Discreet Companion
Requirements | Statistics | Description
| Skills: | Gather Information: 10 ranks Bluff: 6 ranks Diplomacy: 3 ranks Innuendo: 4 ranks Perform: 4 ranks Profession (escort): 5 ranks (see special) |
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| Feats: | Alertness, Skill Focus (Gather Information) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abilities: |
While great Charisma is not a requirement, it is unlikely that anyone of low or average Charisma will enter the companions, nor will they benefit much from such membership, as many of the powers and feats of the class rely on the Charisma ability. |
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| Alignment: |
Any non-lawful. The work of the discreet companions goes against the rules and mores of most societies, and to be a discreet companion is to live a deception, to pretend to be one thing while being another. |
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| Special: | An established career, or at least a sideline, in some form of “companionship for pay” trade or profession, with the associated Profession skill. How sexual this profession is depends upon the culture of the character, but the nature of the discreet companions is such that anyone over-nice about such things is unlikely to be invited to join. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hit Die: |
1d4. (Reroll 1) |
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Class Skills |
The discrete companion class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are:
Skill Points at Each Level: 6 + Int modifier |
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Class Features |
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| Weapon and Armor Proficiency: |
None |
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| Secret: |
At 1st level, and every three levels thereafter, the character learns one very important secret. The exact information gained depends on the character’s circumstances and the DM’s judgment, but it should be something known only to an elite few, one of whom, obviously, must be a patron of the companion. |
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| Resist Charm: | The character may apply his Charisma modifier (if positive) to any Will save versus an Enchantment or Charm effect. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Charmtouch: | This ability grants the extraordinary ability to charm someone by touch alone. This ability may be used a number of times per day equal to the companion’s Charisma bonus. It takes 10 minutes of reasonably close physical contact, usually accompanied by enthralling conversation. The DC to resist the charm is 10 + the companion’s Charisma bonus. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonus Class Abilities: | The character may select from one of the following special abilities. Members may also pick one of these abilities whenever they are entitled to select a feat, as long as they meet any prerequisites.
Talkingtouch Talkingtouch is a special form of Innuendo. It allows two people, with this skill, to communicate through simple physical contact. This is not telepathy or psionics; it is the art of carefully orchestrated muscle motions and body language too subtle to be noticed by outsiders (DC 27 Spot check to notice; a character with the talkingtouch ability receives a +2 synergy bonus). Truthtouch Truthtouch is distantly related to talkingtouch, in that it involves an intimate knowledge of small muscle movements. However, truthtouch is a means of gathering information, not communicating. A character using truthtouch can tell if the person he is touching is lying. Flesh-to-flesh contact is required. Using this ability on beings of races the character is unfamiliar with is difficult. The base DC for a familiar race (defined here as the standard PC races) is 10 + the target’s Wisdom bonus, with the following modifiers:
Paintouch The character’s knowledge of muscles and nerves enables him to do an extra 1d6 points of subdual damage with a successful unarmed strike. This ability only works against humanoids. Magekiss [Metamagic Feat] This feat makes any spell with a Will save significantly harder to resist, at a cost in casting time and combat utility. To successfully cast a spell prepared with magekiss, the caster must maintain flesh-to-flesh physical contact with an unresisting (willing or helpless) target for at least five combat rounds (30 seconds). The spell is cast without any additional verbal or somatic components required once this contact is completed. The DC of any Will save required by the spell is increased by the caster’s Charisma bonus, with an additional +2 DC if the target is being touched willingly. This, of course, does not require that the target is the willing subject of a spell, or even aware that one is being cast. Only spells requiring a Will save can be prepared with magekiss. This effect stacks with the Charisma bonus to DCs for bards and sorcerers. The use of this feat has created legends of mortals so alluring they can “enslave a man with a single kiss.” Siren’s Song This feat allows the companion to add his levels in the discreet companion prestige class to any bard levels he has for purposes of using the bardic music ability. It is, obviously, of no use to a companion without any bardic training. Caress of the Lost Hour With a combination of extraordinary knowledge of anatomy and overwhelming personal magnetism, the companion can cause a victim to forget recent events that occurred while the individual was in the presence of the companion. At most, one hour of time spent with the companion can be erased, and the time must be continuous. The victim may make a Will save (DC 20 + the companion’s Charisma bonus) to resist. The victim is not simply “blanked”, he or she will have a vague sense of a pleasant time, but exact details are blurred and indistinct. This ability, mastered only by the most skilled companions, is used when subtlety has failed and someone who has given up information involuntarily needs to forget about it. This is an extraordinary ability. |
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| Special Restriction: | Mentioning that the order exists is absolutely forbidden, as is allowing any genuine emotion to influence your relationship with your current partner. Any member of the order who breaks these rules will be quickly and discreetly eliminated. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The discreet companions exist, in an informal and unspoken way, throughout the civilized lands. They are, nonetheless, strongest in decadent empires, high courts, wealthy city-states, and sprawling trading centers. The companions exist, as their name implies, discreetly, and few outsiders can distinguish them from the concubines, escorts, courtesans, and sacred prostitutes who populate the elegant houses of wealthy merchants and the palaces of great kings.
The discreet companions are traders in information and intrigue, and they acquire their merchandise through the oldest of means. Of all genders and races, discreet companions can be found in the courts of kings, the temples of high priests, and the back alleys of the seediest cities. They ply their trade with apparent disregard for the nature of their putative employer, though, in their own way, they are amazingly discriminating. Only those with knowledge to gain will find one of the companions entering their lives, though, of course, the true nature of the relationship remains well hidden from the individual in question.
There is no way to seek out the discreet companions. Those of intelligence, cunning, and charisma who are already engaging in their primary apparent occupation will be contacted. If it becomes evident that the contact was unwise, the prospective member will find his memory wiped and will return to his life unharmed and unaware that anything unusual occurred.
The discreet companions support themselves by selling the information they acquire to the highest bidder, with the bidder usually unaware he is dealing with an organization and not just an individual. The money itself is funneled deep into the order, to serve unknown purposes. (In other words, DMs should come up with a suitably complex and intricate long-term purpose that fuels the order. The “rank and file” of the order need not know this purpose; most join for their own reasons. It may be benign or evil, lawful or chaotic. Perhaps there are even conflicting factions within the order.)
As a general rule, this class is best suited for NPCs. Adventures in which characters of this class would have an opportunity to exercise their skills and gain experience in the class specialty would be somewhat unorthodox.
Special note on XP: Killing orcs and looting dungeons is all well and good, but the skills of a discreet companion tend to be honed in different circumstances. Allow a companion to gain XP through successful “employment” by powerful or rich patrons, with the patron’s level determining the Challenge Rating.
For example: Alayne is a 7th-level rogue/ 1st-level discreet companion. He has made his way to a dance hosted by one of the leading noble families of Delorais. During the dance, he dazzles and charms the daughter of an important Baron, and manages to become her favored concubine. As she is a 5th-level aristocrat, she is considered to be CR 5. and Alayne (a 8th-level character) gains 800 XP for this encounter.