The Smuggler Template Revisited

The New Smuggler Template (This will be its final home, so any new revisions will happen here)

Every month, my Patrons get to vote on a template to revisit and update to integrate them into the setting and any rule-changed I've made.  This month, they voted on the Frontier Marshal, of all things, until the Smuggler snuck in and snatched the win out from under him.  Seems about right, if you ask me.

Nonetheless, I find it interesting that the Frontier Marshal and the Smuggler both did so well (as did the Bounty Hunter) given that they're both Rim templates, after the Diplomat won so handily.  I suspect it's because seeing how the Diplomat integrated into the setting was an eye-opener for a lot of my patrons, and now they're curious how the Rim templates will work.

Alas, they won't be as tightly bound as the "Core" Templates.  The point of the "Core" templates is that they represent templates that work for a powerful organization in the setting.  They are the soldiers of the Empire, the diplomats of the Alliance, the spies of the Cybernetic Union.  The "Rim" templates, by contrast, represent the underbelly of the criminal underworld of the Galaxy.  As such, they are inherently more generic than "Core" templates.  Consider, for a moment, how different a human smuggler would be from a Ranathim smuggler.  Both of them have fast ships, loose morals, and an itchy trigger finger.  Thus, there's no real need to tie them to a specific entity.  There's no such thing as an "Imperial" smuggler who is different from an "Alliance" smuggler.

Or... is that so?  As I thought more about the Frontier Marshal, back when I thought he'd win, I found that I could come up with multiple different variants.  And then, when the smuggler won, I found I could come up with variants for that one too.  These variants need to represent "must have" guides for trying to build specific, weird examples, like Duty or Rank or some unusual  benefits from a particular odd race, as well as pointers to interesting ideas someone might not have had before, while still maintaining the option to "create your own."

It seems I had quite a bit to revise after all!

Smuggler 2.0

Smuggler 250 points 2.0

The smuggler is an excellent template, similar to the Fighter Ace in managing to bring both depth and breadth to her niche, and her niche is very clear: she will get you to where you want to be, wherever that is, and she will bypass security to do it. She’s also a reasonably broad character with decent (albeit unconventional) stealth skills, decent combat skills, and solid social acumen.

For power-ups, I wanted to emphasize the different models of smuggling, but I think the template already does that well enough, and pulling them out would unduly damage the template. I wanted to add an aristocratic power-up, as being aristocratic allows one to easily bypass most security counter-measures… but this is already handled by the aristocratic background! So, I’ve stuck with two tried-and-true approaches. Like the Fighter Ace, I’ve added a tinkerer power-up, which means the smuggler is better at handling her own ship. And, furthermore, I’ve given her a gunslinger power-up, representing the traditional smuggler proficiency in the Way of the Galaxy, albeit in a limited way.