New D20 Underworld Occupations

[Labmonkey-XL]

Just throwing around some idea's, i'm thinking of using these in my own campaign world to add some variety to the already existing occupations:

HACKER
Prerequisite: Intelligence 13+
Skills: Choose two of the following skills as permanent class skills. If you already have it as a class skill you gain a +1 competence bonus on checks using that skill.
Disable Device, Knowledge (Technology, Programming, Telecommunications or Networking), Diplomacy, Forgery, Computer Use, Research, Decipher Script.
Bonus Feat: select either Educated, Meticulous, or Studious.
Wealth Bonus Increase: +1

NIGHTLIFER
Nightlifers are any sort of clubgoer, club promoter, DJ, or DJ booking agent that lives this type of lifestyle as a career.
Prerequisite: Age 18+
Skills: Choose two of the following skills as permanent class skills. If you already have it as a class skill you gain a +1 competence bonus on checks using that skill.
Proffession (DJ, Promoter), Perform (DJing or Dancing), Knowledge (popular culture), Bluff, Sense Motive, Gather Info.
Bonus Feat: Great Fortitude or Lightning Reflexes
Wealth bonus Increase: +1

BOUNTY HUNTER
Prerequisite: Age 21+
Skills: Choose two of the following skills as permanent class skills. If you already have it as a class skill you gain a +1 competence bonus on checks using that skill.
Bluff, Intimidate, Diplomacy, Gather Info, Move Silently, Hide, Survival.
Bonus Feat: Personal Firearms Proficiency or Combat Reflexes.
Wealth bonus Increase: +2

ASSASSIN
Prerequisite: Dexterity 15+
Skills: Choose two of the following skills as permanent class skills. If you already have it as a class skill you gain a +1 competence bonus on checks using that skill.
Disguise, Escape Artist, Hide, Move Silently, Research, Sense Motive, Sleight of Hand.
Bonus Feat: Personal Firearms Proficiency or Stealthy.
Wealth bonus Increase: +2

GAMBLER
Prerequisite: Age 18+ and Wisdom 15+
Skills: Choose two of the following skills as permanent class skills. If you already have it as a class skill you gain a +1 competence bonus on checks using that skill.
Sense Motive, Gambling, Bluff, Intimidate, Sleight of Hand.
Bonus Feat: Confident or Deceptive.
Wealth bonus Increase: +1

I am planning on using these in my d20 Modern Underworld campaign where players are playing seedy deceptive character wrapped up in a Tarintino-esque mafia underworld.

Let me know what you think about the proffessions, any feedback or comments would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Mr Fidgit]

i like them Labmonkey-XL i think it's interesting too that you're offering non-combat related feats with the occupations (as opposed to the examples in the book)

one thought though - if a person had the gambler starting occupation - have you thought about taking away the feat choice in favor of a higher wealth bonus?

 

[Mistwell]

Just throwing around some idea's, i'm thinking of using these in my own campaign world to add some variety to the already existing occupations:

HACKER
Prerequisite: Intelligence 13+
Skills: Choose two of the following skills as permanent class skills. If you already have it as a class skill you gain a +1 competence bonus on checks using that skill.
Disable Device, Knowledge (Technology, Programming, Telecommunications or Networking), Diplomacy, Forgery, Computer Use, Research, Decipher Script.
Bonus Feat: select either Educated, Meticulous, or Studious.
Wealth Bonus Increase: +1

1) Why is Intelligence 13+ a prerequisite? Using ability scores for a prerequisite is extremely rare, and done only with one occupation that I can recall (athelete). Why not just use age?
2) There is no such thing as Knowledge: Programming, nor Knowledge: Telecommunications or Networking. Nor is it a particularly good house rule, since the Knowledge description specifically says you should not create additional Knowledge skills, but instead force Knowledge fields into one of the listed skills. I would suggest you just leave it at Knowledge: Technology.

NIGHTLIFER
Nightlifers are any sort of clubgoer, club promoter, DJ, or DJ booking agent that lives this type of lifestyle as a career.
Prerequisite: Age 18+
Skills: Choose two of the following skills as permanent class skills. If you already have it as a class skill you gain a +1 competence bonus on checks using that skill.
Proffession (DJ, Promoter), Perform (DJing or Dancing), Knowledge (popular culture), Bluff, Sense Motive, Gather Info.
Bonus Feat: Great Fortitude or Lightning Reflexes
Wealth bonus Increase: +1

1) There is no such thing as Profession: DJ, Promoter. There is only one Profession skill, and it is a catch-all for all professions. This was intentionally changed in d20 Modern to avoid the mess that Profession skills became in D&D.
2) There is no such skill as Perform: DJing (though there is one for dance). Nor would this make a good house rule, since the skill specifically says you should not make up new Perform classifications, but instead force new perform ideas into one of the 8 existing listed skills. I would just choose one of the listed perform skills, like Act, Keyboards, or Stand-up.

BOUNTY HUNTER
Prerequisite: Age 21+
Skills: Choose two of the following skills as permanent class skills. If you already have it as a class skill you gain a +1 competence bonus on checks using that skill.
Bluff, Intimidate, Diplomacy, Gather Info, Move Silently, Hide, Survival.
Bonus Feat: Personal Firearms Proficiency or Combat Reflexes.
Wealth bonus Increase: +2

Generally speaking it is rare to have choice of 2 of 7 skills, a feat, AND a +2 to wealth. Usually when a feat is offered, the wealth bonus is +1, though there is one exception with the Investigator. In this case, I would add a reputation bonus, and subtract a wealth bonus.

ASSASSIN
Prerequisite: Dexterity 15+
Skills: Choose two of the following skills as permanent class skills. If you already have it as a class skill you gain a +1 competence bonus on checks using that skill.
Disguise, Escape Artist, Hide, Move Silently, Research, Sense Motive, Sleight of Hand.
Bonus Feat: Personal Firearms Proficiency or Stealthy.
Wealth bonus Increase: +2

1) Again the minimum ability seems unecessary, compounded by the fact that the prerequisite is a 15, much higher than any other prerequisite in the book.
2) Also again you use the rare +2 modifier to wealth along with a feat and wide array of skills, but with no reputation bonus. Again I would swap one point of wealth here for a point of reputation.

GAMBLER
Prerequisite: Age 18+ and Wisdom 15+
Skills: Choose two of the following skills as permanent class skills. If you already have it as a class skill you gain a +1 competence bonus on checks using that skill.
Sense Motive, Gambling, Bluff, Intimidate, Sleight of Hand.
Bonus Feat: Confident or Deceptive.
Wealth bonus Increase: +1

1) Again you use ability scores as a prerequisite, and again a 15 is used. This is compounded by the use of Age as an additional prerequisite. I just don't see the need for this, particularly since we are just talking about a Gambler here. You can be a Gambler with even a negative modifier to your Wisdom, just not a very good one. I would get rid of the ability requirement and just stick to the age requirement.

Overall I like where you are going here with the seedy underworld theme, I just think these occupations could use some more tweaking.

 

[Labmonkey-XL]

In response to Mr.Fidget, the reason why i didnt give a higher wealth bonus for the Gambler because it doesnt make sense for a gambler who is just starting out have an increased wealth bonus. His Occupation alone will force him to roleplay his gambler like persona to take risks, and its up to him if he wants to risk losing all the money he has or double, or even quadruple what he has.

I appreciate the Feedback, and glad you like them.

Mistwell, thanks for your feedback as well, I know some of them need tweaking, but as for the hacker class, in this day and age there really is no age limit on someone who knows how to use a PC, just on how smart enough they are to use one for this type of occupation.

I hear stories and know people who can hack at the age of 13 or even 14. I'd rather have an ability requirement as opposed to an age requirement, cuz quite a bit of intelligence is required for this type of field.

As for the Assassin and bounty hunter, your absolutely right, and I will drop the +2 wealth and give them +1 wealth and +1 reputation each.

As for the gambler i was thinking of dropping the prerequisites and making the reqiurement just age 18+, but the problem is most casinos in the modern world require 21+.

Well the PC can gamble without goin to the casino, and just find some underground casino or even find high school or college students to gamble with so i think I might drop the pre-requisite to 15+

Thanx for the feedback!

 

[Labmonkey-XL]

BTW as far as the Nightlifer goes, as far as profession the reason why i put club promoter or DJ afterwards is just so they know what kind of proffession they wanna get into during character creation so they can get into character.

As far as using DJ as a Perform skill i think its perfectly acceptable since i'm a nightlifer/local DJ myself.

When your at a club and your DJing, there is some requirement on the DJ's half to get the crowd going, all good international DJs like Paul Oakenfold, Pete Tong, or Seb Fontaine not only know what kind of music the crowd will really get into, but knows how the crowd is feeling and how to react and drop breaks, or build up the tempo or know when to switch records to suprise the hell out of the crowd.

Every GOOD or proffessional club DJ has his own style and requires a commanding performance, from anywhere to raising his hands in the air to get the crowd motivated, to dropping new beats and even creating new ones.

Not everything is automatic for a DJ like most people think. Its harder to match beats and move the crowd then you think.

Just my .02 cents

 

[Mistwell]

BTW as far as the Nightlifer goes, as far as profession the reason why i put club promoter or DJ afterwards is just so they know what kind of proffession they wanna get into during character creation so they can get into character.

As far as using DJ as a Perform skill i think its perfectly acceptable since i'm a nightlifer/local DJ myself.

When your at a club and your DJing, there is some requirement on the DJ's half to get the crowd going, all good international DJs like Paul Oakenfold, Pete Tong, or Seb Fontaine not only know what kind of music the crowd will really get into, but knows how the crowd is feeling and how to react and drop breaks, or build up the tempo or know when to switch records to suprise the hell out of the crowd.

Every GOOD or proffessional club DJ has his own style and requires a commanding performance, from anywhere to raising his hands in the air to get the crowd motivated, to dropping new beats and even creating new ones.

Not everything is automatic for a DJ like most people think. Its harder to match beats and move the crowd then you think.

Just my .02 cents

All I am saying is the rules specifically do not allow you to add new perform skills, but instead require that you fit them into one of the existing perform skills listed. They have locked Knowledge, Craft, and Perform skills in as tightly as they have locked Ability types in. Adding a new perform skill is the same as adding, say, Comeliness as a 7th ability type to all characters. Sure, you could do it, but it will seriously mess with the rules and make use of future d20M products a bit difficult. Why add a new perform skill when what you are describing fits in nicely with the "Act" perform skill that already exists?

 

[Unseelie]

1) Why is Intelligence 13+ a prerequisite? Using ability scores for a prerequisite is extremely rare, and done only with one occupation that I can recall (athelete). Why not just use age?

Agreed, Hacker should require an age BELOW 18...

 

[Bagpuss]

All I am saying is the rules specifically do not allow you to add new perform skills, but instead require that you fit them into one of the existing perform skills listed. They have locked Knowledge, Craft, and Perform skills in as tightly as they have locked Ability types in. Adding a new perform skill is the same as adding, say, Comeliness as a 7th ability type to all characters. Sure, you could do it, but it will seriously mess with the rules and make use of future d20M products a bit difficult. Why add a new perform skill when what you are describing fits in nicely with the "Act" perform skill that already exists?

Well for a start it says "Do not arbitrarily make up new categories". It doens't say your not allowed to add new perform catagories.

arbitrary= Determined by chance, whim, or impulse, and not by necessity, reason, or principle.

What he's discribed does not fit any of the existing catagories no matter how broad you read them.

It doesn't suit any of the existing musical instruments catagories, its not Stand-Up, or Acting. So I think it would be fair to create a new catagory, it would not be an 'arbitrary' decision to do so.

The only thing I would suggest is try and make the new catagory broad as well.

 

[Mistwell]

Well for a start it says "Do not arbitrarily make up new categories". It doens't say your not allowed to add new perform catagories.

arbitrary= Determined by chance, whim, or impulse, and not by necessity, reason, or principle.

What he's discribed does not fit any of the existing catagories no matter how broad you read them.

It doesn't suit any of the existing musical instruments catagories, its not Stand-Up, or Acting. So I think it would be fair to create a new catagory, it would not be an 'arbitrary' decision to do so.

The only thing I would suggest is try and make the new catagory broad as well.

You left out the context of the sentence you quoted. It says "The number of perform categories is kept purposely finite. When trying to determine what Perform skill a particular type of performance falls under, use broad interpretations of existing categories. Do not arbitrarily make up new categories."

Now here are the details of the "new" skill he suggested:

"When your at a club and your DJing, there is some requirement on the DJ's half to get the crowd going..."

In my opinion this element fits into the broad interpretation of the Acting skill.

"...all good international DJs like Paul Oakenfold, Pete Tong, or Seb Fontaine not only know what kind of music the crowd will really get into"

Knowing what kind of music a crowd will get in to is a sense motive, gather information, or Knowledge: Popular culture check, and not a perform check.

"...but knows how the crowd is feeling and how to react..."

Again, this is almost certainly a sense motive check, and not a perform check. Your charisma modifier has nothing to do with sensing how a crowd is feeling.

"...and drop breaks, or build up the tempo or know when to switch records to suprise the hell out of the crowd."

This is more like the traditional perform checks, and should be sufficient for Act or Keyboards.

"Every GOOD or proffessional club DJ has his own style and requires a commanding performance, from anywhere to raising his hands in the air to get the crowd motivated, to dropping new beats and even creating new ones."

Again, this sounds very similar to Act.

A broad intepretation of the existing Acting perform skill will get you a DJ. Therefore there is no need to make up a new skill. Otherwise, you are needlessly adding a new skill to a specifically finite list. Don't do it. Down that road leads a billion skills and no good method of figuring out which is appropriate for any given situation.

 

[Bagpuss]

Right, so someone who is experienced at getting a crowd going is going to be just as good performing Shakespear?

Acting implies taking on a role, pretending to be someone else. It is vaguely related but only in some much Stand-up is related to acting and Stand-Up is a whole different catagory.

A mixing desk and turntables use exactly the same skills and layout as a traditional keyboard? They have about as much in common as playing a flute does with playing a guitar (which are two seperate catagories).

If the catagories are going to be that broad they might as well have just had two catagories, Perform: Musically, and Perform: Non-Musically.