Begging (sage ability)

Begging is an amateur-status sage ability in the study of Guile, granting an unusual skill in encouraging others to give money of their own free will. As a learned skill in persuasion and manipulation, the ability invokes sympathy or obligation. Elements like choosing the right targets, performing pitiable acts or weaving convincing stories are also part of the craft. At this level, only basic competence is provided, so that effectiveness can be inconsistent.

Begging is a blend of persuasion, social navigation and street-level politics, where a character must understand the dynamics of local beggars, thieves, and hidden power structures before attempting to operate. Larger settlements, towns and cities, with more than 1,000 residents, always have existent organised begging guilds; characters with this skill would know in these places that they should first contact such criminal entities and pay an upfront fee (and afterward, monthly) that would permit them to operate, within assigned perameters that would never be the best corners in the district. In a village, on the other hand, a character might act freely, relying on charisma and pity, though there would be a greater likelihood of the beggar being seen as an outsider and thus run out of town. Beggars that are not part of guilds would be forever on the move.

Having this ability, if a character wishes to obtain a bed for the night for themselves — the ability doesn't give a special benefit for begging on account of others — they must simply wander along an ordinary lane in the area. A glance at the domicile, or perhaps religious location, will tell if the character will be taken in... and so, upon knocking and telling their story, the character will be granted a meal and a place to sleep, without the need of a charisma check. The skill permits this. But it wouldn't be wise to take advantage of this benefit in an area where a beggar's guild exists. The next night, however, the place slept in must be outside the social sphere of tonight's resident — easy in a town or city, difficult in a village (three times is too often) and impossible in a hamlet.

Appearance

To obtain coinage through begging, other considerations taken into account. The character must adopt lcothing that signals poverty and desperation: worn, frayed garments, ideally loose-fitting or patched together to suggest hardship. The clothing should be dirty, possibly with stains from food, mud or long use, and lacking any obvious signs of wealth such as weapons, armour, tools or trinkets.

The character might keep this in a separate pack of some sort; it is liable to be infested by fleas or ticks, which won't bother the character due to long familiarity with this role, but should not be mixed in with the character's better gear. A begger's costume could be made as needed, though this does take a little time to obtain the clothes to be destroyed, then suitably dirtying them. Regarding any risk of infestation... the character has probably been bitten by fleas and such for so many years as to make them immune. They would know enough to pretend to itch and look uncomfortable, but this would be a performance.

Begging requires the commitment of a full day, at least 8 to 10 hours, to achieve the effect properly, with a greater sum gotten late in the day after continued visibility has opened the pockets of observers. The amount collected over this time is 1d4 coppers per point of knowledge the character has.