Not every marshal operates in the open, and neither does every army. Spymasters are the generals of the clandestine world of spies, assassins, partisans, guerillas, paramilitary forces and sometimes even terrorists. They may be freedom fighters or revolutionaries, but it’s just as likely that they’re an agent of the state instead. Whatever their affiliation, they are capable of feats of coordination and subterfuge that put other leaders to shame.
When you choose this archetype at 3rd level, you gain proficiency in four of the following skills and tool kits: Deception, Insight, Investigation, Stealth, disguise kit, poisoner’s kit, or thieves’ tools. If you already have proficiency with a skill you select this way, you gain an expertise die with it instead.
In addition, you can invent ciphers and are able to teach a cipher you create to others. Anyone who knows the cipher can encode and read hidden messages made with it; the apparent text must be at least four times longer than the hidden message. Other creatures can detect the presence of the cipher if they spend a minute examining it and succeed on an Investigation check against a DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence modifier. If the check succeeds by 5 or more, they can read the hidden message.
At 7th level, choose one of the following:
Friendly creatures within the range of your Commanding Presence ignore Stealth penalties from armor they wear.
Over the course of 10 minutes, you may brief a number of creatures equal to your proficiency bonus. For one hour, as long as those creatures do not make attacks or cast spells with seen components, those creatures gain advantage on all checks to avoid notice or to appear not out-of-place. As long as these creatures share a language, they gain advantage on Deception checks to conceal messages that they sign to one another.
Once you have used this feature, you may not use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
At 11th level, choose one of the following:
As an action, designate a number of creatures up to your proficiency bonus within range of your Commanding Presence. You and the creatures you designate gain advantage on Perception and Investigation checks for one hour. Once you have used this ability, you may not use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
You have an established network of safehouses that you can draw upon. Any time you spend at least a week in a new city, you can establish a Grade 1 or 2 safe house stronghold in the city at half cost. Any city bolt hole you purchase is also at half-cost.You can also establish a new city bolt hole over a number of hours equal to 7 minus your proficiency bonus.
Beginning at 15th level, as an action you may select a number of friendly creatures equal to your Charisma modifier within range of your Commanding Presence. Once per turn when an affected creature hits with an attack and has advantage on the attack roll, the attack deals an additional 1d6 damage. You may select a new batch of creatures by spending another action. The effect persists for one minute. Once you have used this ability a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, you can’t do so again until you finish a short or long rest.
At 18th level, you gain the ability to create singular moments of explosive coordination. As an action, select up to 6 friendly creatures (which may include you) within 100 feet. All of the creatures immediately take a single action, expending their reaction to do so. If the order of their actions matter, you may decide the sequence. Once you use this feature, you must finish a long rest before you can use it again.