[Fantasy Craft] Assuming a Persona (Cover ID Ability)

[Medwyn]

While converting my homebrewed classes over to Fantasy Craft I've come across Cover IDs.

This class was a King of Thieves class which had the ability to call upon a Cover ID to escape notice and of course keep his record clean.

I was thinking of perhaps letting the class take the form of an NPC with limitations, or perhaps take over an established contact.
Something like:

At Level X, you gain a new Contact with an XP value no greater than 40 + 5 x your Class Level.
Once per Adventure, you may instead of summoning this contact, assume that identity becoming the Contact for the remainder of the current scene or the full following scene. By doing so the player instead controls the Contact and loses access to her normal character, until the end of the scene or the assumed identity is dropped.


Any thoughts?

[aegis]

This is the kind of question where Spycraft is definitely the best answer. I don't know if you have the book or not, but there is a feat named Flawless Indentity that does exactly what you need. Actually, not exactly but even slightly better. Let's try a quick conversion.

Flawless Identity
You're used to work on the fringe of the law or in high-risk situations. You don't mind getting into trouble, as long as it doesn't affect your personal life. Hence your many other names...
Benefit: You gain a number of specific, fake identities equal to your starting action dice. You must choose these identities when you take this feat. Changing identities thereafter requires 1 week Downtime per identity. Each identity comes with a complete disguise, papers, and all (inexpensive) gear and (unrestricted) information necessary.
Slipping into character requires 1 minute and 1 action die, but once you're in, you're in. You're not considered to lie when you talk the truth from your identity's perspective, and you're basically not the same person anymore. You even gain 2 temporary Interests that match your identity while in character. One of them may be used to acquire, conceal, or change your Alignment, if any. Even magic cannot reveal who you are, unless specifically mentioned.
If someone investigates about one of your cover identities, they must achieve a DC 30 Research check that takes 2d6 days, modified as per Table 2.15: Researching (see page 77).

Useful? 

[Doublebond]

It seems that no matter what you suggest, Aegis will be there with a suggested implementation. 

[Sletchman]

Nicely done - I'm curious aegis [or anyone else thats wants to take a crack], how would you implement either ID's crafted on the fly or ID's of variable strength?  I'm using the Spycraft rules almost as is, but it seems odd what with FC having no Power Rating anywhere else in the book.

[aegis]

ID's crafted on the fly

IMHO, that's covered by Disguise and Bluff checks (edit: and Forgery, indeed, for all the fake gear and papers). Mostly Bluff, but Disguise if you need to alter your appearance, accent, or whatever mannerism.

ID's of variable strength.

Hum, good question. I guess I would consider it a Favor, a Military Favor to be precise. What about ...

Alternate Identity: You receive a fully documented alternate identity that lasts for the duration of the adventure. If may be broken with a successful Research check for the given duration and DC (which may be modified as per Table 2.15: Researching (see page 77)):
ID                                        Renown Requirement    Minimum Downtime     Reputation cost
Poor (1d6 hours, DC 15)            Military 1             D           5
Average (2d6 hours, DC 20)        Military 3            D           15
Documented (1d6 days, DC 25)     Military 5            W           25
Flawless (2d6 days, DC 30)          Military 7           W           35
Intricate (4d6 days, DC 35)          Military 9           M             45

[Sletchman]

I like the idea of cover id's as a favour, thats very cool.  I also found Forgery under the craft rules, which covers everything not covered by bluff and disgusie.

[Medwyn]

WOW!

I had a quick look at Spycraft but decided it was going to be too complex, so I thought of basing it off Contacts, I didn't even think about using Favours. Well Done.

I think I'll take this and work it into the class idea.

Thanks Aegis!

[aegis]

You're welcome. Glad I could help.