Copyright 2011 Wizards of the Coast.

The first thing I learned about the Bregan D’Aerthe is that WotC’s authors really like them. This is an organization of mercenary drow led by this dude named Jarlaxe Baenre, a swashbuckler that’s basically a wittier and more morally ambiguous Drizz’t. Its members are all some sort of outcast from drow society, such as members of fallen houses and “houseless males” (in the words of the FR setting book). They can show up anywhere in the world and are always on the lookout for an opportunity to turn a profit.

They started out as a ready source of sudden ninja attacks, but by 5e they seem to appear in every published campaign as one of the factions in play, and even as a possible patron for PCs. No matter where the story takes place, there’s always a smirking drow asshole hanging in the background, ready to send your PCs on cryptic missions and gloating that all went according to plan no matter what the result of those missions is. Sometimes it’s Jarlaxe himself, sometimes it’s another character.

This might have been the book that started the trend, and it did so in a spectacular fashion: if you pick this theme, you are the smirking drow asshole with all the secret plans.

Your story is pretty typical. You are a drow who survived the fall of your house (which as usual for drow involves a massive assassination spree). The Bregan D’Aerthe took you in and trained you, giving you a new chance to make a life for yourself.

You’ve worked for them for decades, many of them here in the North’s surface. You took part in many of the schemes that helped Luskan’s fall along, and you witnessed the volcanic eruption. After that happened, the bulk of your Bregan buddies left the area, since the pickings had become slim. Jarlaxe personally ordered you to stay behind and keep an eye out in case the region started heating up again.

Now that it did, you’re to look into everybody’s business, figure out what all the factions in the are are up to, and find out how the Bregan D’Aerthe can profit from their schemes. Jarlaxe is going to swing by some time to hear your report and give new orders. So yeah, you’re acting as the cryptic smirking drow “friend” to your fellow PCs while compiling a report for an even bigger cryptic smirking NPC.

To be a Bregan D’Aerthe Spy, you must be a drow. You can be any class, however. Any gender too, despite the “houseless males” bit above. The background skills for this are Bluff, Dungeoneering, and Stealth.

Features

At level 1, you gain the Levitation encounter power, which is an innate magic power few drow manage to master. As a move action, you can fly up to 4 squares up and move 1 square horizontally. You keep hovering up there for a turn, after which you softly descend to the ground without taking falling damage. If something else boosts you past an altitude of 4 squares while you’re levitating, you fall to that altitude without taking damage after resolving the effect.

At level 5, you gain Continuous Levitation, a daily power that when used gives you the ability to sustain Levitation until the end of the encounter. When you sustain it, you can move an additional 3 squares vertically and 1 square horizontally.

At Level 10, when you grant combat advantage, enemies no longer gain the usual +2 bonus to attack you. They still gain other benefits from having combat advantage like extra damage or the ability to use specific powers, but their attacks will be no more accurate than usual.

Optional Powers

Sudden Stealth is a level 2 encounter power that lets you roll Stealth right along your Initiative roll if you have any cover or concealment at the start of combat.

Fluid Steps is a level 6 daily power that uses a minor action and lets you shift 3 squares as a move action for the rest of the encounter.

Spy Sight might familiar to players of the Assassin’s Creed or Arkham games. It’s a level 10 daily power that uses a minor action and gives you +5 to Perception and Insight for the rest of the encounter.

Impressions

I admit I’m predisposed to disliking the Bregan D’Aerthe, precisely because all those places where they appear seem to go out of the way to picture Jarlaxe as someone you’re supposed to love even when he betrays your party to make a few extra gold pieces. What a card, amirite?

Still, I have to praise this theme for its willingness to peel back the curtain a little and put a PC in the role of the sneaky quest giver. Remove Jarlaxe from consideration somehow and it gets even better.

Mechanically, this is going to lend a roguish flair to any PC, making them more mobile and stealthy. It works well for any mobile melee striker, but even defenders are going to love the protection from flanking or the ability to get up close and personal with those annoying fliers.

Multiple Bregan Spies in a party are possible, but too many mysterious drow in one place can end up spoiling the mystery. A whole party of them would also end up sticking out and having a hard time moving around undetected, unless you rule drow make up a significant part of the general surface population in your campaign.