Professional Trees
Commerce, Sailing, Bureaucracy.
3 trees5 advancements + 1 ultimate1 skill point each, 2 for the ultimate
Commerce
Appraisal, Haggling, Markets, Connections
- 1
Appraisal 1 pt
You know what things are worth.
Core: Estimate rough market value of common goods. Spot obvious fakes and misrepresentations. Recognize when a deal is clearly bad.
Advantage: Precise valuations, subtle forgeries, knowing exact worth to specific buyers, identifying disguised treasures.
- 2
Haggling 1 pt
You know how to negotiate.
Core: Negotiate basic deals competently. Recognize obvious manipulation tactics. Know when to walk away.
Advantage: Reading seller's true floor, closing reluctant deals, countering sophisticated tactics, negotiating under pressure.
- 3
Market Knowledge 1 pt
You understand how trade flows.
Core: Know what common goods are valuable locally. Recognize obvious shortages and surpluses. Understand basic supply and demand.
Advantage: Regional price differences, predicting price changes, spotting hidden opportunities, understanding exotic markets.
- 4
Trade Routes 1 pt
You know how goods move.
Core: Know major local trade routes and their basic dangers. Identify where common goods come from. Recognize obvious supply disruptions.
Advantage: Obscure routes, predicting disruptions (1 month advance), identifying smuggling routes, exploiting route knowledge.
- 5
Rare Goods 1 pt
You can find what shouldn't be findable.
Core: Know where to start looking for unusual goods in major markets. Identify obvious specialty dealers.
Advantage: Restricted/illegal goods, finding buyers for exotic items, acquiring things not officially for sale, black market access.
- 6
Ultimate: Merchant Prince 2 pts
Prerequisite: 3+ other Commerce advancements
You see deals others miss.
Core: Identify arbitrage opportunities. Recognize desperation in buyers/sellers. Structure complex multi-party deals.
Advantage: Continental-scale trading, manipulating markets, deals involving nations, creating monopolies.
TOTAL: 7 points
Sailing
Seamanship, Navigation, Weather, Ship Handling
- 1
Seamanship 1 pt
You understand ships and the sea.
Core: Tie common knots reliably. Handle lines and basic rigging. Crew a ship competently under direction.
Advantage: Any knot/any sail, operating small vessels solo, handling ships in difficult conditions, teaching others.
- 3
Weather Reading 1 pt
The sky tells you what's coming at sea.
Core: Predict obvious weather changes (hours ahead). Recognize dangerous conditions developing. Know basic storm safety.
Advantage: 24-hour predictions, knowing when to run vs ride it out, identifying subtle dangerous conditions.
- 4
Ship Handling 1 pt
You get the most from any vessel.
Core: Sail competently in normal conditions. Maneuver in open water. Maintain reasonable speed.
Advantage: Difficult conditions, tight maneuvering, extra speed through efficiency, handling unfamiliar vessels.
- 5
Damage Control 1 pt
You keep ships afloat.
Core: Make basic repairs at sea. Manage minor flooding and damage. Know when a ship is in serious trouble.
Advantage: Emergency repairs that hold to port, managing multiple crises, saving ships others would abandon.
- 6
Ultimate: Legendary Captain 2 pts
Prerequisite: 3+ other Sailing advancements
You've sailed where others fear to chart.
Core: Navigate reefs and shoals that would ground others. Sail with half minimum crew. Predict exactly how any ship responds.
Advantage: Impossible passages, sailing skeleton crews, weather that should destroy ships, legendary voyages.
TOTAL: 7 points
Bureaucracy
Documents, Red Tape, Legal Systems, Official Authority
- 1
Document Forger 1 pt
You can create convincing official papers.
Core: Forge basic documents like travel papers, receipts, or writs. Spot obvious forgeries at a glance. Know what official documents look like in major regions.
Advantage: Perfect forgeries that pass thorough inspection, forging while under pressure, recreating seals and signatures, spotting subtle forgeries.
- 2
Legal Loopholes 1 pt
You know the gaps between the laws.
Core: Understand local laws well enough to avoid obvious violations. Know when someone else is breaking the law. Find the specific law that applies to any common situation.
Advantage: Exploiting technicalities, understanding jurisdictional boundaries, knowing what's technically legal, predicting how laws will be interpreted.
- 3
Seal Expert 1 pt
You recognize genuine authority.
Core: Identify official seals, signatures, and symbols of authority on sight. Tell genuine documents from forgeries. Know the hierarchy of local officials.
Advantage: Forging official seals, identifying who actually has authority versus who claims it, recognizing expired or revoked credentials, spotting stolen seals.
- 5
Institutional Knowledge 1 pt
You understand how organizations really work.
Core: Map the real power structure of any organization within an hour of observation. Identify who makes decisions versus who takes credit. Spot obvious corruption.
Advantage: Finding hidden factions, exploiting institutional rivalries, identifying blackmail vectors, predicting organizational responses.
- 6
Ultimate: Master Bureaucrat 2 pts
Prerequisite: 3+ other Bureaucrat advancements
Your forged credentials are flawless.
Core: Create perfect official credentials on the spot with minimal materials. Understand continental-scale administrative systems at a glance. Tie up enemies in legal challenges for months.
Advantage: Undetectable forgeries, manipulating institutional systems across borders, creating credentials for positions that don't exist, institutional paralysis as a weapon.
TOTAL: 7 points