Ciphermaster - Revision history

Wvaske: Redirect to The Nightingales

2026-08-28T21:12:34Z

Redirect to The Nightingales

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:12, 28 August 2026
Line 1:		Line 1:
	~~'''Ciphermaster''' is a homebrew renown feat, granted to~~ [[~~Gootcha~~]] ~~on reaching '''[[Harpers]] Rank 3'''.~~		#REDIRECT [[The Nightingales]]

	At the third rank the Harpers stop treating an agent as an asset and start treating her as a handler. Gootcha is given a '''cell''' — a cipher clerk posted permanently to [[Nuts Deep]] to watch her notebook, and a standing complement of field agents placed across the Sword Coast at her direction. What the rank grants is not sight. It is '''access''': the Harper intelligence apparatus, already gathering across the coast, becomes something she can ask.		[[Category:Redirects]]

	~~== Benefit ==~~

	~~=== The Notebook ===~~
	~~Gootcha writes a query in her notebook. Her handler at [[Nuts Deep]] reads it and answers.~~

	* Answers come back in as little as '''ten minutes''' or as long as '''ten days''', depending on what was asked and on who is near enough to know it.
	* Asking after a creature's strengths and weaknesses returns quickly for common things. The rarest and mightiest come back slowly — and come back as much '''legend as fact'''.
	* '''One query at a time.''' The notebook holds a single open question. The slot frees the moment an answer arrives.
	* She may '''cancel''' an open query at any time to ask something else instead. The abandoned question is dropped, and asking it again later begins from nothing.
	* Reports her agents send on their own initiative do '''not''' occupy the slot.

	~~=== The Field ===~~
	~~Gootcha directs a number of field agents equal to her '''proficiency bonus'''. Each is stationed somewhere, and where they stand determines what she can learn.~~

	* An agent '''on site''' makes anything about that place far faster to learn — and turns up what no archive holds.
	* An agent '''in transit''' answers nothing and gathers nothing.
	* Relocation runs '''hours''' within a settlement, '''three to five days''' within a region, and '''ten days or more''' across the Sword Coast.
	* A stationed agent gathers on their own account, and will send word unprompted when they see something worth the parchment.

	~~=== The Files ===~~
	The network is only as good as what has been put into it. Intelligence the company delivers — a captured ledger, an interrogation, a location mapped, a name confirmed — is '''filed''', and thereafter that subject comes back faster and fuller every time it is asked after. Filing also earns standing with the [[Harpers]], who reward exactly this.

	~~=== What the network is not ===~~
	* It is '''not divination'''. It does not scry, does not see the future, and does not read minds.
	* It knows '''only what some Harper learned''' — saw, overheard, filed, or was told.
	* It '''thins to nothing beyond the Sword Coast'''.
	* Answers arrive '''as the network believes them'''. They can be stale, partial, or secondhand, and the network is sometimes wrong.
	* '''The agents are people.''' They can be followed, caught, bought, or killed.

	~~== Nightingale ==~~
	~~Harper cells name themselves. This one is '''Nightingale''' — for the bird that sings after dark, and for the older Harper sense of the word: the one who talks.~~

	'''[[Merrivet Ashcombe]]''' — gnome cipher clerk, resident at [[Nuts Deep]]. She does not leave and she does not fight. She reads the notebook every waking hour and a fair number of the sleeping ones, answers in dry marginalia, and is openly smug about her turnaround time. She is the one who does the actual deciphering; the rank is named for the work she does.

	'''Will''' — Gootcha's squire, a [[Harpers\|Harper]] placement out of [[Baldur's Gate]]. Courier and liaison. He does not count against her field complement, and most deliveries arrive in his hands — which means most requests put him on a road.

	~~=== Standing postings ===~~
	~~''Updated as Gootcha redeploys the cell.''~~

	~~{\| class="wikitable" style="width:90%;"~~
	~~! Agent !! Specialty !! Currently posted~~
	\|-
	~~\| '''Tam Ossley''' \|\| Watcher. Eleven years on the docks and noticed by no one. Reports in flat, unhelpful detail until something matters. \|\| [[Waterdeep]] — on the [[Council of Waterdeep\|Council]]~~
	\|-
	~~\| '''Hollis Renn''' \|\| Fixer. Finds things, forges papers, and mentions what it cost. Keeps a running tally he expects settled eventually. \|\| [[Baldur's Gate]]~~
	\|-
	~~\| '''Sera Dunwick''' \|\| Face. Drinks with the right people and remembers all of it. \|\| [[Luskan]] — working the [[Arcane Brotherhood]] connection~~
	\|-
	~~\| '''Corvin Ashe''' \|\| Field scholar. Walks sites and reads what is left of them. \|\| Travelling — [[The Grove Burnings]]~~
	\|}

	~~== Renown ==~~
	~~Granted at [[Harpers]] Rank 3. Standings are tracked on the [[Renown Tracker]].~~

	~~[[Category:Feats]]~~ [[Category:~~Renown Feats~~]]

Wvaske: The cell names itself: Nightingale

2026-08-28T21:07:52Z

The cell names itself: Nightingale

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:07, 28 August 2026
Line 32:		Line 32:
	* '''The agents are people.''' They can be followed, caught, bought, or killed.		* '''The agents are people.''' They can be followed, caught, bought, or killed.

	== ~~The Cell~~ ==		== Nightingale ==
	''Harper cells name themselves. This one ~~has not yet chosen.~~''		Harper cells name themselves. This one is '''Nightingale''' — for the bird that sings after dark, and for the older Harper sense of the word: the one who talks.

	'''[[Merrivet Ashcombe]]''' — gnome cipher clerk, resident at [[Nuts Deep]]. She does not leave and she does not fight. She reads the notebook every waking hour and a fair number of the sleeping ones, answers in dry marginalia, and is openly smug about her turnaround time. She is the one who does the actual deciphering; the rank is named for the work she does.		'''[[Merrivet Ashcombe]]''' — gnome cipher clerk, resident at [[Nuts Deep]]. She does not leave and she does not fight. She reads the notebook every waking hour and a fair number of the sleeping ones, answers in dry marginalia, and is openly smug about her turnaround time. She is the one who does the actual deciphering; the rank is named for the work she does.

Wvaske: Create party-facing page for Ciphermaster — Gootcha's Harper cell, the notebook, and standing postings

2026-08-28T21:01:37Z

Create party-facing page for Ciphermaster — Gootcha's Harper cell, the notebook, and standing postings

New page

'''Ciphermaster''' is a homebrew renown feat, granted to [[Gootcha]] on reaching '''[[Harpers]] Rank 3'''.

At the third rank the Harpers stop treating an agent as an asset and start treating her as a handler. Gootcha is given a '''cell''' — a cipher clerk posted permanently to [[Nuts Deep]] to watch her notebook, and a standing complement of field agents placed across the Sword Coast at her direction. What the rank grants is not sight. It is '''access''': the Harper intelligence apparatus, already gathering across the coast, becomes something she can ask.

== Benefit ==

=== The Notebook ===
Gootcha writes a query in her notebook. Her handler at [[Nuts Deep]] reads it and answers.

* Answers come back in as little as '''ten minutes''' or as long as '''ten days''', depending on what was asked and on who is near enough to know it.
* Asking after a creature's strengths and weaknesses returns quickly for common things. The rarest and mightiest come back slowly — and come back as much '''legend as fact'''.
* '''One query at a time.''' The notebook holds a single open question. The slot frees the moment an answer arrives.
* She may '''cancel''' an open query at any time to ask something else instead. The abandoned question is dropped, and asking it again later begins from nothing.
* Reports her agents send on their own initiative do '''not''' occupy the slot.

=== The Field ===
Gootcha directs a number of field agents equal to her '''proficiency bonus'''. Each is stationed somewhere, and where they stand determines what she can learn.

* An agent '''on site''' makes anything about that place far faster to learn — and turns up what no archive holds.
* An agent '''in transit''' answers nothing and gathers nothing.
* Relocation runs '''hours''' within a settlement, '''three to five days''' within a region, and '''ten days or more''' across the Sword Coast.
* A stationed agent gathers on their own account, and will send word unprompted when they see something worth the parchment.

=== The Files ===
The network is only as good as what has been put into it. Intelligence the company delivers — a captured ledger, an interrogation, a location mapped, a name confirmed — is '''filed''', and thereafter that subject comes back faster and fuller every time it is asked after. Filing also earns standing with the [[Harpers]], who reward exactly this.

=== What the network is not ===
* It is '''not divination'''. It does not scry, does not see the future, and does not read minds.
* It knows '''only what some Harper learned''' — saw, overheard, filed, or was told.
* It '''thins to nothing beyond the Sword Coast'''.
* Answers arrive '''as the network believes them'''. They can be stale, partial, or secondhand, and the network is sometimes wrong.
* '''The agents are people.''' They can be followed, caught, bought, or killed.

== The Cell ==
''Harper cells name themselves. This one has not yet chosen.''

'''[[Merrivet Ashcombe]]''' — gnome cipher clerk, resident at [[Nuts Deep]]. She does not leave and she does not fight. She reads the notebook every waking hour and a fair number of the sleeping ones, answers in dry marginalia, and is openly smug about her turnaround time. She is the one who does the actual deciphering; the rank is named for the work she does.

'''Will''' — Gootcha's squire, a [[Harpers|Harper]] placement out of [[Baldur's Gate]]. Courier and liaison. He does not count against her field complement, and most deliveries arrive in his hands — which means most requests put him on a road.

=== Standing postings ===
''Updated as Gootcha redeploys the cell.''

{| class="wikitable" style="width:90%;"
! Agent !! Specialty !! Currently posted
|-
| '''Tam Ossley''' || Watcher. Eleven years on the docks and noticed by no one. Reports in flat, unhelpful detail until something matters. || [[Waterdeep]] — on the [[Council of Waterdeep|Council]]
|-
| '''Hollis Renn''' || Fixer. Finds things, forges papers, and mentions what it cost. Keeps a running tally he expects settled eventually. || [[Baldur's Gate]]
|-
| '''Sera Dunwick''' || Face. Drinks with the right people and remembers all of it. || [[Luskan]] — working the [[Arcane Brotherhood]] connection
|-
| '''Corvin Ashe''' || Field scholar. Walks sites and reads what is left of them. || Travelling — [[The Grove Burnings]]
|}

== Renown ==
Granted at [[Harpers]] Rank 3. Standings are tracked on the [[Renown Tracker]].

[[Category:Feats]] [[Category:Renown Feats]]