Copyright 2011 Wizards of the Coast.

From what I remember, the Harpers used to be a “good conspiracy” back the “old days” of the Forgotten Realms. A secret society dedicated to doing good, fighting for freedom, and keeping the many evil factions of the setting in check. Elminster was a big fan, and several of the setting’s iconic NPCs were members.

Those Harpers got destroyed during the Spellplague, but sixty years before our narrative present a new group took up the name. This incarnation of the group is mostly focused on stopping the machinations of those Netheril survivors who came out of the Shadowfell, though they also have their fingers in other pies.

A PC with this background has a very specific and rather tense backstory. They always dreamed of joining the Harpers, and traveled to Everlund to apply. They were given a trial mission - to go to Neverwinter and link up with a woman named Cymril. Cymril was not only a fully-fledged Harper Agent but also the leader of the Sons of Alagondar. The Sons are a group of rebels who opposes Dagult Neverember, and who fight for an independent Neverwinter.

The PC gets included in night-time recon mission led by Cymril herself, and their group gets ambushed by a force of Neverember’s mercs. In panic, the PC hides, and then gets to witness as the rebels are massacred. The thing is, Cymril herself turned coat as soon as the fight started, and began killing her own underlings! In the end, the hidden PC is the only survivor on the rebel side: Cymril gets taken out by one of her lieutenants, who in turn dies to the mercenaries. They leave the rebels’ bodies on the street as a warning. Our PC as the foresight to steal Cymril’s Harper pin before absconding.

So the title of “Harper Agent” is kind of misleading. The PC is actually a rogue agent, sympathetic to the organization’s ideals but operating without their official support. The PC can’t let it become known that they’re not a real Harper, and even without that secret coming out they’re already facing suspicion from the very rebel group they were supposed to help, for being the only survivor of the ambush that killed Cymril.

A PC with this background wishes to discover the truth behind that massacre, prove their innocence, and fulfill their original mission of preventing Neverember from becoming the cutthroat merchant-king he wishes to be. This theme brings even more intrigue and spy games into the game than the Neverwinter Noble.

There are no class or race prerequisites, though the book recommends Harper characters be good at subterfuge and say many of them multiclass into bard, rogue, ranger or wizard.

Features

This class gains only a single feature: that Harper Pin pried from Cymril’s corpse. It marks the bearer as a member of the Harpers, brings with it a blessing from one of their patron goddesses, and can be used as a key to secret Harper hideouts and caches.

Mechanically, it’s a Rare Level 3 Wondrous Item, which means it doesn’t take up any slots and can’t be bought in stores. The PC chooses one of three possible blessings at character creation, and this becomes the pin’s item encounter power. Llira’s Grace lets them roll 1d6 and add it to an attack roll they just missed, potentially turning it into a hit. Mielikki’s Endurance lets them reduce incoming damage from an attack by 5 + half level. And Tymora’s Luck lets them re-roll a save with a +2 bonus to the new roll.

Utility Powers

This class’s optional utility powers continue to follow the themes of the divine blessings above.

Harper’s Healing Boon is a level 2 daily power that can be used as an interrupt when the PC is hit by an attack. They take only half damage from the attack and can immediately roll a save.

Unexpected Ally is a level 6 power that represents the PC use fast-talk to trick an enemy into believing the PC is a secret ally of theirs. This means the enemy can’t make opportunity attacks against the PC and grants combat advantage to them. The effect ends when the PC attacks the fooled enemy.

Resourceful Dastard (yes, with a D) is a level 10 daily power. It’s a stance that gives +4 to all defenses when the PC has cover or concealment, and lets them ignore all difficult terrain when shifting.

Impressions

This theme is very strongly oriented towards rogue, bard, or even ranger PCs, I feel. Its blessing and utility power can help make these characters less fragile and more mobile.

A criticism I’d make is that this one is a lot less generic than the other themes we saw so far. With a background like that, it’s a bit hard to make the PC anything other than a rogue Harper in the Neverwinter region of the Forgotten Realms. It’s also almost impossible to have more than one Harper Agent in a party unless you change that very detailed background and come up with another reason why they can’t contact out-of-town Harpers for support.

A Harper Agent in a party has reasons to cozy up to and aid the Neverwinter Noble, and provides a good hook for the GM to introduce the group to the Sons of Alagondar (or what’s left of them). Cooperation would not be automatic, since the Sons distrust the Harper, but it would be a start. The Agent would also try to convince any other neutral PCs to oppose Neverember.