Courtier

The courts of a palace is the theater in which you perform. This could be a king's castle, the mansions of the emperor, or even the vast halls of one of the major guilds. Where others fight with sword and magic, words are your weapon of choice. You trade and exchange favors and promises to chance the tides of entire cities and kingdoms.

A Courtier that has left the courts of king or law for a life of adventure often does so to right a wrong, or to help others. Or it could be that you have found that there is greater money to be made in the world outside the small world of the nobility. No matter the reason, you are able to talk your way around any situation.

Courtiers or social creatures and prioritize Cunning over any other attribute. Some may find that Intelligence and Acuity allow them to know or see more than others while a select few find feats of Strength can help win someone over when words fail to impress. Most Courtiers have the Noble background but a few Charlatans worked their way up to the courts with lies and deceit.

You start with the following equipment, in addition to any other starting equipment:

• a diplomat’s pack

• a silk pouch containing 10 gp

In a social interaction, you can declare your intention to take a penalty to a Social Action to gain an equal bonus to your next social roll in that social interaction. The penalty and bonus are equal to 1 as a novice and increase to 2 as an apprentice, and 3 as a journeyman, etc.

Once per social encounter, you can declare your use of this ability when you succeed on a social roll. When you do, you gain an extra point of Favor or remove a point of Displeasure.

Be it a mask or fan, or just a really good poker face, you learn to hide your emotions from others. Other creatures have disadvantage on Read the Room rolls when trying to get information from you, or outside of social encounters, they have disadvantage on Awareness rolls when trying to get information from you.

You have learned all the ways to hide the truth from others in the courts. Because of that, you have advantage on your Read the Room rolls when trying to get information from another creature. You also have advantage on Awareness (Cunning) - Insight rolls when discerning lies or seeing through falsehoods.

You have learned when it is best to show your true self. Once per social encounter, you can remove all of their Favor and Displeasure from a creature.