Finger
You’ve learned to read your home, be it the sprawling, high-tech streets and walkways of The Settlement or the battered streets of an above ground enclave, like a well-worn map. Among the sleek neon lit walkways of The Settlement, security are stretched thin, leaving entire sectors practically lawless. Up on the surface, crime flourishes in the shadows, and the looming threats of vicious Storms and breaches make survival a daily gamble.
Through it all, you’ve adapted, finding shelter where few would dare, forging unspoken alliances with those who haunt the same alleys. The city, whether hidden underground or perched precariously above breathes with its own frantic pulse, and you’ve grown adept at slipping through its veins unnoticed. When forced into conflict, you strike fast and decisively, then blend back into the urban sprawl that raised you. After all, your most valuable skill is knowing exactly when to hide, and precisely when to fight back.
Why should I play one?
- If you like playing a thief, this is the trade for you.
- There will be times your team will find your skills and abilities invaluable.
- All the other times, you will find your abilities to be just the same. Your bag of tricks is all encompassing, whether it’s attacking, defending or adventuring.
Bonus Trait: +1d Dexterity
Starting skill package (choose one)
Fox/Vixen A thief who will fight if backed into a corner.
- Filching (d6)
- Intrusion (d6)
- Stealth (d6)
- Armed (d4)
- Perception (d4)
- Survival (d4)
Scoundrel Finger with a preference for fighting.
- Armed (d6)
- Intrusion (d6)
- Munitions (d6)
- Filching (d4)
- Perception (d4)
- Unarmed (Martial Art of choice) (d4)
Valdez Using acrobatics to get the job done.
- Athletics (d6)
- Acrobatics (d6)
- Intrusion (d6)
- Filching (d4)
- Perception (d4)
- Stealth (d4)
Choose a Punter
Choose one from the list below, or see the extended Example Punters list and pick one of those with GM approval.
- Corp Security
- Entertainment Worker
- Gang Member
- Union Official
Tradecraft
| Tradecraft | Description |
|---|---|
| Brush Past | Plant items on someone or something in plain sight |
| Circumvention | Can always attempt to use Intrusion on any kind of lock |
| Artful Dodger | Get an additional (free) dodge per initiative |
| Dirty Fighting | Gain an extra Critical when 1 or more crits are achieved when dealing damage |
| Burglar | Reroll Intrusion (Must take the second result) |
| Slip Into The Shadows | Hiding is considered a Free Action |
Tradecraft Descriptions
Brush Past
Actions: Full Action
With a practised brush of your shoulder or a fleeting touch of your fingers, you weave a nimble tapestry of trickery. This Tradecraft allows you to leverage your Filching talents in two ingenious ways, leaving unsuspecting victims both lighter in pocket and none the wiser.
Master of Sleight: Choose whether to utilise your Concealment or Pickpocket knack when activating Brush Past.
At the cost of 1 Luck Point, you can perform these abilities without being detected. If the player doesn’t have enough Luck Points or doesn’t want to spend a Luck Point, then a standard Filching skill check is required (with a +1 bonus) to avoid detection.
Trade Secrets:
Concealed Gift: Employ your knack for Concealment to plant a hidden item on another person. Gone are the days of limited self-storage; whisper a trinket into someone's pocket or tuck a note beneath their collar with the grace of a bunyip).
Double Take: In a swift exchange, switch an item from your inventory with one the target carries, leaving them clutching air while you walk away with their prized possession.
Brush Past can be combined with other Filching techniques for even more audacious larceny. Just imagine leaving a "booming present" while simultaneously relieving your mark of their most treasured bauble – the possibilities are endless!
Circumvention
Actions: Full
You can use your Intrusion skill instead of Perception to spot and analyse security subsystems, including alarms, cameras, motion detectors, tripwires, pressure plates, and more. This allows you to identify blind spots, predict operational timings (such as camera panning intervals), and discover exploitable vulnerabilities.
You may also attempt to disable these systems, either permanently or for a limited window (like a brief 30-second “glitch” on a camera feed). In order to move undetected or provide safe passage for your allies.
Trade Secrets:
Skeleton Key: Your ability to bypass security systems with everyday objects is nothing short of uncanny. From paperclips to bits of scrap wire, you can unlock doors, glitch cameras, and fool pressure sensors. However, relying on improvised tools means there’s less finesse to your approach and any workaround will eventually fail or be discovered.
When rolling your Intrusion to circumvent a system using improvised tools, use the following guide to determine how long your makeshift fix holds:
- Success: 4 Turns
- Critical Success: +1 additional Turn per critical success
Nimble Fingers: You perform Intrusion checks faster and more efficiently, halving the required number of successes (round down) to circumvent a sub system. This allows you to crack open defenses or slip past security with blinding speed.
Artful Dodger
Actions: N/A
You've honed your skills in evasion to an art form, having spent a considerable amount of time eluding irate merchants and persistent law enforcement. This experience has rendered you unusually agile and slippery. Forget the one-dimensional dodges of lesser folk. You can perform the Dodge Action twice per turn, leaving your pursuers flailing at air while you dart between them like a taunting butterfly.
Trade Secrets:
Too Close For Comfort: But even the nimblest stumbles. Once per Conflict, your uncanny ability shines through, allowing you to re-roll a failed Dodge test (involving both dice). However, there's a catch: you must accept the outcome of this second roll, whatever it may be. This must be used prior to burning a Luck Point.
Slippery: Gain +1 to Dodge rolls, but does not include purely Luck rolls when dodging.
Dirty Fighting
Actions: Full
The streets don't hand out medals for fair play. Sometimes you had to fight rather than run, but that didn’t mean you fought fair. You know how to make every hit count when push comes to shove. In conflict, your street-smart instincts kick in. If you land a critical hit while dealing damage, you seize the moment to inflict an additional critical hit.
Trade Secrets:
Taunt: Just as you land a critical hit, you unleash a flurry of mocking words and jeers, exploiting your opponent's moment of vulnerability to sow doubt and confusion. At the cost of 1 Luck Point, you disrupt their focus, inflicting -4 to your adversaries next Action.
Blind: After landing a crit you may spend 1 Luck Point to throw sand, dirt or another type of matter at your opponent. This causes a temporary blind effect, causing them the Blind effect for their turn.
Burglar
Actions: Full
Picking an antique tumbler lock or bypassing a high-tech keypad—either way, your life is a whirlwind of calculated risks and concealed rewards. As a natural-born Burglar, you’ve honed your Intrusion skills to tackle both physical and electronic security with practiced ease. If fortune doesn’t favour you on the first try, don’t fret: you may reroll one of your Intrusion skill dice (but not the Trait die) before anyone’s the wiser.
If your Trait roll succeeds but your Skill roll fails, you can still take advantage of this reroll; however, you must accept the new result.
Trade Secrets:
Silent Heist: When using your Intrusion skill to pick a lock, be it mechanical or electronic, you can simultaneously disable an attached alarm. No extra Intrusion roll is needed for that alarm; however, other security measures (such as motion sensors or secondary locks) still require separate rolls.
Safecracker: You gain +1 Intrusion die for any lockpicking attempt, physical or digital. From ancient vaults to cutting-edge biometric locks, your expertise sets you apart when it comes to cracking safes of every kind.
Slip Into The Shadows
Actions: Full
Mastering the art of stealth, you've learned to become almost invisible when unnoticed. If, during your action, you're not in the direct line of sight or attention of others, you can attempt a Stealth (Hiding) check, and receive a +4 to the roll. A critical success grants this as a free action, seamlessly blending into your surroundings.
Note: Remember, this dance with darkness requires discretion. Your GM will determine if the situation truly allows for silent disappearance. Avoid blatantly using this Tradecraft in the middle of a bustling marketplace or under a spotlight's harsh glare – even ghosts have their limits.
Trade Secrets:
Like a Ninja: While cloaked in darkness, your movements become swift and silent. Gain a +1 bonus to your Acrobatics and Athletics check, while stealthed, as you navigate treacherous rooftops or vanish without a sound.
Catseye: As you fade into the shadows, you gain a fleeting glimpse of the unseen. While successfully Stealthed, gain +2 on Perception checks to detect secrets within a 5 metre radius.