The Cutpurse is the person who lifts your cred-chip in a crowded market, sells it to a fence three blocks away, and is gone before you notice the weight difference in your pocket. They are not assassins or specialist infiltrators; they are the adaptable street-level operators who survive in the margins of the Nine's corporatocracy by being too useful to arrest and too slippery to catch. Asset Realisation does not book Cutpurses -- they exist in the gaps between the ledgers, in the shadow markets that the Kadiss grid monitors but cannot shut down because the people who run them are too embedded in the local economy. The Kadiss grid tracks Cutpurses through arrest records, biometric flags, and the occasional BOLO, but a good Cutpurse has a clean identity for every day of the week. They operate on the Edge chassis (d6 HD, 3/4 BAB, Ref good, Fort/Will poor) with 8 base skill points per level -- a lifetime of learning on the fly, of picking up every trick that keeps you alive one more day on the Rim. Their signature is breadth: sneak attack gives them combat relevance, skill mastery makes them reliable, evasion and uncanny dodge keep them breathing. Where the Assassin kills and the Infiltrator breaches, the Cutpurse survives and profits.
Archetype Niche: The generalist rogue. The Cutpurse is the party's hands in pockets and eyes in shadows -- they handle the locks, the marks, the traps, and the getaway. Where the Assassin kills one target and the Infiltrator breaches one facility, the Cutpurse does everything: pickpocketing corporate execs, spotting ambushes before they spring, vanishing when the heat arrives. Sneak Attack gives them combat presence without making them a front-liner. Skill Mastery makes them the most reliable skill-user in the game. Their niche is breadth over depth: they are never the best at any one thing, but they are good at everything that matters on the Rim's streets.
Class Skills: Stealth, Sleight of Hand, Security (Lockpicking), Streetwise, Deception, Perception (Spot), Acrobatics, Computers/Slicing, Appraisal, Disguise
Multiclass Notes: Cutpurses can multiclass with Operative, Face, and Infiltrator archetypes. Non-human cutpurses use simultaneous multiclassing rules.
Level Table
Pickpocket
Field
Value
bab
0
fortitude
0
level
1
reflex
2
skillPoints
32
title
Pickpocket
will
0
xp
0
Second-Storey
Field
Value
bab
1
fortitude
0
level
2
reflex
3
skillPoints
8
title
Second-Storey
will
0
xp
1250
Shadow
Field
Value
bab
2
fortitude
1
level
3
reflex
3
skillPoints
8
title
Shadow
will
1
xp
2500
Sneak-Thief
Field
Value
bab
3
fortitude
1
level
4
reflex
4
skillPoints
8
title
Sneak-Thief
will
1
xp
5000
Cutpurse
Field
Value
bab
3
fortitude
1
level
5
reflex
4
skillPoints
8
title
Cutpurse
will
1
xp
10000
Shadow-Hand
Field
Value
bab
4
fortitude
2
level
6
reflex
5
skillPoints
8
title
Shadow-Hand
will
2
xp
20000
Master Cutpurse
Field
Value
bab
5
fortitude
2
level
7
reflex
5
skillPoints
8
title
Master Cutpurse
will
2
xp
40000
Ghost-Hand
Field
Value
bab
6
fortitude
2
level
8
reflex
6
skillPoints
8
title
Ghost-Hand
will
2
xp
70000
Rogue Factor
Field
Value
bab
6
fortitude
3
level
9
reflex
6
skillPoints
8
title
Rogue Factor
will
3
xp
110000
Shadow-Master
Field
Value
bab
7
fortitude
3
level
10
reflex
7
skillPoints
8
title
Shadow-Master
will
3
xp
160000
Master Rogue
Field
Value
bab
8
fortitude
3
level
11
reflex
7
skillPoints
8
title
Master Rogue
will
3
xp
380000
Guildmaster
Field
Value
bab
9
fortitude
4
level
12
reflex
8
skillPoints
8
title
Guildmaster
will
4
xp
600000
Shadow Guildmaster
Field
Value
bab
9
fortitude
4
level
13
reflex
8
skillPoints
8
title
Shadow Guildmaster
will
4
xp
820000
Master Thief
Field
Value
bab
10
fortitude
4
level
14
reflex
9
skillPoints
8
title
Master Thief
will
4
xp
1040000
Rim Specialist
Field
Value
bab
11
fortitude
5
level
15
reflex
9
skillPoints
8
title
Rim Specialist
will
5
xp
1260000
Shadow Sovereign
Field
Value
bab
12
fortitude
5
level
16
reflex
10
skillPoints
8
title
Shadow Sovereign
will
5
xp
1480000
Legendary Thief
Field
Value
bab
12
fortitude
5
level
17
reflex
10
skillPoints
8
title
Legendary Thief
will
5
xp
1700000
Grand Shadow
Field
Value
bab
13
fortitude
6
level
18
reflex
11
skillPoints
8
title
Grand Shadow
will
6
xp
1920000
Street Authority
Field
Value
bab
14
fortitude
6
level
19
reflex
11
skillPoints
8
title
Street Authority
will
6
xp
2140000
Supreme Cutpurse
Field
Value
bab
15
fortitude
6
level
20
reflex
12
skillPoints
8
title
Supreme Cutpurse
will
6
xp
2360000
Special Abilities
Sneak Attack
Field
Value
level
1
name
Sneak Attack
description: Deal +1d6 precision damage when attacking a flanked target or a target denied its DEX bonus to AC. This damage increases by +1d6 at levels 5 (+2d6), 9 (+3d6), 13 (+4d6), and 17 (+5d6). Sneak attack applies to ranged attacks within 30 feet. Creatures immune to critical hits are immune to sneak attack. If the Cutpurse scores a critical hit with a sneak attack, the precision damage is NOT multiplied. The Cutpurse is not a front-line fighter; they are the person who puts the knife in the kidney while the target is looking the other way.
Lucky Devil
Field
Value
level
1
name
Lucky Devil
description: The Cutpurse has a Luck Pool equal to their class level + CHA modifier (minimum 1, even with a negative CHA modifier). The pool refreshes after 8 hours of rest. Immediately after rolling a d20 and before the GM declares the result, the Cutpurse may spend 1 luck point to either reroll the d20 (keeping the new result) or add +1d6 to the roll (Fortune's Edge). Only 1 luck point may be spent per round, and luck points may only be spent on the Cutpurse's own rolls, never another character's. CHA governs the pool because the Cutpurse's luck is a social read, not a blessing: the quick eye that clocks the guard's hand tightening on the baton half a second before the swing.
Evasion
Field
Value
level
5
name
Evasion
description: When subjected to an effect that allows a Reflex save for half damage, the Cutpurse takes no damage on a successful save instead of half damage. Evasion functions only in light or no armour and while not encumbered. At level 12, this upgrades to Improved Evasion: the Cutpurse takes only half damage on a failed Reflex save against such effects. The Cutpurse survives because they are already moving before the grenade lands.
Uncanny Dodge
Field
Value
level
7
name
Uncanny Dodge
description: The Cutpurse retains their DEX bonus to AC even when caught flat-footed or attacked by an invisible opponent. (They still lose DEX bonus if immobilised.) At level 11, the Cutpurse can no longer be flanked -- opponents gain no flanking bonus against them unless the attacker has at least 4 more levels than the Cutpurse. At level 17, the Cutpurse cannot be flanked by any creature. Years on the Rim's streets have wired the Cutpurse's nervous system to expect the attack from every direction.
Skill Mastery
Field
Value
level
3
name
Skill Mastery
description: Choose a number of skills equal to 3 + the Cutpurse's INT modifier from among their class skills. When making a check with one of these skills, the Cutpurse may take 10 even when stress or distraction would normally prevent it. This represents rote competence drilled through years on the street -- the lock-pick whose hands do not shake, the bluffer whose voice does not crack. At level 15, the Cutpurse may select 3 additional skills for Skill Mastery.
Danger Sense
Field
Value
level
3
name
Danger Sense
description: The Cutpurse gains a +1 bonus to Reflex saves against traps and a +1 bonus to Perception checks made to detect ambushes, hidden hazards, and concealed threats. This bonus increases by +1 at 6th and 9th level. Danger Sense covers more ground than the Operative's Trap Sense: Trap Sense handles mechanical and electronic locks, the professional's response to a designed obstacle, while Danger Sense also covers the rotten floorboard on a derelict, the pressure plate in a warlord's vault, and the micro-expression on a Fixer's face that says the deal is about to go wrong. The Cutpurse reads the whole environment.
Tongue of the Street
Field
Value
level
7
name
Tongue of the Street
description: The Cutpurse can substitute the better of their INT or CHA modifier on any Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, or Gather Information check -- sometimes the fast talk works, sometimes the threat works, sometimes the quiet competence works, and the Cutpurse picks the right tool after the fact. This does not stack with Skill Mastery; if the Cutpurse has already selected Persuasion for Skill Mastery, Tongue of the Street still applies, because it changes which modifier is used, not whether Take 10 is available.
Improved Evasion
Field
Value
level
9
name
Improved Evasion
description: When the Cutpurse fails a Reflex save against an area effect, they take half damage instead of full. Combined with Evasion, the Cutpurse takes half damage on a failed save and none on a successful one. A reactor breach, a Fold-bleed incursion, a marine's frag grenade in a confined space: Improved Evasion is why the high-level Cutpurse is still standing when the dust settles.
Shadow's Edge
Field
Value
level
16
name
Shadow's Edge
description: While in dim light or darkness, the Cutpurse gains a 20% miss chance against all attacks (concealment). This stacks with any existing miss chance from darkness. In addition, the Cutpurse's sneak attack dice increase from d6 to d8 when the target is in dim light or darker. Finally, the Cutpurse can make a Stealth check to hide even while being observed, provided they are within 10 feet of a shadow or cover. Darkness is not an obstacle for the Cutpurse; it is a tool.
Grand Larceny
Field
Value
level
20
name
Grand Larceny
description: Once per week, the Cutpurse can declare a 'grand heist' -- a single action of theft, infiltration, or deception that benefits from extraordinary luck. For the declared action, the Cutpurse rolls twice and takes the better result on every skill check, attack roll, and saving throw involved. If the grand heist fails, the Cutpurse suffers no consequences beyond the immediate failure (the universe owes them one -- they live to steal another day). The declared heist must be a single discrete objective (e.g., 'steal the datacore from the corporate vault' or 'slip the bounty hunter cordon undetected'). At level 20, the Cutpurse has survived long enough that the verse seems to bend in their favour. Whether this is luck, skill, or something stranger is a question the Cutpurse does not ask.