I've been kicking around the idea that each of the leadership roles should also come with some extra fluff power has it's privileges you know
Someone on the boards (I really can't remember who it was so if you step forward I will gladly give you your just adulation's for the original idea) came up with giving the spy master three spies and giving them information based off of where they placed these spies.
I chatted with my player that is in the spy master position and we came up with a very rough and currently barely play tested set of rules. Feel free to tear them apart and kick them around I intend on posting the expansion for each of the leadership roles given time to work them over properly
as of the current moment the mechanics are roughly present
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To make things easier on me I'm going to "give" you three spy's in the beginning. The leadership feat will help you expand that and I'm working on another feat idea just for you I'm calling Network we'll PT it soon.
Spy Skill Ranking 1 - 20 (All spies have the ability to gather useful information )
Loyalty Rank: 1 - 20 (A general take on what it takes to bribe or get information out of the spy by the opponent.)
Specialty Score(*): 1 - 20 (This is for things like assassinations or anything that falls under non information gathering.)
*relevant skill name here such as assassination, arson, or poison making.
you place them where you want to gather information or another task and I'll role the relevant skill vs. a defense stat (need to work on this one for balance) and I'll inform you of their success or failure
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granted any information I need you to have to move the game forward will of course be slightly easier to find if you want the juicy dirty gossip or enemy battle plans your going to have to dig, fight, grease palms, or kill for that information.
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Spy#1: LR:10 SSR:3 the barkeep is your first spy he's not the best but he's loyal (Informants: home town 2)
Spy#2: LR:8 SSR:8 Half Elf, male, Ranger/Rogue (Spec: Stealth) combination is good at getting around both city and woods without being seen. A man like that tends to get close enough to hear things he shouldn't things that interest you a great deal. (informants: local wylds 4)
spy#3: LR:10 SSR:12 Human, Female, Rogue/Spy, She is the ideal of what your looking for in a spy quick witted loyal to a fault she is at home in courtly dress as she is in rags and able to switch from a street demeanor to High court etiquette on the spot without loosing a beat she's the one who you assigned to the Brevoian courts to bring you information on what's happening at the Dragon Scale Court (Informants: Ruby Court 6)
The Idea is you can assign these people however you like. They'll use their assigned locations to gather relevant information that their respective skills sets can gather for you. don't expect hunter to be any good at gathering court rumors. you have to learn to use the people under you to their best advantage.
right now you don't have any Assassins or Specialist you'll have to train or hire these people they have some simple stats for game mechanics
Assassins - just waht you think it is they can easly be cross trained to being Mechanics
Specialist - these guys are any thing from arsonist to master rumor mongers, highly specialized in their respective fields they fill in work that an assassin or other generalist skill set would be wasted on typicaly these are Expert npc class although the possibility of character classes isn't out of line they also fill the role of fence/supplier (Tools to Poisons and every conceivable thing in between)
Lookouts - these are usually low men in the spy network just a step above informants they help and assist the other members thus give them a bonus to succeed and should the worst case happen they can be sacrificed to keep a more valuable asset alive and "in play"
Rogues - All round Generalist and while not as loyal they do tend to get the job done.
Rangers - If cities and courts were your only concern, then you wouldn't need to worry about potential enemy troop movements while a rogue can do that job the ranger is by far the better choice
Mages - not exactly the best choice for a loyal spy they are typically crotchety, touchy, arrogant and on a good day those are the positive character traits but their ability to gather information is unparalleled... don't forget hiding information as well.
Spys - to say that they are the courtly version of Rogues is a disservice to understanding what a spy is they steal things far more valuable than your coin purse, information. A nation can rise or fall on the truth of the information that a spy provides.
Informants - the lowest teir of the spy network but sadly one of the most valuable their loyalty is questionable as the information they provide at best at worst they are counterspies feeding your spies false information. Informants are a subcatagory as well very rarely will the SpyMaster deal with them directly they are usually a ranking under one of the other spies but no good SM relies on his trained people alone.
The SM's personal informants are a separate rating based off of 1/2 character level you get this number for free by taking the position of Spymaster to increase the numbers you must spend gold (Max your current level). these are reliable to a degree.
Personal informants are essentially using the knowledge local skill and a diplomacy check at a distance. each personal informant point is one role allowed to the player a month otherwise they will have to rely on their spies informants. they may also use the personal informant to spread false information, rumors, innuendos, and outright lies however the player sees fit
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Sure this mad add an unneeded level of complication to the game but it looks like it will keep players engaged in the story and help them interact and even manipulate background stage events to some small degree.
