False Witness
Item 0+Legacy Content
Uncommon Source Dark Archive pg. 83Bulk —
There comes a time in every thief's life when they need a friend, an ally, a boon companion who will look a judge straight in the eye and swear over a stack of holy books that the two of them were out drinking—yes, your honor, all night, never left my sight for more than a minute, you have my solemn oath. Lucky thieves have a friend who is willing to be an alibi; for everyone else, there's the false witness, a professional in the art of fraudulent testimony.
Some false witnesses are truly freelance, willing to claim to have seen someone for the price of a round of drinks. More respectable witnesses, however, tend to be associated with thieves' guilds, secret societies, and other conspiracies. Such organizations can match a person in need of an alibi with a witness with no apparent connection to them, and they often have large enough numbers that no one witness appears before law enforcement often enough to arouse suspicion. The most expensive and professional false witnesses use memory charms or similar techniques to render their testimony foolproof. Typically, a false witness charges per incident, providing a false alibi and, if necessary, hiring other witnesses to back themselves up and thus foul an investigation.
False witnesses generally know better than to ask questions, but depending on their background, might refuse to protect—and might even turn in—someone involved in a particularly heinous crime. A tavern keeper might have no qualms about covering for burglars and footpads but will gladly send a child murderer to the gallows.
Detecting False Testimony: To defeat a false witness's testimony, an investigator must succeed at a check against the DC listed in the table. The check used depends on the investigation: Perception to
Sense Motive versus spoken testimony,
Society to determine forgeries, and so on. A false witness can sometimes stymie an investigation where the lead investigator is sufficiently lower level than the false witness, and they might be able to delay or befuddle a more serious investigation.
False Witness (Disreputable)Item 0
Source Dark Archive pg. 83Price 9 gp
Disreputable (DC 16) false witnesses fall into two main types: people considered unreliable to a typical investigator—barflies, beggars, petty criminals—and poor actors, their perjury painfully transparent to any court taking a cursory effort to cross-examine them.
False Witness (Ordinary)Item 5
Source Dark Archive pg. 83Price 75 gp
Ordinary (DC 22) false witnesses are usually on the edges of the criminal community but can at least pass themselves off as respectable: retired thieves, relatives of criminals, or the like.
False Witness (Respectable)Item 9
Source Dark Archive pg. 83Price 450 gp
Reputable (DC 28) false witnesses are upstanding members of the community, though typically ones with secrets: a merchant who acts as a fence on the side or a clerk with gambling debts. This is the highest level that's ever available to characters without membership in a secret society or similar conspiracy (such as a spy network or thieves' guild).
False Witness (Honorable)Item 13
Source Dark Archive pg. 83Price 1,500 gp
Honorable (DC 33) false witnesses are pillars of society and likely have no illicit connections save for their contact with the society or conspiracy: well-to-do aristocrats who were discussing business with the subject or somber church deacons who report the subject prayed all night for a loved one's soul.
False Witness (Unimpeachable)Item 17
Source Dark Archive pg. 83Price 7,500 gp
Unimpeachable (DC 38) false witnesses provide signed affidavits from impeccable sources like the High Priest of
Pharasma, the Chief Magistrate of the Royal Court, or the king's favorite aunt.