Ningle strolled casually around the corner
of the warehouse, not expecting to run into
trouble in the middle of the night -- and
stopped short as the point of a spear lunged
forward to within inches of his stomach.

?Halt!? barked the sergeant of the guard,
and Ningle did as he was told. For a second,
he considered sidestepping the spear
and taking on the sergeant, but then two
guardsmen appeared from out of the
shadows, hemmed him in, and lifted him up
by the arms so that he was eye to eye with
the grinning sergeant.

?I don't know your face,? said the sergeant.
?And I don?t know what brings you
here, creeping around this warehouse in the
darkest part of the night.?

?How may I be of assistance?? said
Ningle, who was literally in no position to
be impertinent.

?We are looking for a murderer by the
name of Ningle Saragrin,? said the sergeant.
?Might you be that person??

Oh, no! thought Ningle. There must
have been a witness. I should have used a
disguise. . . .

?Of course not, sir,? said Ningle. ?I am
but a poor traveling merchant. I am new to
this town, and seem to have lost my way.?

?Lost your way, eh?? the sergeant grumbled.
?Do you expect us to believe that??

?Well, if these fine fellows will release my
arms,? said Ningle, ?I can prove that I am
who I say.? The sergeant motioned to the
guardsmen, who dropped Ningle back onto
his feet. Ningle opened the pouch at his belt
and pulled out his identification papers,
which the sergeant snatched from his grasp.

Ningle?s pulse quickened as the sergeant
spent a few agonizing seconds studying the
papers, then muttered, ?Jarance Lightman,
eh? A merchant, eh? Humph . . .? Then he
scowled and thrust the papers back at
Ningle. ?You are free to go,? he said, ?but
you had best not lurk around here at night
any more, or we won?t be so friendly next
time.?

?Thank you, sir,? said Ningle as he
backed away from the guardsmen, fixing
the sergeant?s face in his memory. I won?t
be so friendly the next time we meet, either.

What is more natural than for the masters
of deceit in the AD&D® game world to
employ forgery? What is more necessary for
an assassin disguised as an influential person
than to be able to forge that person?s
writing style and technique if he is being
observed by servitors and lackeys?

That barely scratches the surface of what
can be done with forgery by assassin player
characters and NPCs alike. In lawful societies
it is convenient (and money-saving) to
forge residence papers, papers of purchase,
free passes through city gates, and other
important documents. Forgery can enable
an assassin to fill his purse twice as full: In a
scenario in my campaign, an assassin PC
was hired to steal incriminating papers for
some corrupt members of the Laborers?
Guild before they fell into the hands of the
guild leaders. He pilfered them, made
forgeries, and gave the copies to his relieved
clients in return for his fee. Then his clients
were surprised (to say the least) ? and he
was paid a second time ? when he turned
over the original documents to the guild
leaders.

Profit aside, a forgery skill can be exceedingly
useful when an assassin is in disguise.
The disguise could easily be ruined if the
assassin had to write something and it
didn?t look anything like the imitated person
?s script. And even if the assassin could
forge the person?s handwriting, he could be
found out if the way he held the quill or
positioned the paper was different from how
the imitated person does it.

The possibilities for the use of forgery are
many and varied; ideas can spring from the
imaginations of the players and DM, or
from the circumstances of an adventure. No
matter how it is employed, a system is
required to define how it is done and
whether the forgery will be successful.

Basic requirements
Forgery can only be performed by members
of the assassin class. It is an unnecessary
and uncharacteristic capability for
regular thieves, who use physical stealth
and dexterity-dependent skills to achieve
their ends, not the calculating deception
and trickery that is the hallmark of the
assassin. Just as thieves are not capable of
using disguise, neither should they be able
to practice forgery.

A good knowledge of the written language
to be forged is necessary; an assassin
can only forge documents in the common
tongue or in any other single language that
he is the most familiar with.

Proper materials are essential for a forgery
to be successful. The paper, ink, and
writing utensil must be identical to those
that were used for the document being
copied.

An assassin can begin to study and practice
forgery upon attaining third level or as
soon as he gains mastery of the written
language to be used, whichever comes later.
If he does not have fluency in reading and
writing the ?forgery language? until fourth
level or later, then he is treated as third level
for determination of the base chance of
success in the forgery and thereafter progresses
one level in forgery skill for every
new assassin level he gains. For example,
an assassin who does not acquire fluency in
reading and writing the forgery language
until 6th level will then acquire 3rd-level
forgery skills, and even if he rises to become
Grandfather of Assassins he will never have
forgery skills better than 12th level.

Types and techniques
Forgeries are of 2 types, copies and
original forgeries, and come in three degrees
of complexity -- simple, average, and
difficult. A copy is a forgery made to look
identical to the document being copied, and
this kind of forgery is always done in secret.
An original forgery is a new document
prepared by imitating a person's writing
style. This work may be done in seclusion,
but is also often performed when the assassin
(in disguise) is in the presence of others.

Complexity is related to the length of the
document being copied or created. A simple
forgery is a copy no more than 100 characters
in length, an original forgery of no
more than 50 characters, and/or a copied
signature. A forgery of average complexity
is a copy of no more than 300 characters or
an original forgery of no more than 150
characters. A difficult forgery is a copy of
more than 300 characters or an original
forgery of more than 150 characters, or an
effort where a certain individual?s writing
style must be imitated in the presence of
people who are familiar with that individual
and the way he writes ? regardless of how
long the document is. Thus, even the ?simple
? act of imitating someone?s signature
can be a difficult forgery if it is attempted in
front of onlookers who have seen how the
imitated person writes.

To have a chance of successfully performing
an original forgery, the assassin must
have obtained a sample of the person?s
writing that is at least twice as long as the
document to be forged. Thus, an assassin
who is in possession of a document 200
characters long could construct an original
forgery of up to 100 characters. (To help the
DM judge the success of the attempt, the
player of the forger should write out exactly
what the document is to say.)

It takes time to perform a forgery, and
additional time beforehand for practice or
study — even for an accomplished forger.
Lack of practice quickly makes one rusty,
and any forgery attempt will automatically
fail (producing an easily detected forgery) if
the proper amount of time is not spent in
preparation.

When making a copy, the forger must
spend 30 seconds per character studying the
formation of the character and imitating it.
A tracing will not suffice; the writing must
look fluid, not stiff, and not appear as
though meticulous care was taken in the
formation of each letter.

When making an original forgery in
seclusion, the assassin must spend one hour
of practice time for every 25 characters of
the document to be forged, and 15 minutes
for the actual writing out of each 25 characters
when the document is being prepared.
Practice time need not be continuous, but
must all be taken within 24 hours before the
time when the forgery is actually created in
order for the forgery to have the best chance
of fooling those who examine it. The actual
preparation of the document must be done
in one sitting; splitting the writing into two
or more sessions will produce a document
that does not have the ring of truth to it,
and which will be detected as a forgery as
soon as it is examined.

If a signature is to be forged, then at least
three different samples of the signature
must be obtained, and at least 30 minutes
must be spent practicing that alone.

When an original forgery is to be incorporated
into a disguise so that the writing is
done in the presence of associates of the
imitated person, then the assassin must be
familiar with the technique of how that
person writes. This requires observation of
the person when writing on at least two
different occasions. In addition, the assassin
must have obtained at least three samples of
the person’s writing, each at least as long as
the document to be forged, and must practice
beforehand (in private) for one hour per
each 50 characters of the document to be
forged. Again, all the practice time must be
taken within 24 hours of the time when the
original forgery will be prepared to insure
the best chances for success. No extra time
is needed for preparation of a document in
front of witnesses; the performance of the
actual forgery takes only as long as the time
required to write out the actual document.

The chance of accomplishing a successful
forgery is not diminished in front of witnesses,
as long as all the necessary precautions
are taken. However, performing a
forgery while in disguise and while being
watched by associates of the imitated person
does increase the chance of the assassin’s
disguise being detected, even if the forgery
is successful. (If the forgery is detected, of
course, then the disguise is automatically
seen through.) Each associate of the imitated
person who witnesses the forgery gains
an extra 5% to his chance of detecting the
assassin’s disguise for the day on which the
forgery is performed. This simulates the
possibility that, although the forgery is
accepted as authentic, the assassin did take
a greater risk by not only imitating the
appearance of someone, but also imitating
his writing style, and sometimes that risk
will cause the entire disguise to backfire
because the assassin aroused suspicions that
would not have existed if he had not performed
the forgery to begin with. And if the
assassin’s disguise is seen through, any
document he prepared in the presence of
witnesses will be automatically detected as a
forgery, even though the dice roll for the
forgery previously indicated success.

FORGERY SUCCESS TABLE                    Base chance to perform

Level of Assassin	Simple	Average	Difficult
3	60%	45%	30%
4	65	50	35
5	70	55	40
6	75	60	45
7	80	65	50
8	85	70	55
9	90	75	60
10	95	80	65
11	100	85	70
12	105	90	75
13	110	95	80
14	115	100	85
15	120	105	90

Modification to base chance

14-15	+3%	14-16	+5%
16-17	+5%	17-18	+10
18+	+10%	-	-

Forger's race

Human	+0%
Dwarf	-5%
Elf	+10%
Half-elf	+5%
Gnome	+0%
Half-orc	-10%

Reader's INT

3-5	+10%
6-8	+5%
9-11	+0%
12-14	-5%
15-16	-10%
17	-15%
18	-20%

Note: Any reader with INT of 19
|or| higher will automatically detect a forgery
if he reads the forged document and is
familiar with what an authentic document
of the same sort would look like, unless the
forger’s modified chance of success is 100%
or higher. The powers of observation of
such an intelligent reader are so great that
he will detect even the slightest flaw.

The chance for success of a forgery must
be rolled separately for each person who
reads or examines the forged document. A
reader is entitled to a chance to detect a
forgery only if he is familiar with what an
authentic document of the same sort would
look like. Even if the reader has this familiarity,
sometimes he will only scan a document
(especially one of some length), and in
such cases that reader does not deserve a
chance to detect the forgery. Conversely, a
document that is very short (a brief note
and/or a signature, for instance) cannot be
scanned as such, since scanning it and
reading it are essentially the same thing. In
such a case, anyone who views the document
or signature is entitled to a roll to see
if the forgery passes inspection.

APRIL 1985
 

LETTERS

No halflings allowed
-
Dear Dragon,
I am writing about "The Handy Art of Forgery
" by Keith Routley (issue #96). In the
"Modifications to base chance" table under the
forger's race, it makes mention of all races but
halflings. Considering that halflings get a +1 on
their initial dexterity roll, I feel that they should
not be excluded from this article. Would you
please explain the author's reasoning in this?

Jim O'Connor
Sea Girt, N.J.
(Dragon #98)
 

Forgery, as defined in Keith’s article, is an
activity that can only be practiced by assassins —
and according to the Players Handbook, membership
in the assassin class is open to any race
but halflings. Within the game system, the only
way to “create” a halfling forger would be to
allow the practice of forgery by all thieves; then
no racial restriction is implied, because a thief
can be of any race. But Keith recommends in his
article (and rightly so) that the art of forgery
should not be used by thieves; for one thing, as
he points out, “It is an unnecessary and uncharacteristic
capability for regular thieves, who use
physical stealth and dexterity-dependent skills to
achieve their ends.” And, from a game-balance
standpoint, it would seem that thieves have
enough special skills already without being able to
imitate someone’s handwriting.

— KM
(Dragon #98)
 

Turning the table
-
Dear Dragon,
In “The handy art of forgery” (issue #96), the
table of modifiers for reader’s intelligence can’t
be correct, because intelligence 3-5 is listed as
+10%. This can’t be correct because someone
that stupid can’t even read, much less spot a
forgery.

Rob Williams
Alexandria, Va.
(Dragon #99)


The table is indeed correct, as long as you
interpret it as what it was meant to be. The
modifiers are to the forger’s chance of successfully
fooling the reader, not to the reader’s chance of
discovering the forgery And incidentally, being
unable to read is not the same as being unable to
detect a forgery. If someone tried to pay you with
a dollar bill made from a pencil drawing and cut
out of green construction paper, your chance of
being fooled by the forgery would have nothing to
do with whether you could read.

— KM
(Dragon #99)