Special Abilities:
Sleight of Hand +X: Keeping things hidden or removing things from a person without them noticing is one of the tools of the trade for a street rat. They gain a +X to any roll made to palm, steal, or otherwise hide away any hand-sized or smaller object.
Urban Tracking +X: Finding people--and staying away from them--is important to someone who lives on the street, and this ability reflects that. Whenever a street rat with this ability is in an urban environment, they get +X to any rolls made to find a person or keep hidden away themselves.
X Neat Tricks: Neat tricks help the street rat get around safely, scare off attackers, and escape from dangerous situations. Each time the street rat gains a neat trick(On the first level and once every third level after that), they may pick one from the list below. Some require MP to use, others work whenever they are needed. Many neat tricks may be taken multiple times.
Hidden Reserve Weapon: Getting caught doing something they shouldn't be doing is something a Street Rat will have to deal with multiple times, and this neat trick is one of the ways they can prepare for that eventuality. Taking this trick gives the Street Rat a free weapon, worth up to 100 dollars, that they keep hidden away on their person. Assuming they didn't have it out when they were captured, the difficulty for someone else to find the weapon when searching them is 7 plus half the character's agility, rounded up. You can take this trick multiple times, and get a new hidden weapon each time, but you cannot use the "leftover" money from another copy of the trick to buy a more expensive weapon next time.
Appraisal: Many times a street rat won't have the time or room to drag off everything in sight, so this can come in handy. By spending 5 MP, a street rat with this trick can immediately identify the most monetarily valuable item within 20 feet. They don't know the exact value, but they do know that it is more valuable than anything else. If two or more things are tied for highest value, the street rat identifies all these items.
Precarious Hiding Spot: When someone's coming and the way out's blocked, most people will try some pretty desperate things to keep hidden away. This neat trick is a refinement of that, which lets them hide in archways, on chandeliers, in cardboard boxes, and hanging from ledges with relative safety. A street rat can spend 5 MP per turn they need to stay hidden to keep in their precarious spot without being in danger of falling, slipping, or sneezing. This doesn't give them any extra bonus to hiding, though, other than the bonus given by their creativity in picking a hiding place. Once you stop spending MP on this trick, though, the GM is free to mess with you all they want to try and get you to give away your hiding spot.
Sob Story: Let's face it, the life of a kid on the streets stealing for their livelihood isn't one that's chosen by most folks, and if you're in that position, you've got some tragic story behind it, for sure. By telling someone that story, you're liable to get them to sway just a little toward your side, and this trick helps you milk it for all its worth. For every 5 MP you spend when trying to convince someone nicely to take your side, you get a +2 to the social roll so long as you mention your pathetic story. You may spend 5 MP on a single use of this ability for each time you've taken it. A little sympathy goes a long way.
Trap Sense: Street rats can smell a trap a mile away, at least if they have this ability. Whenever a street rat with this trick is about to fall into a trap, they can spend 5 MP to gain a +2 bonus to whatever roll is needed to detect or avoid it. They may take this trick multiple times, and they can spend MP a number of times equal to the number of times they've taken the trick per turn.
Shadow Intimidation: You may be a scrawny little punk with no fighting ability and a stick to defend yourself with, but when you're lurking in the shadows, noone else knows that. You can use the cover of shadows to make yourself seem far more intimidating than you normally are, and this trick reflects that. When your character is hiding in shadows or otherwise in the dark, they gain a +2 bonus to any intimidate rolls made for every time they take this trick. A street rat can, obviously, take this trick multiple times.
Shadow Dodge: Shady places are probably a street rat's best friend, as this trick goes to show. By using echoes and darting around quickly, a street rat can convince someone that they're in two places at once. Whenever a street rat bathed in darkness who has this trick is attacked, they may spend 10 MP to make the attacker unsure where they are. When this happens, they must make a nonskilled accuracy roll of 4 or higher, or automatically miss the street rat. For every time after the first that this ability has been taken, the street rat may spend an additional 5 MP to raise the difficulty of the accuracy roll by +1.
Shadow Slip: Of course, the best way for a street rat to use that shadows is to hide in them. Hiding is usually a martial arts roll, which is why it's the specialty of the street rat, and taking this trick gives them a +2 to rolls made to hide in shadows. This can be combined with the Precarious hiding spot trick, and can be taken multiple times, for a total bonus of +2 times the number of times the trick has been taken.
Shadow Swipe: When someone's in the shadows, they're usually too worried about keeping their own hide safe to notice their pockets being picked. This trick may be taken multiple times, and each time grants an additional +2 bonus to rolls made to steal while bathed in darkness.
Shadow Stab: Most street rats don't want to hurt anyone, but sometimes, there's little recourse left but to take the offensive, and when they're in the shadows, it's easier on them. By spending 10 MP, a street rat with this trick gains a +2 to an attack roll made in the shadows, and if the attack is successful, they deal an extra strength die in damage. This ability can only be used once per turn, and only up to a number of times per encounter equal to the number of times this ability has been purchased.