Trade Dealer
The Trade Dealer is not usually skilled in the arts of craftsmanship, but they are no less the richer for the lack. These individuals focus on discovering what an individual or a community needs and then seeking it out, garnering a bit of profit on the side. In a pinch, they can also be useful diplomats or spies, gathering information through nuance or deduction..
Class: Counselor
Aptitude: Silver-tongued Speaker
Skill 1: Cold Reading
Skill 2: Masked Mind
Skill 3: Regal Restraint
Perk 1: Charmed - Art of War
Perk 2: Charmed - Treat Injury
Perk 3: Charmed - Mental Deduction
Items: Any melee or ranged weapon, Knife pack (ammo pack, if ranged weapon), Herb Kit
Future Build Options:
Reader (Counselor/Ranger): discern an individual’s details and find their weak spots
Masker (Counselor): protect one’s secrets and negate inquiries
Junker (Ranger): Quicker scavenging with some minor Tinkering
Tinker (Builder): repair and make skill kits; augment skill kits with gadgets
Chemist (Builder): Manipulates components; creates weaponized or healing Chem Vials
Slinger (Warrior): increased damage and utility with Ranged attacks
Runner (Ranger): Dodge attacks and flee from danger
Most Trade Dealers will focus on the Masker and the Reader Disciplines, taking special aim toward either the Veiled Aspect or Insightful Aspect. Other tricks within the Disciplines are also of use: the Supreme Observation skill allows one to discern secrets from a distance while the Conniving Spirit skill grants resistances to domination and control. More than a few Trade Dealers will actually learn a few Craft skills to sell or barter their products.
Itemization Advice: Because their skills lie in the intangible and the ephemeral, most Trade Dealers will invest instead in their own protection or in additional utility. Augments for Armors or Skill Kits help immensely in this aspect. In the case of the former, both Armor and Clothing can be enhanced with a variety of useful Augments such as the Courtier, Spectral Shroud, or Vulture armor.
As for Skill Kits, utility is their forte: Herb Kits can be augmented with Chem Vials for support or for offense. Scrap Kits can be augmented with Gadgets or, with the right skills, be used to repair items and disarm traps/locks.