Chapter 1 - Non-weapon Proficiencies
Begging - must be from Al-qadim Non-weapon Proficiency
Characters with this proficiency can pose as convincing beggars and procure food, spare change, and the like. While beggars never become rich, each successful use of this proficiency results in enough money to meet a character’s basic needs at the squalid state for a single day (see Table 22 in Chapter 6 of the DMG).
Nonplayer characters always fork over a little something to successful beggars. Player characters are never affected by this ploy; they respond to characters with the begging proficiency as they see fit.
This proficiency enables characters to pose as beggars automatically; their real status is disguised. A proficiency check determines whether a character actually receives any money or food. Characters who beg from the same NPC more than once suffer a -2 cumulative modifier for each attempt after the first. Location also modifies the proficiency check. In small towns, beggars incur a -2 penalty, and along trade routes the penalty becomes -5. Attempts to use the begging proficiency fail automatically in the wilderness, in the desert, and at sea. No penalty applies for begging in a city.
Begging is not a good way to become rich or powerful. It can, however, prove useful as a masquerade. Characters who wish to be invisible know that beggars are often ignored in public. In a crowded square, a bum either blends in or becomes a faceless annoyance, much like a droning fly. However, even flies should pick their hangouts carefully. In the wrong spot, such as a palace court, such insects risk being cast out or bruskly swatted.
