The Praetorian, FantasyCraft style!

[Gatac]

For those of you who are unfamiliar, here's the original class: Praetorian.

Now, my conversion notes. It's a little quick and dirty, but it might just work.

Praetorian

Favored Attributes: Dexterity, Wisdom
Class Skills: Acrobatics, Blend, Bluff, Investigate, Notice, Prestidigitation, Resolve, Sense Motive, Survival
Skill Points: 6 + Int modifier per level
Vitality: 9 + Con modifier per level
Requirements: Base Attack Bonus 6+, Blend 4+, Nemesis Basics
Lifestyle: Low
Legend: Low

Class Abilities:

Hamartia I: Replace all mentions of "mission" with "adventure". Replace "Allegiance other than Neutral" with "Alignment".
Hamartia II: Replace all mentions of "mission" with "adventure". Replace "Allegiance" with "Alignment".
Keep Moving: As written.
Weapon Savant: Replace all mentions of "mission" with "adventure".
Cloaked: As Trenchcoat, except replace last sentence with "If you spend an action die to boost a Prestidigitation check and it still fails, you gain the die back after the action  is resolved. Against multiple targets you only regain the die if the check fails against all of them."
Hound: You gain an insight bonus equal to the number of Terrain feats you possess to all Investigate/Canvass and Survival/Track checks, as well as to Blend/Stealth and Sneak/Stealth checks made to oppose the Survival/Track checks of other characters targeting you.
Cornered: As Sugar In Your Gas Tank, except replace "Allegiance" with "Alignment" and "CQB range" with "Close Quarters".

Feat conversions:

Uh, pretty much as written, but replace "Allegiance" with "Alignment".

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So, how does the change in mechanics work out? Fairly well, I think. Alignment is a close match for Allegiance, and so this version of the Praetorian retains its "Understand your enemy and hunt them down" flavor fairly well, but is now more flexible depending on what Alignment means in your game. Is he a merciless hunter of a specific noble family, eradicating them to the last member? A hardened revolutionary opposing an ideology and all who espouse it? A wayward priest who seeks to strengthen his herd by culling others? I can see all of those working fairly well.

My two problem children are Cloaked and Hound. Cloaked because I feel that the new Prestidigitation benefit doesn't quite live up to the original version's utility, but I think it's kinda-sorta okay. Hound because it might be too powerful now when it's usable outside of a Manhunt, but without that dramatic conflict, I merely pulled out what I considered to be essential (He finds you, but you can't find him) and tried to align that with the skill checks I thought were necessary for it. I also wonder if I should lift the "only weapon proficiencies" limitation on Weapon Savant, what with the reduced number of available proficiencies in FC and the core support for Advanced Actions and Tricks.

Also, a language query: Close Quarters are explicitly defined as "Beyond Reach". Would that mean that enemies who are within the Praetorians reach are not affected by Cornered? If so, that would be an amusing (if potentially problematic) limitation.

Anyway, open for comments and questions.

[Mister Andersen]

You're a skill short from the class list; you could pretty much throw in Haggle to replicate Streetwise.

I'd drop Nem Basics as a requirement in favour of Contempt or Misdirection Basics. You're also going to need an Alignment if you want the class abilities to work against opposing alignments.

Hamartia should probably be rescripted to bestow the effects from the feats as they currently don't exist in FC

Weapon Savant should be usable only once per scene; as scripted you can use all possible instances of the ability at once, which feels far more of a gambreaker than a mid-level ability.

For Trenchcoat, you might add in a once per session reroll.

Sugar in the Cas Tank / Cornered feels like a weaker version of the Gallant's no More Games.

[Morgenstern]

I think in most casses this class targets "opposed alignments" rather than just "alignments"

Because of the underlying system changes, Trenchcoat means less in FC than it did in SC2.0 - though I do like the use of the practiced benefit. Likewise Weapon savant is tied to a proficiency system with fewer overall categories, but more variations that need to be excluded (tricks and advanced actions). As a result I would swap their level and streamline both.

Cloaked: Concealing your equipment and actions beneath your clothing is second nature to you. At Level 2, if you spend an action die to boost a Prestidigitation check and it still fails, you gain the die back after the action  is resolved. Against multiple targets you only regain the die if the check fails against all of them. Further, opponents suffer a -4 penalty to all Notice/Awareness and Search/Perception checks targeting gear on your person.

Weapon Savant: At Level 3, you gain 5 proficiencies. You may only use these proficiencies to gain fortes if you are proficient with all weapons in the setting. You may only use these proficiencies to gain advanced actions or tricks if you have a forte with all weapons in the setting.

I like Cornered. Option denial on that scale is definitely a gamebreaker.

[Gatac]

Why opposed alignments, in particular? I don't really conceive of the class as requiring you to have an alignment of your own: sure, you *can*, but with the flexibility of Hamartia, you're not built to just go after one precise alignment, you can mix it up and target whoever you want. Unless there's some deep magic about opposed alignments that I've missed, in which case Hamartia would be kinda screwed on the flexibility front without adding the ability to change your own alignment, which strikes me as a bridge too far.

As for folding in the benefits of the Nemesis feats into the class abilities, I don't know about that. Would it be okay if I posted FantasyCraft-ized versions of the Nemesis chain here? I don't want to abandon the allegiance/alignment-specific effects of them.

The Misdirection feats and Contempt would synergize well, I agree, but I don't see them as central to the class. I'm a little shaky on the prereqs in general, as FantasyCraft tends to run with less of them, so I went with what I felt was right.

Morg, in your version of Weapon Savant: say I have all but two proficiencies. I get this ability. Does the wording mean that I need to buy the proficiencies with two of my choices, then have three left to spend on Fortes (and, if those are then filled, the remaining choices on advanced actions and tricks)? It reads that way but I'd like to be sure that this is what you meant. It does lose the "select new tools for every target" flex of the Spycraft version, but with less weapon categories, it's probably a good simplification.

[Morgenstern]

Ah. I missunderstood the theme- flexible, individually-targeting, counter-agent. Suggestion about opposed alignments retracted. These guys can be tuned to hunt temporary enemies and even perform internal affairs work, not just set, long-standing opposition.

For weapon savant you understood my intent perfectly . My first attempt (which I scrapped before posting) was even simpler~

Weapons Savant: At level 3, you are considered proficient with all weapons (including exotic weapons).

While simple and to the point, it actually punished characters who were acting and thinking like a good Praetoian (by buying up a wide range of proficiencies even before entering the class perhaps), and getting nothing back for it. In the end, getting 5 proficiencies is the same magnitude of benefit as you had before, swapping flexibility of mid-mission choice for getting them all up front. With FC having so few proficiency categories, it seemed fairly workable. You'd almost certainly have a few overflow and become fortes, and if you were a good Praetorian-minded Soldier, it's quite possible you already know enough proficiencies and fortes some would overflow to become tricks and advanced actions (and that you'd be kinda a bada$$ with every weapon in the book...)

[Gatac]

Yep. Flavor text goes something like this...

"Know thyself, know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories." If the Praetorian has one constant, it is learning how to profit off the ways of his enemy. They immerse themselves deeply in the study of their targets and tailor their methods to exploit weakness where they can find it. All the while, they conceal their own strength and influence events from the shadows, only unleashing their combat prowess when their target is at their lowest. The keen insight of the Praetorian into the weaknesses of others and their flexible approach to who constitutes their enemy makes them dangerous allies at best, but their talents are always in demand.

Depending on the campaign, a Praetorian could be...

• A mercenary who plays all sides of a long-standing feud to his own advantage
• A ruthless inquisitor tasked with rooting out subversives
• The last survivor of a once noble family, dedicated to bringing old enemies to their knees
• A sword brother of a holy order bringing his crusade to a nation of infidels
• A peace officer who immerses himself in the methods of the crooks he hunts
• A soldier turned general who replaces the vigor of youth with the cunning of age

Party Role: Combatant / Solver. You're formidable on every battlefield, but you truly dominate the ones of your choice. When the enemy seems elusive and the situation impenetrable, your team looks to you to pick up the trail and turn the strength of your opponents against them.