Wagons pulled by mekillots and kanks travel along dusty roads, carrying slaves, weapons, food and other goods between the city‐states and the villages of the wastes. Caravans of all sizes trek across the Tablelands and beyond, owned by powerful Merchant Houses. Trade ensures the survival of many small villages and is vital to the economy of the city‐states of the sorcerer‐kings. Dune traders are agents for the merchant houses. Some even aspire to become invited family members of the ancient merchant dynasties.

Because of the requirements for entry, the dune trader can appeal to a wide range of characters. Rogues, bards, rangers, and other skill‐focused characters are the most likely to enter the prestige class, but the entry requirements are well within the reach of intelligent members of any class.

Role: Utility

Characteristics: Well connected merchants who can call in favors and gain benefits from a variety of merchant houses

Source: Dark Sun 3

Game Rule Information

The Dune Trader has the following game statistics.

Abilities: Charisma for your social capabilities, and Intelligence for a multitude of languages and skill points

Alignment: Any

Hit Die: d6

Starting Gold: N/A

Class Skills

The Dune Trader's class skills are Appraise (Int), Bluff (Cha), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Forgery (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Open Lock (Dex), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), and Spot (Wis)

Skill Points at 1st Level: (8 + Int modifier) × 4

Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 8 + Int modifier

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Dune Trader.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A Dune Trader is proficient with whatever they were already proficient with prior to taking levels in this class.

Open Arms: Beginning at 1st level, you become skilled at initiating peaceful (and not so peaceful) negotiations. You add a competence bonus equal to one‐ half your dune trader level on all Diplomacy checks.

Fast Talk Ex: You can retry Bluff and Diplomacy checks at a –5 penalty, but only once per check.

Contact: Dune traders have the privilege of acquaintances that will do favors for them. The use of contacts is restricted to the listed amount of times per week. The DM has final say on the extent of favors that may be extracted. The following list provides sample uses of contact

– Additional 5% discount on purchased goods. – Access to purchase and sell black market goods. – Access to hire mercenary of traderʹs desired race and class. – Access to purchasing spellcasting services. – Access to information (equal to Gather Information DC 20). – Access to forged materials (equal to Forgery DC 20). – Access to decipher (equal to Decipher Script DC 20). – Access to other expert (skill check DC 20, at DMʹs discretion). – Appointment or meeting with an NPC (templar, noble, gladiatorial slave, chieftain, etc. At DMʹs discretion). – Access to a place to stay hidden for three days. – Avoid templar inspection

Distributive Bargaining: You can purchase goods with a 10% rebate off the listed price. This stacks with the discount granted by Contact above. Agents of the major merchant houses listed below gain a +2 circumstance bonus to a skill embedded in the merchant house’s culture and organization. Agents of other, smaller houses gain a +1 circumstance bonus to a skill of their choice. Inika: Gather Information M’ke: Sense Motive Shom: Bluff Stel: Knowledge (warcraft) Tsalaxa: Intimidate Vordon: Appraise Wavir: Diplomacy Other: Skill of choice

Dazzle Ex: You have the ability to dazzle a creature through sheer force of personality, a winning smile, and fast‐talking. Each creature to be fascinated must be within 90 feet, able to see, hear and understand you, and able to pay attention to you. You must also be able to see the creature. The distraction of nearby combat or other dangers prevents the ability from working. At 7th and 10th level you can target one additional creature with a single use of this ability. As a move action, make an opposed Bluff check. If you succeed on the check, the creature receives a –1 penalty on attack rolls, ability checks, skill checks, and saving throws for a number of rounds equal to your dune trader level. This is a mind–affecting, language‐dependent ability.

Linguist: At 4th level, you become a master linguist. Whenever you encounter a new language, either spoken or written, that you do not know, you can make an Intelligence check (for a spoken language) or a Decipher Script check (for a written language) to determine if you can understand it. The DC for the check is DC 15 if the language is commonly spoken or DC 25 if the language is ancient or unique. Success means you can glean enough meaning from a conversation or document to ascertain the basic message, but this ability in no way simulates actually being able to converse or fluently read and write in a given language. A single check covers roughly one minute of a spoken language or one page of a written language.

Agent: At 5th level, you gain a cohort as per the Leadership feat. Your Leadership score is your level plus your Charisma bonus. If you possess the Leadership feat, you are entitled to two cohorts. In the case of multiple cohorts, their combined level may not exceed your character level + dune trader level (add your dune trader level twice).

Improved Fast Talk Ex: Beginning at 5th level, you may make a rushed Diplomacy check as a full‐round action with a –5 penalty instead of the normal –10 penalty.

Integrative Bargaining: You can purchase goods with a 20% rebate off the listed price. This stacks with the discount granted by Contact above. Agents of the major merchant houses listed above gain a +4 circumstance bonus to a skill embedded in the merchant house’s culture and organization. Agents of other, smaller houses gain a +2 circumstance bonus to a skill of their choice. (See distributive bargaining). These bonuses overlap with those granted by distributive bargaining, they do not stack.

Taunt Ex: You have the ability to temporarily rattle a creature through the use of insults and goading. As a move action, you may taunt a target able to see, hear and understand you, with an Intelligence score of 3 or higher. The opponent resists the taunt by making a Will saving throw (DC 10 + your dune trader level + your Cha modifier). If the save fails, you are the only creature it can make melee attacks against for 1 round. This is a mind‐ affecting, language‐dependent ability.

Allies: You gain the favor of an organization, tribe, planar creature or a powerful individual (in the most extreme case a sorcerer‐king). The frequency and extent of favors a trader may call upon will vary (for example, spending the night under the protected tents of an Elven tribe is a small favor, while asking for a caravan raid in which several tribe members will perish is a large favor). The DM determines how often the trader can call upon his allies for aid without losing their favor. The maximum monetary value of the favor cannot exceed 1,000 gp.