Gameplay: Stealth expert professions

Stealth expert professions, including stealth teacher and trainer professions.

Some of them overlap with certain field agent professions.

1.) STEALTH EXPERTS

Sorted by alphabetical order.

 

ADVENTURER

There are several romanticised notions of what a professional thief looks like (or should look like) floating around in the popular imagination of Aporueans. Few ideas are as pervasive as that of the hooded, caped, quiver and utility belt wearing hoodlum who enters one abandoned tomb, crypt, catacomb, underground temple or palace, cave, cavern and whathaveyou after another, in order to search for treasures of long-vanished cultures and ancestors. Or, if they're in the mood for more easy pickings, they'll no doubt try to infiltrate a museum, art gallery or treasury in order to nab some priceless trinkets already stored there. Either way, the Adventurer is your notorious archetype of a more roguish and generally much less scientific treasure hunter. Unlike any professional in the now-emerging field of archaeology, the Adventurer tends to care about the prized artefacts, artworks and treasures he or she is hunting down only insofar as not damaging them and getting them safely to a client or fence. How far removed is the typical, imagined version of the Adventurer from the actual thing ? Well, both “not much” and “quite a bit”. A good amount of what has already been said is wholly true, but what is generally a bit more fluid is the appearance of a thief-Adventurer. Individuals are individuals and contexts in which one performs his trade can vary all the time, so it is only expected that Adventurers also vary from each other in terms of dress, the equipment they choose and some of their attitudes and approaches to the job at hand. Furthermore, performing a museum heist is not exactly the same as navigating the subterranean ruins of s lost civilisation - different assignments and challenges require different planning and different choices. The devil is in the details. Nevertheless, Adventurers do tend to share some basic similarities in their gear and clothing choices, as well as their methods. Combinations-wise, Adventurers are predictably good choices for trainer roles, such as the Lightsneaking, Soundsneaking, Melee and Marskmanship Teacher. However, they are also excellent when combined with the Boxman and Master of Disguise professions, the duo that is closest to their heart. They also make good Gentlemen Thieves (while doing more urban jobs instead of tomb raiding) and Heist Planners (catering to one's museum/bank/gallery/whatever heisting needs).

Type of profession: Stealth Expert, Field Agent
Profession in a nutshell: Lightly armed, unarmoured or lightly armoured, and carrying plenty of useful equipment, the adventure focuses on hunting down ancient treasures and artefacts, though not in as scientific a way as an archaeologist.
Recommended combinations with: Heist Planner, Gentleman Thief, Boxman, Melee Teacher, Marskmanship Teacher, Master of Disguise
See also: Stealth and sneaking skills, Combat skills and self-defence, Exploration, investigation and burglaryskills, Movement skills

 

CONJURER

Let's clear up one thing right away: Thieves don't actually have any sort of wizards, sorcerors or mages. Being a savvy lot that's more knowledgeable about technology and physical skills than anything arcane, this should hardly surprise anyone. Nevertheless, magic exists in Aporue, and it can be somewhat harnessed and utilised, so it's only natural thieves would show an interest in at least some of its capabilities. Though hardly equipped with enough of a resource base and knowledgebase to work on any advanced magic, the more experimental-minded thieves have developed some tricks and practices that can be put to good use. The distilled and refined version of these magical procedures are the so-called "Seven Spells of Larceny". If the Conjurer's title sounds like something out of a circus or roadshow, that's no coincidence. A Conjurer is able to utilise said Larceny Spells in a way that compliments his own skills at stealth and sneaking, and at coning, tricking and confusing various people. Even the most cunning ones. To this end, a Conjurer needs certain natural energies for the casting of his spells. He or she gains that energy by drawing it from certain natural objects (samples of ores, herbs, etc.), or from particular special items imbued with a finite amount of that energy (e.g. amulets, pendants, charms, etc.). Combinations-wise, Conjurers are predictably good choices for trainer roles, such as the Lightsneaking, Soundsneaking and Pickpocketing Teacher. However, they are also excellent when combined with the Alchemist and Shadowblade professions, the duo that is closest to their heart. On the street-savvy spying front, Conjurers can make dependable Squealers (especially thanks to their eavesdropping spell-signs and spell-scribbles) or focus on some money-earning or artefact-acquiring conmanship as crafty Thimbleriggers.

Type of profession: Stealth Expert, Conman
Profession in a nutshell: A person in the thieving business who uses magic or „magic“ to assist him in his escapades and to fool or dupe his adversaries if needed.
Recommended combinations with: Lightsneaking Teacher, Soundsneaking Teacher, Pickpocketing Teacher, Alchemist, Shadowblade, Thimblerigger, Squealer
See also: Artisan skills, Magic skills

MASTER OF DISGUISE

It's the old theme that has fascinated many for centuries, and since the rise of cheaper printing and penny dreadfuls, the number of those captivated by it has only risen. You know what we're talking about. The art of disguise. And the people skilled in choosing and switching their clothing, their facial hair, facial expressions and gestures, and even their voices. Like with all sorts of conman skills, the ability to disguise oneself and adopt different fake identities is often seen by some as being almost akin to magic. In truth, only very few rogues and criminals throughout Aporue rely on any sort of magic to disguise their true identities from the unsuspecting public. What the vast majority of them use instead is a great degree of cunning, an obsessive attention to details others might overlook, a great knowledge of people's behaviour, tics and thinking, and last but not least, also the good sense of not overdoing one's physical as well as behavioural disguise. (Yes, there is such a thing as overdoing - it can raise others' incredulity or cause an outright alarm just as much as underplaying the disguise.) The Master of Disguise is something of a strange beast in the world of professional thieves. Unlike most, he or she isn't one who relies primarily on sneaking around unseen and unheard, but instead openly risks by relying on what can be only described as “social stealth”. Instead of the worrying about the amount of darkness around him or the footsteps he makes, like his colleagues do, the MoD prefers to be finicky about his exterior in the most complex manner possible. Complexity and details are everything to a user of disguises. Combinations-wise, Masters of Disguise are predictably good choices for trainer roles, particularly the Pickpocketing Teacher. However, they are also excellent when combined with the Beggar, Gentleman Thief and Charmer/Charmette professions, the trio that is closest to their heart. Their skillsets can also prove valuable to Shadowblades and Adventurers.

Type of profession: Stealth Expert, Conman
Profession in a nutshell: Sometimes, a classic approach to stealthiness will not do. In such cases, having a specialist in the art of faking one's own appearance and identity can be a major asset to any fellowship or guild of thieves.
Recommended combinations with: Pickpocketing Teacher, Charmer/Charmette, Gentleman Thief, Shadowblade, Adventurer, Beggar
See also: Stealth and sneaking skills, Exploration, investigation and burglary skills

SHADOWBLADE

If the Skulker is one who specialises in absolute stealthiness without the use of any aids, and the Adventurer is one who bolsters his stealth with the use of simple tools, then the Shadowblade is a stealth expert who sits rather comfortably between these two sneaky opposites. Where an Adventurer might pull out a trick arrow from his quiver and use it to disable a trap or light source, the Shadowblade would „simply rough it“ and rely on his/her highly-trained or slightly magic-enhanced reflexes. Where a Skulker would scoff at the mere idea of carrying anything larger than a pouch of lockpicks, the Shadowblade will not shy away from bringing smaller melee weapons (usually bladed, hence the name) and simple gadgets along for a job. If they run into opponents that are hard to avoid without triggering an even greater threat, they often have a tendency to dispatch them almost in the manner of an ambush predator: At the least expected moment, “from nowhere” and tidy away the knocked out (or killed) adversary as swiftly as they took him down. They are perhaps the fastest of the stealth-focused thieves, in terms of their field work and the occassional combat. Shadowblades are, not surprisingly, something of a problematic specialisation to get down right. In a certain sense, they don't really exist as a perfectly distinct form of thief/agent, but rather combine the traits of several archetypes. They have the weaponry focus of the Adventurer (albeit different, for close combat), the concealment prowess or blending-into-a-crowd abilities of a Master of Disguise (though usually more secretive and less complex), and last but not least, the propensity to utilise magic as an additional tool to their limbs and cold steel sidearms. Combinations-wise, Shadowblades are predictably good choices for trainer roles, such as the Lightsneaking, Soundsneaking and Pickpocketing Teacher. However, they are also excellent when combined with the Conjurer and Master of Disguise professions, the duo that is closest to their heart. In a branching out to the more mundane and managerial professions, Shadowblades can also make for decent Smugglers, and among conmen, they can also be good Cutpurses with enough training.

Type of profession: Stealth Expert, Field Agent
Profession in a nutshell: The master of combining sneaking skills and fast melee skills. In between the Skulker and the Adventurer.
Recommended combinations with: Lightsneaking Teacher, Soundsneaking Teacher, Pickpocketing Teacher, Conjurer, Master of Disguise, Cutpurse, Smuggler
See also: Stealth and sneaking skills, Combat skills and self-defence, Movement skills

SKULKER

As their name implies, Skulkers are genuine specialists at stealthiness, no ifs or buts. Whereas the Adventurer might bring along some projectile and melee weaponry, the Shadowblade might rely on his movement skills and melee weapons if needed, and the Conjurer might have some magic trickery up his sleeve, the Skulker is someone who goes completely and utterly for a “back to basics” approach to stealthiness. As the practitioners of skulking among Melzan thieves say: “No extra equipment, no gimmicks, just you and your movements and senses.” Throwing aside notions of armaments, gadgetry and spells, Skulkers might seem foolhardy at face value, to other stealth trainees and stealth veterans alike. But its that exact confidence in their abilities that ensures they rarely fall into a trap or get caught, despite carrying almost no gear with them, save for their clothes and maybe a set of lockpicks. Some of the more specialised missions Skulkers excel at the most are ones related to eavesdropping or spying on others. Many people seem to doubt that Skulkers rely on little else than their months and years of patient training. They doubt it more out of an impression that Skulkers possess near-magical degrees of keen senses and self-control of their own movements, rather than a general disbelief in the probability of these being achievable via exhaustive but all the more rewarding “stealth dressage”. Nevertheless, pretty much all of the doubters tend to be proven wrong fairly quickly once they observe a Skulker in action, especially over a period of time. The downside to being a Skulker by trade is one's own uncompromising defencelesness (though some Skulkers learn some basic fisticuffs techniques), one's reliance on patience and focus at all times, and finally the fact that training to become a true Skulker… well, takes a lot of time. In fact, the most out of the five primarily stealthy specialisations favoured by professional thieves. Becoming a Skulker is not something achieved in relatively short order by a newbie in the professional thieving world. Combinations-wise, Skulkers are predictably good choices for trainer roles, such as the Lightsneaking Teacher and Soundsneaking Teacher. However, they are particularly excellent (almost unmatched) when combined with the underground-prowling Guttersnipe and street-observing Beggar professions, the duo that is closest to their heart. Other rather compatible combinations include the Squealer (eavesdropping/intel-gathering jobs) and Courier (stealthy le parkour message running). And due to the oft-early age one starts his Skulker training, also the Footpad/Hoyden option (often sharing the Squealer and Courier traits).

Type of profession: Stealth Expert, Field Agent
Profession in a nutshell: Many thieves and scouts prefer to be at least lightly armed and be willing to hazard a confrontation, but the Skulker prides himself in being a true master of stealth, a complete ghost of a person. The Shadowblade is further up the scale and the Adventurer is the other end of the scale.
Recommended combinations with: Lightsneaking Teacher, Soundsneaking Teacher, Guttersnipe, Beggar, Squealer, Footpad/Hoyden
See also: Stealth and sneaking skills, Movement skills





2.) TEACHERS AND TRAINERS

Sorted by alphabetical order.

LIGHTSNEAKING TEACHER

What is the greatest potential enemy of a professional “frontline employee” of a thieves' guild ? Not guards, not traps, not monsters and beasts, not even the occassional empty chest. The greatest potential enemies are always one's surroundings and, ironically enough, one's own slip-ups when it comes to stealth. And few slip-ups can be as deadly as when you overestimate your ability of blending in with the shadows or avoiding causing needless sounds. Practice makes perfect and a professional thief can always use more training and practice. Enter the Lightsneaking Teacher and his mantras, passed down from generation to generation: “To the virtuous people of the city, light is the sign of day, often a sunny day, and its light-filled blessing for the crops and one's mood. But to a thief, light is not good… Not always. It is often little else than a nuisance and an adversary. The shadows and one's masterry of hiding in them are the thief's one true allies while he or she is on a mission. Light sources illuminating the night - whether natural or artificial - will always be your greatest foes. Never forget: If you can avoid them, avoid them. If you can't avoid them, disable them. If you can't avoid them or disable them, vanquish them. And do it as quietly as possible - but that's something my other co-worker will teach you.” Adopting a Lightsneaking Teacher profession for oneself is a rather major committment and its own benefits might not be immediately apparent. This is a profession that requires some degree of patience, finesse and effort to improve upon, as it is easy to pick up, but very hard to master. However, once a person becomes an acknowledged and respected teacher of stealthy skills revolving around “light management” (to use a common thievy euphemism), he or she is a major asset to the well-being and development of his or her home guild. If a freelancer decides to follow this path of specialisation, he or she has to put up even more of an effort, due to smaller backing, but can work just as well with his knowledge outside of a guild, as a freelance instructor-for-hire.

Type of profession: Teacher/Trainer
Profession in a nutshell: Thieving and stealth expert who teaches others how to become proficient in the art of not being seen and mastering the management of light and shadows.
Recommended combinations with: Soundsneaking Teacher, Pickpocketing Teacher, Master of Disguise, Shadowblade
See also: Stealth and sneaking skills, Movement skills

SOUNDSNEAKING TEACHER

What is the greatest potential enemy of a professional “frontline employee” of a thieves' guild ? Not guards, not traps, not monsters and beasts, not even the occassional empty chest. The greatest potential enemies are always one's surroundings and, ironically enough, one's own slip-ups when it comes to stealth. And few slip-ups can be as deadly as when you overestimate your ability of blending in with the shadows or avoiding causing needless sounds. Practice makes perfect and a professional thief can always use more training and practice. Enter the Soundsneaking Teacher and his mantras, passed down from generation to generation: “To the virtuous people of the city, the surrounding world is a mundane hive of commotion and cacophony during the day, and at night, a treacly blend of soothing near-silence and of the slightest sounds, in which you can hear even a pin drop. But to a thief, making too much noise, especially during the dreaded night time, is very risky… Just as your own shadow can betray you in front of torches, lanterns and lamps, so too can your uncareful steps and overly fast movements give you away. Thus, even the noises made by the very movement of your body are often little else than a nuisance and an adversary. The balance between “sound screens” and silence and one's masterry of silent movement are the thief's one true allies while he or she is on a mission. Creaky wooden floors, tiled floors, metal floors, loud surfaces in general… All of these will always be your greatest foes. Never forget: If you can avoid them, avoid them. If you can't avoid them, try to use your skills or equipment as best as you can to dampen them. If you can't avoid them or dampen them, try to find a different way around or try to use your skills at moving as quietly as possible to their fullest. And do not forget to keep an eye out on hostile light sources while you're moving around quietly - but that's something my other co-worker will teach you.” Adopting a Soundsneaking Teacher profession for oneself is a rather major committment and its own benefits might not be immediately apparent. This is a profession that requires some degree of patience, finesse and effort to improve upon, as it is easy to pick up, but very hard to master. However, once a person becomes an acknowledged and respected teacher of stealthy skills revolving around “sound management” (to use a common thievy euphemism), he or she is a major asset to the well-being and development of his or her home guild. If a freelancer decides to follow this path of specialisation, he or she has to put up even more of an effort, due to smaller backing, but can work just as well with his knowledge outside of a guild, as a freelance instructor-for-hire.

Type of profession: Teacher/Trainer
Profession in a nutshell: Thieving and stealth expert who teaches others how to become proficient in the art of mastering one's own noise management.
Recommended combinations with: Lightsneaking Teacher, Pickpocketing Teacher, Master of Disguise, Shadowblade, Adventurer, Skulker, Conjurer
See also: Stealth and sneaking skills, Movement skills

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