Merchant Prince Class

[Dyson Logos]

(Crossposted from my Blog, of course)

While rolling up my Canite merchant for the Hunt: Rise of Evil, I thought of the half-elven merchant prince in my High Speed D&D campaign I ran recently. Although he began play as an assassin / magic user, in the end he was a major economic force in the region (all the better to be able to smuggle assassins in and out of the area for his guild).

He joined a magic user’s guild focused on trade and similar magics, instead of the two other major guilds in the region (one was of the Sorcerer-Priests of the Hill Islands, the other a more traditional guild of wizardry).

Typically in my games the Magic User / Thief multiclass works well for this style of character (as shown by the afore-mentioned character), but I prefer to get rid of multiclass combos as much as possible, crafting instead a class that combines the key elements with some differences in abilities and spell lists (particularly since I prefer to keep my games down to the classic 12 spells per caster level of B/X D&D and Labyrinth Lord instead of up to 30 spells in a level as in AEC which we were using for that particular campaign. Anyways, multiclassing just seems wrong in B/X games.

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Merchant Prince

Requirements: Cha 9, Int 9
Prime Requisite: Cha
Hit Dice: 1d6
Maximum Level: None

Merchant princes may wear armour up to chain mail and can use shields. They can use any weapon. They attack and make saving throws as a thief of their level.

Merchant princes, upon reaching level 3, can cast spells as a magic user, and always cast spells as a caster two levels lower than their actual level. They keep spells in a spellbook and prepare them each morning just like a magic user, but have their own spell lists to choose from. (All spells are described in the Labyrinth Lord core rules.)

Business: Upon reaching level 4, a merchant prince may construct a place of business. A merchant who has constructed a place of business will attract 2d4 employees (merchants, securityand so on), each a level 1 or level 0 character (20% that each employee is a level 1 character, usually a fighter, but possibly even a level 1 merchant prince, elf, halfling, or other character class). They will be generally loyal, but will not be replaced if killed. The business will turn a small profit (1d6 x 10 gp x Merchant Prince level) every month. Money earned this way does not give XP to the merchant prince.

Trade Network: Upon reaching level 9, a merchant prince with a successful place of business can invest in a trade network (typically buying and equipping a small fleet of boats or wagons). Such a network not only brings in a good revenue stream (3d6-5 x 20 x Merchant Prince level) but also provides for information from distant lands and access to said places. Note that a trade network may actually have a negative income some months.

(The table is a bitch here - probably better off checking it out on the blog where I have more formatting control)

Hit Spells per Day Spot Spot
Lvl XP Title Dice 1 2 3 4 5 Thief Magic
1 0 Gopher 1d6 - - - - - 11+ 12+
2 1,826 Haggler 2d6 - - - - - 10+ 12+
3 2,651 Trader 3d6 1 - - - - 10+ 11+
4 5,301 Merchant 4d6 2 - - - - 9+ 11+
5 10,601 Appraiser 5d6 2 1 - - - 9+ 10+
6 21,201 Fixer 6d6 2 2 - - - 8+ 10+
7 42,401 Financier 7d6 3 2 1 - - 8+ 9+
8 85,001 Prince 8d6 3 3 1 - - 7+ 9+
9 170,001 Merchant Lord 9d6 4 3 2 - - 7+ 8+
10 280,001 Merchant Lord 9d6+1 4 3 2 1 - 7+ 8+
11 390,001 Merchant Lord 9d6+2 4 3 3 1 - 6+ 7+
12 500,001 Merchant Lord 9d6+3 4 4 3 2 - 6+ 7+
13 610,001 Merchant Lord 9d6+4 4 4 3 2 1 6+ 6+
14 720,001 Merchant Lord 9d6+5 5 4 4 2 1 5+ 6+
15 830,001 Merchant Lord 9d6+6 5 4 4 3 2 5+ 5+
16 940,001 Merchant Lord 9d6+7 5 5 4 3 2 5+ 5+
17 1,050,001 Merchant Lord 9d6+8 5 5 4 4 3 4+ 4+
18 1,160,001 Merchant Lord 9d6+9 5 5 5 4 3 4+ 4+
19 1,270,001 Merchant Lord 9d6+10 6 5 5 5 3 4+ 3+
20 1,380,001 Merchant Lord 9d6+11 6 6 6 5 4 3+ 3+

Spot Thievery: Thievery is the bane of the merchants, and all merchant princes are skilled in spotting those who would pilfer from them. Whenever someone uses a thief skill (move silently, hide in shadows, pick pockets and so on) in the presence of the merchant prince, the merchant prince rolls 2d6 and checks the table above to determine if he notices the attempt. If the thief is higher level than the merchant prince, then the merchant prince gets –1 on this roll. If the merchant prince is 4 or more levels higher than the thief, then he gets +1 on this roll.

Spot Magic: Merely by handling an item for one minute, a merchant prince can attempt to determine if the item is magical. The DM rolls 2d6 for the merchant prince, using the table above. If the item is magical, and the 2d6 roll is successful, then the merchant prince notes that the item is magical. If the roll succeeds by 3 or more points, then the DM can provide some basic information about the magic involved. If the roll succeeds by 6 or more points, then more detailed information is available (potentially including command words, number of charges, or exact bonuses).

Level 1 Merchant Prince Spells
Charm Person
Detect Invisible
Detect Magic
Floating Disc
Hold Portal
Light
Read Languages
Read Magic
Sleep
Ventriloquism

Level 2 Merchant Prince Spells
Arcane Lock
Continual Light
ESP
Find Traps
Invisibility
Knock
Know Alignment
Levitate
Locate Object
Mirror Image

Level 3 Merchant Prince Spells
Clairvoyance
Detect Lie
Dispel Magic
Hold Person
Infravision
Lower Water
Remove Curse
Water Breathing

Level 4 Merchant Prince Spells
Arcane Eye
Dimension Door
Hold Monster
Neutralize Poison
Polymorph Self
Quest
Wall of Fire
True Seeing

Level 5 Merchant Prince Spells
Contact Other Plane
Control Weather
Grasping Hand
Move Earth
Polymorph Other
Stone Tell
Teleport
Wall of Stone

[Charlatan]

I'm going to have to look this over a few times, but this seems like just the sort of class that would fit into my campaign world.

I might swap around Charm Person and Knock for instance. Great stuff though!

[Dyson Logos]

I'm going to have to look this over a few times, but this seems like just the sort of class that would fit into my campaign world.

I might swap around Charm Person and Knock for instance. Great stuff though!

Thanks. And as for swapping things around, it wouldn't be dungeons & dragons, errr, Labyrinth Lord, if you didn't house rule it.

[connivingsumo]

Interesting class. I think I'd like to play one once before I tried to DM and/or write a campaign where this would fit & be enjoyable to the player.

Nice work.

[Dyson Logos]

Interesting class. I think I'd like to play one once before I tried to DM and/or write a campaign where this would fit & be enjoyable to the player.

Like the Artificer from 3e, it works best in a campaign where there is a lot of downtime between adventures.

I run my games a lot like a game of Pendragon, with the assumption that there is time for one, maybe two adventures in a year between winters, considering how much other stuff you have to take care of once you have any amount of money. Thieves have guild duties, clerics do missionary work or maintain their flock and church, magic users research and read, and fighters train or work with a military force. In this kind of game, the Merchant Prince fits right in, as he's "being commercial" during the downtime.

[connivingsumo]

Interesting class. I think I'd like to play one once before I tried to DM and/or write a campaign where this would fit & be enjoyable to the player.

Like the Artificer from 3e, it works best in a campaign where there is a lot of downtime between adventures.

I run my games a lot like a game of Pendragon, with the assumption that there is time for one, maybe two adventures in a year between winters, considering how much other stuff you have to take care of once you have any amount of money. Thieves have guild duties, clerics do missionary work or maintain their flock and church, magic users research and read, and fighters train or work with a military force. In this kind of game, the Merchant Prince fits right in, as he's "being commercial" during the downtime.

Very interesting. I've never run a campaign like that before. You should start a campaign here, and I'll give that Merchant Prince a swing.

[Dyson Logos]

Very interesting. I've never run a campaign like that before. You should start a campaign here, and I'll give that Merchant Prince a swing.

I've never run nor played a PBP game before. I'm waiting for the ones here to get up to speed so I can see how combat works...

[connivingsumo]

You could always read the old forums? Blood Axe and Kipper have campaigns over there that are pretty decent length. Although I'm new to PBP, combat seems like a system that is always open for suggestions!

[Denim N Leather]

I like the class a lot. Fluffy, and mechanically well-balanced.