Scoundrel

Of the 8 Career Skills, choose 4 to get a free rank. Of the 4 Specialization Skills, choose 2 to get a free rank.

Smuggler Career Skills: Coordination, Deception, Knowledge (Underworld), Perception, Piloting (Space), Skulduggery, Streetwise and Vigilance

Scoundrel Specialization Skills: Charm, Cool, Deception and Ranged (Light)

Part con artist, part gunslinger, and part cantina brawler, the Scoundrel is quick-witted, quick on his feet, and quick to get himself into a great deal of trouble at the drop of a hat. He doesn't care one whit for rules or laws, except where he can use them to work an angle that either nets him a lot of credits or brings down an enemy. If he's really lucky—and he tends to have an unshakable faith in his luck—he'll manage both. His combination of skills and talents make him formidable in a fight, useful in dealing with the underworld, and an individual simply not to be trusted.

Scoundrels fulfill many roles in the Outer Rim. Some are grifters, others are middle-men, and still others are simply thrill-seekers looking to see what they can get into next. Scoundrels tend to avoid taking charge of anything, but they are more than willing to ride the coattails of powerful people, often applying their unique skill set to help their employer in any number of ways. Scoundrels rarely put down roots for very long, and will always be looking for the next interesting thing to do (especially if it can make them some money).

In a Player Character group, the Scoundrel is a kind of all-purpose character. He's got enough underworld savvy and social ability to act as a "face" for the group, and he's no slouch in a fight. He may or may not be a pilot, but it's almost certain he's got many of the rogue-style abilities a group might need.

Potential Backgrounds

  • Disadvantaged: Scoundrels who have experienced the hard life may well have encountered enough villains to consider a life of crime normal. Whether a character with this background is trying to drag himself out or claw his way to the top, his past is sure to come back to haunt him.
  • Privileged: Scoundrels enjoy playing others and, in some cases, this may be because the life of a noble often allows for, and even requires, such diversions. The games of the powerful are often the deadliest.
  • Ex-Military: Scoundrels who joined the army or navy expecting excitement and adventure will have chafed under the strict rules and regulations. They might have stayed long enough to gain some weapons or flight training, however.
  • Respectable: Scoundrels take the profitable cargo whether it is legal or not, and they probably traded legally in the first place only because it suited them at the time. For a Scoundrel, trade is trade, and laws mean very little.
  • Cynical: Scoundrels usually shrug off the occasional case of deception or betrayal, but this Smuggler may have seen injustice on a larger scale. Perhaps he witnessed the Empire’s cruelty close-up, and now fights injustice and causes trouble for the Empire whenever he can.
  • Born and Bred: Scoundrels thrive within the Smuggler’s life, and it is feasible that they have known no other life. A Scoundrel may have grown up on a lawless planet, perhaps in close proximity to some crime lord or a group of active Smugglers.