Troubleshooter

Description

The Troubleshooter, like the investigator, is often aligned against other thieves. He has all the skills of the thief, but puts them to a different use: He works chiefly as a security consultant, playing the part of the thief in order to test the worthiness of his clients' defenses.

Role

The Troubleshooter's professional role is rather narrowly defined, but this is to the rogues' liking. More than one has been known to moonlight in other, possibly illicit activities. They may range from legitimate recovery of stolen goods through genuine burglary.
As a "security consultant," a thief of this sort has a legitimate reason for his thieving skills and equipment; and the temptation for many is to use them. For this reason, officials often keep a suspicious eye on well-known Troubleshooters. More sophisticated governments may even require that they have some sort of license.
Troubleshooters are rarely guild members, naturally enough, unless they have been bought off in exchange for information on the clients they've served. Of course, few such Troubleshooters will survive long; if they give a place's security their "seal of approval." and then it is broken into with ease, the Troubleshooter's reputation will be shot. and he can expect to have more than a little suspicion placed on his shoulders.

Weapon Proficiencies

Troubleshooters are permitted the normal weapons open to thieves.

Non-weapon Proficiencies

Bonus

Observation

Recommended

Player's choice; among those that may be selected are Alertness, Fast-talking, Information Gathering, Locksmithing, and Trailing

Skill Progression

Picking pockets and reading languages are not of much value to the Troubleshooter, but he will probably seek a fairly even distribution among the other thief skills.

Equipment

Any Troubleshooter worth his wages will augment his thiefly talents with the best available equipment. Remember, he wants to try his absolute best to break down his clienl's defense — as does his client — so he'll use whatever devices will increase his chances. Also, a wealthy client could even be persuaded to help the Troubleshooter acquire hard-to-find thief equipment.

Special Benefits and Hindrances

Troubleshooters have an uncanny knack for. . . well, for troubleshooting. If there's a glitch somewhere in a security system, the Troubleshooter always seems to run into it. In a way, the Troubleshooter is a living manifestation of "Murphy's Law": "If anything can go wrong, it will." The Troubleshooter thief, of course, capitalizes on this professionally. His job is to find everything that can go wrong, so it can be fixed.
While everything going wrong has its ironic professional advantage, the downside is of course that the things that go wrong often do so to the Troubleshooter's personal disadvantage. This is difficult to quantify, to define as a game mechanic. Instead, the DM is encouraged to bring it in at his discretion during play, for maximum excitement and role-playing fun. Fill the character's life with astronomically improbable events and bizarre coincidences.
The DM is by and large left on his own to "wing it" with this special benefit/hindrance, but there are two questions for him to ask himself before he brings it into play: Would this further the plot of the adventure? Would it be fun? At least the second question should be answered "yes," and it is best if both are.
Furthermore, the rule to follow in deciding the specifics is: Everything should be balanced. For every freakish mishap that works in the Troubleshooter's favor. there should be a complementary one that works to his disadvantage.

Races

Dwarves, with their affinity for the mechanical and their lawful tendencies (and their dour stoicism in the face of all misfortune, however ludicrous), are the demi-humans most inclined to take this kit.
Some gnomes also may be found as Troubleshooters; the special benefit/hindrance of this kit suits the pranksters well — but their employers would best be on guard for practical jokes perpetrated in the course of the assignment, The goal of any gnome Troubleshooter should be to turn all his mishaps into assets or amusement, if not both.

[Complete Thief's Handbook]