.
Combat Progression: Hucksters advance in attack throws and saving throws by two points every four levels. They can cleave after felling a foe a maximum of once per round per every two class levels (rounded down).
Starting Class Powers
Altering the Deal: Changeling hucksters are renowned for their uncanny ability to use shifting terminology, vague assurances, and general affability to alter the trajectory of ongoing negotiations. As a result, the character’s effective market impact is increased by 1 when engaging in mercantile ventures, allowing them to transact in more goods than usual. Additionally, when negotiating a spot price, the character may treat a result of grudging acceptance as acceptance, appearing to agree to the requested concession in a manner that does not actually bind himself to it.
Bribery: Not every market obeys the rule of law, so a huckster also becomes exceptionally skilled at the art of bribery. He receives a +1 bonus to reaction rolls if he offers one day’s pay for the target; a +2 bonus for a week’s pay; and a +3 bonus for a month’s pay. His bribery is so subtle that the attempt is politely deniable by both parties. The character is only blatant enough to be charged with the crime of bribery if he rolls an unmodified 2 on the applicable reaction roll.
Faces of the Folk: The changeling huckster gains rapid familiarity with the customs, figures of speech, manners, and traditions of settlements he visits. He gains a +1 bonus to reaction rolls with 0th level characters in any settlement he has visited before (if he stays in the same settlement for a month or more, this effect automatically applies). He can automatically identify famous landmarks and points of interest in such settlements and never gets lost when traveling through them. This is a slightly improved variation on the Folkways proficiency.
Multilingual: As world travelers, hucksters become conversant in a wide variety of tongues of their trading partners, thereby gaining three bonus languages. The huckster can select some or all of these languages immediately from among those in common use in the campaign’s starting region or select them later from among those he encounters in play.
Thief Skills: Changeling hucksters are experts at smuggling, carousing, and (when all else fails) outright stealing. They can use listening, pickpocketing, and sneaking as a thief of the same level.
Streetwise: The huckster has learned the hard lessons taught by life on the streets. He might begin play as a member of a criminal syndicate (Judge’s discretion). He can engage in hijinks if he has the necessary proficiencies or thief skills. He can automatically identify gestures, signs, slang, and territory of criminal organizations in his home settlement. He can identify those of other urban settlements with a proficiency throw of 11+. Secret organizations or organizations in far-off cities might be harder to recognize. (This class power is equivalent to one rank of Streetwise proficiency.)
Treachery: Despite the huckster’s agreeable disposition and generous fiscal offerings, sometimes business might get ugly. It is for this reason that every huckster learns the art of treachery. Anytime a huckster uses his Diplomacy or Bribery to gain a Friendly reaction roll, he can force every creature (allied or enemy) within 30’ to make surprise rolls at a -3 penalty by treacherously attacking. Any creature that fails the roll is surprised for the first round of combat. If the huckster has some way of secretly signaling to his party (such as Signaling proficiency) or has planned the treachery to occur in advance, then his party does not have to make the surprise roll. The art of treachery cannot be used if the opposition also has a character with this power handling negotiation, due to professional courtesy and mutual paranoia.
Additional Class Powers
Market Chaos (2nd): By imitating various merchants, tradesmen, and officials, and making outrageous offers and demands on their behalf, a changeling huckster can cause sufficient market chaos to force a reroll of the market price on goods in a market. The character can affect one trade good per character level. Causing market chaos is a dedicated activity that takes one week to accomplish.
Business Face (4th and 10th): Once per day, the changeling huckster may alter his shape into that of any other humanoid creature. He can control his new shape’s physical qualities (such as height, weight, gender, hair color, hair texture, and skin color) within the normal ranges for a creature of its kind. His equipment, if any, remains worn or held where possible, and otherwise melds into the new form. If used in conjunction with a successful Disguise proficiency throw, he can appear as a specific individual. The effect lasts for the remainder of the day. Use of this power is equivalent to casting a guise self spell with a casting time of 1 turn (10 minutes). At 10th level, the huckster gains an additional use of this power per day.
Guildhouse (9th): By acquiring a guildhouse worth at least 5,000gp, the huckster can attract followers to his service. 2d6 1st level hucksters, venturers, or other appropriate characters (Judge’s discretion) will arrive to serve him as followers within 1d4 weeks of him acquiring the guildhouse. If the huckster already has a guildhouse, the followers arrive to serve him within 1d4 weeks of him reaching 9th level. If hired, the followers must be paid standard rates for henchmen. These followers will serve the character with some loyalty, though at least one will be an infiltrator working for the huckster’s local rivals, sent to keep an eye on the character.
Some hucksters use their guildhouse to start a criminal syndicate, expanding their wealth through illegitimate channels. When a huckster operates a criminal syndicate, his guildhouse counts as a hideout of one-half its value. The huckster otherwise follows all of the rules for hideouts and hijinks detailed in Campaigns.
All hucksters, of course, use their guildhouse to coordinate their legitimate investments. The huckster can make a number additional passive investment of any type equal to the value of his guildhouse divided by the maximum investment in the market class where his guildhouse is located. Rules for passive investments can be found in Campaigns.
Monopoly Power (12th): If the huckster has established a guildhouse in a settlement, he can use it to seize monopoly power in that settlement. Thereafter, he earns 1gp per month in monopoly revenue per urban family in the urban settlement. He does not need to be the domain’s ruler to earn this revenue; if he is the domain’s ruler, the monopoly revenue is in addition to his domain revenue. Only one character in each urban settlement can earn monopoly revenue from each urban family. If there is more than one character with this class power operating in the settlement, then one must eliminate his rival(s) or he must come to a deal to distribute the monopoly revenue between the various characters.
Racial Traits
Alien Appearance: When in their natural form, changelings have a bland appearance, faded and lacking detail. They appear to have a gray and gauzy additional layer of skin all over their bodies. Their skin tone is pale, their hair thin and most commonly a shade of silvery white, though sometimes a pink, green or blue. This alien appearance is disconcerting to most viewers, causing a -2 penalty on all reaction rolls while in this form. What’s more, knowledge of shape-changers in their midst can make a populace uneasy, unfriendly, or even violent (at the Judge’s discretion). As such, most changelings endeavor to conceal their true nature.
Change Shape: Changelings have the ability to alter their forms to look like any humanoid. Treat this as an alter self spell except that it takes 1 full turn to effect the changes. Changelings may use this ability up to once per hour, and the caster level is equal to the character’s level.
Mastery of Imitation: All changelings spend their early lives learning how to project false faces and voices, granting them the benefits of both the mimicry and disguise proficiencies.
Slippery Mind: Changeling are adept at wriggling free of mental effects, granting them a +3 bonus to saving throws against enchantments and illusions.
Social Intuition: A changeling intuitively grasps the finer points of navigating social situations, receiving a +1 bonus on all reaction rolls when attempting to parley with intelligent characters.
Class Proficiencies
Proficiency Progression: At 1st level, hucksters select one class proficiency from their class proficiency list and one general proficiency from the general proficiency list. They select an additional class proficiency at 4th, 8th, and 12th level. They select an additional general proficiency at 5th, 9th, and 13th level.
Changeling Huckster Proficiency List: Alertness, Ambushing, Arcane Dabbling, Bargaining, Climbing, Combat Reflexes, Combat Trickery (disarm, incapacitate), Command, Diplomacy, Driving, Intimidation, Land Surveying, Language, Leadership, Lip Reading, Magical Engineering, Mapping, Mountaineering, Mounted Combat, Navigation, Passing Without Trace, Precise Shooting, Prospecting, Riding, Running, Seafaring, Skirmishing, Swashbuckling, Weapon Finesse
Huckster Templates
| 3d6 Roll | Template | Proficiencies | Starting Equipment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 – 4 | Bankrupt | Running Gambling | Slightly notched short sword, dagger, leather armor, shabby linen tunic and pants, once-fancy embossed belt, low boots, 2 belt pouches (one empty!), pair of bone dice, waterskin, 1 week’s iron rations, 4gp (enc. 3 5/6 st) |
| 5 – 6 | Factotum | Arcane Dabbling Bargaining | Short bow, quiver with 20 arrows, short sword, dagger, leather armor, wool tunic and pants, hooded cloak, leather belt, low boots, backpack, tinderbox, 12 torches, waterskin, 1 week’s iron rations, 18gp (6 1/6 st) |
| 7 – 8 | Merchant Mariner | Swashbuckling Seafaring | Short bow, quiver with 20 arrows, scimitar, leather armor, mariner’s tunic and pants, fancy gold sash, polished high boots, backpack, 50’ rope, grappling hook, waterskin, 1 week’s iron rations, 1gp (enc. 5 st) |
| 9 – 10 | Merchant Traveler | Alertness Navigation | Crossbow, case with 20 bolts, short sword, 2 throwing daggers, sturdy leather armor, tanned brown cloak, thick tunic and pants, leather belt, high boots, backpack, large treasure sack, 50’ rope, tinderbox, lantern, small hammer, 12 iron spikes, flask of common oil, flask of military oil, waterskin, 1 week’s iron rations, 1gp (enc. 6 3/6 st) |
| 11 – 12 | Antiquary | Magical Engineering Knowledge (history) | Crossbow, case with 20 bolts, short sword, dagger, well-maintained leather armor, traveler’s tunic and pants, leather belt, sturdy low boots, backpack, collector’s journal, quill and ink, collection of ancient coins (26gp value), waterskin, 1 week’s iron rations (enc. 4 3/6 st) |
| 13 – 14 | Caravaneer | Precise Shooting Driving | Crossbow, case with 20 bolts, short sword, dagger, leather armor under dusty robes, embossed belt, sturdy low boots, backpack, tinderbox, 12 torches, small cart, mule, draft harness and tack, 2 leather saddlebags, waterskin, 1 week’s iron rations, 6gp (enc. 6 1/6 st, or 4 1/6 st with rations and 6 torches on cart) |
| 15 – 16 | Comprador | Eavesdropping Language | Crossbow, case with 20 bolts, short sword, pair of daggers, leather armor, embroidered cloak, armiger’s tunic and pants, leather gloves, polished high boots, backpack, waterskin, 1 week’s iron rations, 70gp for bribes (enc. 4 2/6 st) |
| 17 – 18 | Magnate | Command Riding | Crossbow, case with 20 bolts, short sword, dagger, leather armor, embroidered cloak, armiger’s tunic and pants, gaudy silver rings (20gp value), riding boots, medium riding horse, riding saddle and tack, leather saddlebag, waterskin, 2 weeks’ iron rations, 20gp (enc. 2 5/6 st with rations on horse) |
Notes: The merchant mariner’s scimitar is a type of short sword.
| Prime Requisite: | DEX and CHA |
|---|---|
| Requirements: | None |
| Hit Dice: | 1d4 |
| Maximum Level: | 13 |