A spy master occ...

[ShadowHawk]

A player has requested a spy master...is there such a character already made? Cannon or noncannon...I don't care.

[drewkitty ~..~]

A Spy Master, going by what the words mean is someone who controls or runs a spy network. Not really a playable character due to that the spy Master needs to stay in one place.

A Master Spy....The closest thing to a master spy I can think of is the Master Collector (an investigator class), in the Eastern Territory book, page 21. Most of them are minor or major psychics.

Or maybe a Half Wizard form the MoM book with the Spy (Thief OCC) option.

Many class types can 'spy' but the one thought of for spying is the thief/rouge class type.

[kiralon]

There is a spy class in the yin sloth jungles

[ShadowHawk]

Well, it fits in with the game we are running, so. They are related either by marriage, blood, or in a relationship with a relative...It's a game of lesser nobility. He is going to play the 3rd son of a Viscount, who operate a spy ring of "ninja" fae...Sorta like Varys, the Spider, on Game of Thrones. Although, very few people know it in his case.

According to him, "At the Prince's court, it is knowledge and the ability to use that knowledge that IS power."

[Library Ogre]

Of the published ones? I'd stick with an Assassin... or the Knight.

Look at the Knight. Any Communications, Espionage, or Military skills, all at +10%. With family skills, you can pick up 3 more Espionage or Military skills. Dance and Heraldry for basic courtier skills.

Assassin isn't bad... lots of the same bonuses... but a Knight can do just fine as a Spy Master... even if he is a ugly little imp.

[Hotrod]

There is no Spy O.C.C. in 2nd Edition. The closest thing is the Western Emperor's sister, who has a unique O.C.C. 1st Edition Yin-Sloth Jungles has a spy O.C.C., but it doesn't translate well into 2nd Edition.

As I see it, the best options will allow you to take any military, espionage, and rogue skills, and will give you plenty of O.C.C. related and secondary skills to use with them. A spymaster should be able to do what a spy can plus have some language/lore skills for putting collected information in context, which means plenty of lore skills to boot.

The Mercenary Fighter can make a good Spymaster. They get 3 O.C.C. skills that could be useful to spymasters and can select any military, espionage, language/literacy/lore, and rogue skills, and get nice bonuses to most of them. They get 10 O.C.C. related and 4 secondary skills, for a total of up to 17 spy skills. That's plenty of flexibility for building your spymaster.

Knights and Palladins can make even better spymasters under certain circumstances (dependent on family skills and aligment). Their O.C.C. skills include 5 skills that could be useful to spymasters, and they can select any military, espionage, and language/literacy/lore skills with better bonuses than the Mercenary. With the "New Knight" family skills, they can select 3 Rogue skills with 10% as well (Evil-aligned Palladins can just select any Rogue skill). They get a solid 8 O.C.C. Related skills and 4 secondary skills. With the 3 Rogue skills, for a total of 20 potential spy skills.

Thieves make surprisingly poor Spies do to their inability to take Military skills is a big drawback, as some of those skills are important for spies (camouflage, interrogation, military etiquette, surveillance). They also can't take the Track Humanoid skill. They do start with a nice array of 6 useful spy O.C.C.skills, and with their Related and Secondary selections could select as many as 18 useful spy skills, but I don't think that's enough to make a difference for their lack of Military skill options.

Assassins, however, are probably the best spies and spymasters. In addition to 8 excellent O.C.C. spy skills, they get nine O.C.C. related skills with the best bonuses to Military, Espionage, and Rogue categories, and two secondary skills. That's a total of 19 potential spy skills with enough bonuses to more than make up for the 1 extra skill that a knight or palladin could take.

Every other O.C.C. in the book doesn't have the kinds of skills you'd want in a spy or spymaster. That said, some might have powers that could more than make up for their deficiencies in knowledge. In the right circumstances, almost any O.C.C. could be an effective spy, and many could be effective spymasters.