I have heard stories of clever players using Bluff and Linguistics to take over whole towns without violence, and more importantly, without getting caught.
Sadly, I can't find any such stories anymore, so I thought I would start a new thread. What fresh ideas or stories do you have to share on ways of effectively using the forgery aspect of the Linguistics skill?
I had a changling spellthief in Eberron that forged multiple identity papers (or whatever they're called) for a few of the various governments. If the party ever killed a humanoid he could turn into (incidentally, changlings can change their appearance to look like warforged, which always made me chuckle), he picked up the papers and added it to his stash. It was really easy to buy/sell black market items. Dangerous to carry the papers, but he had gone to some lengths to have them hidden at all times.
Well the mending cantrip is a must (a reminder); no craft checks and whatnot, just cast and the letter's sealed again. Yes, it'll likely leave traces, but not for more than a few days.
Chaos-creating events that my players and I have accomplished with forgeries:
- blackmailing influential nobles with extremely vague wording and no real knowledge of their private lives
- falsify love letters between noble youths and another member of the family (distracting a patriarch/matriarch with internal concerns)
- forge invoices detailing shipments of illegal goods (either to conceal or to frame)
- altering wills to direct all funds to someone easily manipulated
- modifying holy scripture to allow for previously non-existent loopholes
The chaos created in these ways allowed the PCs to step in and "fix" problems once things escalated to minor violence; each time demanding favors for their efforts. In three out of five instances, this sort of planning led to the PCs' acceptance into government positions or (in one case) the majority sanctioned assassination of the "troublesome" rulers with the new leaders depending on PC approval/advice (power behind the throne).
I've got an example NPCs, not PCs, using forgery effectively.
The BBEG in a campaign I was running had a spy on retainer with maxed out knowledge (just about everything) and linguistics. He could speak almost any language you wanted and knew the finer details of every court in the land.
The party is hired by the king to track down the BBEG, who is messing up trade in the northern part of the country, and arrest him. When they finally get through his guards and fortress, get the dude in chains, and are bringing him home for their triumphant rewards, a messenger shows up on the road, coming from the direction of the king's court. He's ridden his horse to death--it has a heart attack right in front of the party--in order to stop a horrible miscarriage of justice. It turns out, he says, the king messed up, and the BBEG was in the right all along. He has a sealed writ of pardon and also new orders to the party to offer their help to the BBEG in whatever he needs to make amends.
Party fails the relevant checks, and reluctantly agrees to help him restore his position. They send their own riders out to the king to confirm the orders, but by the time they get back the answer that they shouldn't go along with the BBEG (the spy intercepted a few and planted more fake documents with them), they have completely reentrenched him in the local power structure, and then have to fight through it all again.