What is the Guilder?

[Fizz]

Two additional skill points built into the class means that there are two skills that the Guilder would be able to master in addition to any that his rogue rival could master. If such a character were possible, he should be 20-25% weaker in his special abilities.

Actually, that's what i wanted to do originally. But it was met with widespread criticism for daring to break this apparent sacred limit of 8 skill points.

-Fizz

[Gwrthefyr]

As with the Trader in Darksun, I also have trouble seeing a need for the guilder as a separate class (I remain ambivalent, though).

On the lower class spectrum, a more worldly and less crime oriented rogue fits a lot of the idea; on the upper class spectrum, the noble seems an interesting option (maybe slightly modified; I remain dubious about the high BAB version: if there was a duel in, say, a roman legion, I'd put my money on the primipilum (or most centurions for that matter), not on the legate). The favored region advantage affects skills that are quite interesting in a trading context, and a lot of the activities associated with the guilder (sea trading, privateering, exploration, profitable farming, financial administration, mine administration, banking) seem to fit no only with the Noble's class skills, but also with the kind of trade that could be, on the grander scale, associated with the patriciate.

Maybe a class adapted from the Wanderer (Swashbuckling Adventures) might make an interesting addition, though.

[kgauck]

Maybe a class adapted from the Wanderer (Swashbuckling Adventures) might make an interesting addition, though.

The Wanderer is a rogue varient who swaps out sneak attack and trap abilities for luck based skills (very appropriate since Sera is the patroness of commerce and luck) and two skills based abilities, as well as five bonus feats which are swashbuckling in nature.

Wanderer 1 Tradesman: Craft and Profession skills cost 1/2 skill point (this might be fix for those who favor the 10 skill point guilder)
Wanderer 2 Luck: Once per day any result of 1 on a d20 can be converted into a 20. This is treated as a natural 20 and can cause critical threat.
Wanderer 9 Knowledge: Once per day a Wanderer can make an untrained check using a knowledge skill he does not possess.
Wanderer 18 Imp Luck: Once per week, before rolling dice, the wanderer can suceed in a single saving throw.

Bonus Feat: at 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th, and 20th levels, an additional feat comes from this list: Alertness, Dodge, Mobility, Endurance, Great Fortitude, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Run, Skill Focus, and Toughness.

Since this class is based on the 3.0 rogue, he retains Evasion and the four progressing Uncanny Dodge abilities.

Skills
The wanderer gets 8 skill points
The wanderer gets all Craft, Profession, and Knowledge skills as well as 12+Int modifier additional skills as craft skills. All other skills, including exclusive skills are cross-class skills.
If you multi-class into Wanderer, get 8+Int mod skills instead of 12+Int mod.

Rogue type BAB and saves

[kgauck]

Starting on page 180 of the DMG II and giving us about 8 pages of material is a section on running a business. Its mostly oriented to a PC run shop, or a business in a single or just a few locations. Nevertheless, abilties that would be useful there, would often be useful at a larger scale enterprise.

Another worthwhile place to look are rules for running other large organziations.

[vota dc]

Guilder is nearly a non landed lord.He can be even a regent.

[ploesch]

IMO, a Guilder can be any of these. What I prefer about PnP RPGs is the fact that Characters are wht the players make of them, and not relegated to what a computer tells them they are.

So, depending on how the player plays spends their points, depending on what the player chooses for feats, a Guilder can fill any of these roles qite well.

[kgauck]

Here is an interesting mechanic that might be promising for a Guilder.

Favored Contact (Ex)
At 1st level, a guilder may select a type of occupation from among those given on Table: Guilder Favored Contacts. The guilder gains a +2 bonus on Bluff, Dipomacy, Intimidate, and Sense Motive checks when using these skills against characters of this type.

At 5th level and every five levels thereafter (10th, 15th, and 20th level), the guilder may select an additional favored contact from those given on the table. In addition, at each such interval, the bonus against any one favored enemy (including the one just selected, if so desired) increases by 2.

Contact types are not exclusive. A captain in the navy could be both a sailor and a government type. In these cases, the guilder only gets the better bonus, not both.

Table: Guilder Favored Contact
Merchants: buyers and sellers
Craftsmen: makers of goods
Suppliers: miners or foresters
Sailors: captains or shipmasters
Goverment: officials and police
Criminals: underworld
Scholars: scholars, wizards, learned
Religion: priests, scribes, church agents
Arts and Entertainment: taverns, bards, artists, art patrons