Gladiators

[pawsplay]

My first stab at NPC design. Roman-style gladiators.

Retiarius (Medium Folk Walker – 50 XP): Str 10, Dex 10, Con 10, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 10; SZ M (1x1, Reach 1); Spd 40 ft. ground; Init IV; Atk IV; Def V; Res II; Comp I; Health V; Skills: Acrobatics V, Athletics V, Intimidate V, Notice II, Prestidigitation II, Sense Motive II, Tactics IV; Qualities: Class Ability (armor use I, blade dance II, carve, sneak attack I), Feats (Expert Disarm, Spear Basics).
Attacks/Weapons: trident (1d8 lethal; threat 19-20; hook, hurl; M/1h; 10 lbs), net (range 10 ft x3; cord, trip; 5 lbs), dagger (1d6 lethal; threat 19-20; bleed, hurl; D/1h; 2 lbs)
Mounts and Vehicles: Chariot or none
Gear: Partial padded armor (DR 0; resist cold 3; DP -0; ACP -0; 4 lbs)
Treasure: None

Hoplomachus (Medium Folk Walker – 49 XP): Str 10, Dex 10, Con 10, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 10; SZ M (1x1, Reach 1); Spd 30 ft ground; Init IV; Atk IV; Def IV; Res II; Comp I; Health V; Skills: Acrobatics IV, Athletics V, Intimidate V, Notice II, Prestidigitation II, Sense Motive IV, Tactics IV; Qualities: Class Ability (armor use I), Feats (Combat Instincts, Two-Weapon Fighting, Sword Basics), Tricky (shield block).
Attacks/Weapons: Shortsword (1d8 lethal; threat 19-20; keen 4; T/1h; 4 lbs), metal shield (1d4 subdual; threat 20; guard +2; S/1h; 8 lbs).
Mounts and Vehicles: Chariot or none
Gear: partial padded armor with light fightings (DR 1; DP -0; ACP -1; disguise -4; 10 lbs)
Treasure: None

Secutor (Medium Folk Walker – 48 XP): Str 10, Dex 10, Con 10, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 10; SZ M (1x1, Reach 1); Spd 30 ft ground; Init IV; Atk IV; Def IV; Res II; Comp I; Health V; Skills: Acrobatics IV, Athletics V, Intimidate V, Notice II, Prestidigitation II, Sense Motive II, Tactics IV; Qualities: Class Ability (armor use I, study the stance), Feats (Two-Weapon Fighting, Sword Basics), Tricky (shield block), sterner stuff.
Attacks/Weapons: Shortsword (1d8 lethal; threat 19-20; keen 4; T/1h; 4 lbs), metal shield (1d4 subdual; threat 20; guard +2; S/1h; 8 lbs).
Mounts and Vehicles: Chariot or none
Gear: lightweight partial scalemail with light fightings (DR 4; resist edged 2; DP -2; ACP -2; disguise -12; 27 lbs)
Treasure: None

[Litpho]

Nice . Although you may consider folding the small skills (notice, prestidigitation) into an overall competence score as advised on page 229-230.

[pawsplay]

I was thinking feints would be an important aspect of a gladiator combat, but maybe I'm overthinking.

[Krensky]

They should all have Impress.

Gladitorial fights (and Prizefighting in the middle ages) was as much about Heat or Pop as Professional Wrestling is. A gladiator who couldn't play to the crowd and put on a good show wasn't worth anything.

[pawsplay]

Revised.

Retiarius (Medium Folk Walker – 50 XP): Str 10, Dex 10, Con 10, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 10; SZ M (1x1, Reach 1); Spd 40 ft. ground; Init IV; Atk IV; Def V; Res II; Comp I; Health V; Skills: Acrobatics V, Athletics V, Impress II, Intimidate IV, Notice II, Prestidigitation II, Sense Motive II, Tactics IV; Qualities: Class Ability (armor use I, blade dance II, carve, sneak attack I), Feats (Expert Disarm, Spear Basics).
Attacks/Weapons: trident (1d8 lethal; threat 19-20; hook, hurl; M/1h; 10 lbs), net (range 10 ft x3; cord, trip; 5 lbs), dagger (1d6 lethal; threat 19-20; bleed, hurl; D/1h; 2 lbs)
Mounts and Vehicles: Chariot or none
Gear: Partial padded armor (DR 0; resist cold 3; DP -0; ACP -0; 4 lbs)
Treasure: None

Hoplomachus (Medium Folk Walker – 50 XP): Str 10, Dex 10, Con 10, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 10; SZ M (1x1, Reach 1); Spd 30 ft ground; Init IV; Atk IV; Def IV; Res II; Comp I; Health V; Skills: Acrobatics IV, Athletics V, Impress II, Intimidate V, Notice II, Prestidigitation II, Sense Motive IV, Tactics IV; Qualities: Class Ability (armor use I), Feats (Combat Instincts, Two-Weapon Fighting, Sword Basics), Tricky (shield block).
Attacks/Weapons: Shortsword (1d8 lethal; threat 19-20; keen 4; T/1h; 4 lbs), metal shield (1d4 subdual; threat 20; guard +2; S/1h; 8 lbs).
Mounts and Vehicles: Chariot or none
Gear: partial padded armor with light fightings (DR 1; DP -0; ACP -1; disguise -4; 10 lbs)
Treasure: None

Secutor (Medium Folk Walker – 49 XP): Str 10, Dex 10, Con 10, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 10; SZ M (1x1, Reach 1); Spd 30 ft ground; Init IV; Atk IV; Def IV; Res II; Comp I; Health V; Skills: Acrobatics IV, Athletics V, Impress II, Intimidate V, Notice II, Prestidigitation II, Sense Motive II, Tactics IV; Qualities: Class Ability (armor use I, study the stance), Feats (Two-Weapon Fighting, Sword Basics), Tricky (shield block), sterner stuff.
Attacks/Weapons: Shortsword (1d8 lethal; threat 19-20; keen 4; T/1h; 4 lbs), metal shield (1d4 subdual; threat 20; guard +2; S/1h; 8 lbs).
Mounts and Vehicles: Chariot or none
Gear: lightweight partial scalemail with light fightings (DR 4; resist edged 2; DP -2; ACP -2; disguise -12; 27 lbs)
Treasure: None

[Litpho]

I was thinking feints would be an important aspect of a gladiator combat, but maybe I'm overthinking.

Oh, I agree. Feints should definitely be a part of a gladiator's style (as should showmanship). How I always used the NPC-system in Spycraft (and now Fantasy Craft) is to model the exceptional skills as signature skills. The merely competent skills (and I think a II ranks as merely competentat best) can be folded into a single Competency rating. This reduces clutter in the Stat block and potential XP bloat. It does have the side effect of raising, for instance, crafting but since it's an NPC, no such check is ever going to come up if you as GM don't want it to.

I might consider not agreeing on a high (VIII-X) Competency score on a Personal Lieutenant though, especially if the saved points are used to buy a few levels of Veteran.

[Krensky]

I might consider not agreeing on a high (VIII-X) Competency score on a Personal Lieutenant though, especially if the saved points are used to buy a few levels of Veteran.

This was covered in one of the question threads,  but (in general) you don't want to let players build PL or APs with Veteran unless you really trust them and they give you a really strong  argument. An example was an aged armsman for a young knight charged with protecting him who would die in a few adventures and be replaced with a young squire.

[Litpho]

I might consider not agreeing on a high (VIII-X) Competency score on a Personal Lieutenant though, especially if the saved points are used to buy a few levels of Veteran.

This was covered in one of the question threads,  but (in general) you don't want to let players build PL or APs with Veteran unless you really trust them and they give you a really strong  argument. An example was an aged armsman for a young knight charged with protecting him who would die in a few adventures and be replaced with a young squire.

I remember that, yes. Well, it was more of an example how a PC-driven NPC (as opposed to a GM-driven NPC) can indeed easily fill in skill gaps through a very high Competence score.

[pawsplay]

I was thinking feints would be an important aspect of a gladiator combat, but maybe I'm overthinking.

Oh, I agree. Feints should definitely be a part of a gladiator's style (as should showmanship). How I always used the NPC-system in Spycraft (and now Fantasy Craft) is to model the exceptional skills as signature skills. The merely competent skills (and I think a II ranks as merely competentat best) can be folded into a single Competency rating. This reduces clutter in the Stat block and potential XP bloat. It does have the side effect of raising, for instance, crafting but since it's an NPC, no such check is ever going to come up if you as GM don't want it to.

I might consider not agreeing on a high (VIII-X) Competency score on a Personal Lieutenant though, especially if the saved points are used to buy a few levels of Veteran.

I built the gladiators under the assumption that they would have a low Competence, since gladiators have very specialized abilities and end to be quite ignorant, even for slaves. Also, it takes a pretty high Competence to cover up for the lack of a signature skill, as they use different progressions. I wasn't looking at veteran, since my overall view of gladiators is that against PCs, they are expected to lose.

[Litpho]

I built the gladiators under the assumption that they would have a low Competence, since gladiators have very specialized abilities and end to be quite ignorant, even for slaves.

Certainly, but as they are NPCs, their other (lacking) abilities will never come up.

Also, it takes a pretty high Competence to cover up for the lack of a signature skill, as they use different progressions.

Fair enough. I still think it reduces clutter with few drawbacks. YMMV.

[pawsplay]

To get to the level where Comp would help them make most of those specialized combat checks would make their rating too high, I think, from the standpoint of interacting with them in a noncombat setting. I think it's ok for gladiators to be "specialized skill characters" with weapon feats, as I think that summarizes them rather well. But I don't claim to be fully acculturated to FC, so maybe my approach is a little off-key.

[Dhampire]

I might consider not agreeing on a high (VIII-X) Competency score on a Personal Lieutenant though, especially if the saved points are used to buy a few levels of Veteran.

This was covered in one of the question threads,  but (in general) you don't want to let players build PL or APs with Veteran unless you really trust them and they give you a really strong  argument. An example was an aged armsman for a young knight charged with protecting him who would die in a few adventures and be replaced with a young squire.

The most I would let a PL/AP buy of Veteran is to buy off their -4 Level adjustment.  And even then, I'm wary.

[pawsplay]

I might consider not agreeing on a high (VIII-X) Competency score on a Personal Lieutenant though, especially if the saved points are used to buy a few levels of Veteran.

This was covered in one of the question threads,  but (in general) you don't want to let players build PL or APs with Veteran unless you really trust them and they give you a really strong  argument. An example was an aged armsman for a young knight charged with protecting him who would die in a few adventures and be replaced with a young squire.

The most I would let a PL/AP buy of Veteran is to buy off their -4 Level adjustment.  And even then, I'm wary.

It seems likely a PL would get more of an opportunity to use their various leveled up ablities than an NPC adversary. I would be wary, too.