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Character Class

Once you’ve rolled up your ability scores, the next step is to choose a character “class.” There are four base character classes: Fighter, Fighter-Mage, Magic-user, and Thief. These four classes may be modified by the addition of certain sub-classes which add abilities, and may also apply obligations or penalties. After choosing your character class, make sure to write down your experience point (XP) bonus. It’s based on your Wisdom (possible +5%), your Charisma (possible +5%), and the Prime Attribute for the character class you choose (possible +5%), with a total possible +15%.

The Fighter

You are a warrior, trained in battle and in the use of armour and weapons. Perhaps you are a ferocious Viking raider, a roaming samurai, or a medieval knight. Whatever type of Fighter you choose to play, you will probably end up on the front lines of your adventuring party, going toe-to-toe with dragons, goblins, and evil cultists, hacking your way through them and taking the brunt of their attacks. The Fighter character is best equipped of all the character classes to dish out damage and absorb it, too. Clerics heal, and Magic-users cast spells, but the down-and-dirty hack and slash work is up to you. You’re going to serve as the party’s sword and shield, protecting the weaker party members and taking down the enemies before you. Perhaps one day they will tell legends of your battle prowess, and followers will flock to your castle stronghold where you revel in your fame, riches, and newly earned nobility. Fail, of course, and you’ll die, just another forgotten warrior in a dangerous world.

• Hit Dice: 1d6+2/level (Gains 3 hp/level after 9th.)
• Armour/Shield Permitted: Any.
• Weapons Permitted: Any.
• Prime Attribute: Strength, 13+ (5% experience)

Fighter Class Abilities

Establish Stronghold (9th): At ninth level, a Fighter may establish a stronghold and attract a body of loyal warriors who will swear fealty to him or her. Most likely, the protection of a castle will attract villagers, and the Fighter will become a feudal Lord or even a Baron.

Multiple Attacks: As a Fighter increase in level, they can attack more frequently than other classes. When making an odd number of attacks over two rounds (i.e. 3/2 rds or 5/2 rds), the attacks are split with the greater number in the first round of combat, then the lesser in the second. For example, a 5th level Fighter with 3 attacks every 2 rounds would make 2 attacks in the first round of combat, then 1 in the second, then back to 2 in the 3rd round, 1 in the 4th, and so on.

Against creatures with less than one full hit die, a Fighter makes one attack per level each round.

The Fighter-mage

Fighter-mages are neither as good at fighting as a true fighter, nor as good at wizardry as a genuine magic-user, but they can both fight and cast magic spells, and if wearing magical armour, can do so while fully armoured — no small advantage!

• Hit Die Type: 1d6+1 per level
  After reaching 9 HD, the fighter-mage gains only 2 hp/level
• Armour/Shield Permitted: Any
• Weapons Permitted: Any
• Prime Attribute (+5% xp): Strength or Intelligence 13+

Fighter-mage Class Abilities

Spell Casting: Fighter-mages cast spells in exactly the same way Magic-users do.

A fighter-mage is limited to spells of 12th level at maximum.

A fighter-mage can cast spells in armour, but the spells may be of no greater level than three times the "plusses" of the armour. That is, while wearing +1 armour they may cast spells of levels 1 to 3, in +2 armour, spels of level 4 to 6, in +3 armour, spells of levels 7 to 9, and in =4 or better armour, spells of levels 10 to 12.

As spell-casting requires the hands to be free, no shield or weapon may be in hand while casting.

Stronghold (9th level): At ninth level, a fighter-mage character may establish a stronghold and attract a body of loyal men-at-arms and/or other minions who will swear fealty to him.

The Magic-user

The Magic-user is a mysterious figure, a student of arcane powers and spell casting. Usually cloaked in robes woven with mystical symbols, Magic-users can be devastating opponents. However, they are usually physically weaker than other adventuring classes, and are untrained in the use of armour and weapons. As Magic-users progress in level, they generally become the most powerful of the character classes. Perhaps one day, though, you will rise to such heights of power that you can build a mystically protected tower for your researches, create fabulous magic items, and scribe new formulae for hitherto unknown spells. Such arch-mages can sway the politics of kingdoms, and command respect and fear across the realms.

• Prime Attribute: Intelligence, 13+ (5% experience)
• Hit Dice: 1d6-1* (Gains 1 hp/level after 9th level.)
• Armour/Shield Permitted: None.
• Weapons Permitted: Dagger, staff, and darts.

Magic-users gain a minimum of one hit point per level.

Magic-user Class Abilities

Spell Casting: A Magic-user owns a book of spells, which does not necessarily include all of the spells on the standard lists. Reading from the book, the Magic-user presses the chosen spell formulae into his or her mind, “preparing” these spells. Once a prepared spell is cast, it disappears from the Magic-user’s ability to cast (until it is prepared again). It is possible to prepare a spell multiple times using the available “slots” in the Magic-user’s memory/capability. If the Magic-user finds scrolls of spells while adventuring, they can copy them into their spell book.

Wizard’s Tower (11th): At 11th level, a Magic-user gains the title of “wizard,” and can build a stronghold for him or herself to house their libraries and laboratories. They will attract a mixed bag of mercenaries, strange servants (some with odd abilities and deformities), and even a few monsters, perhaps. This motley crew will swear fealty to them and serve them with whatever loyalty they can inspire in them.

The Thief

The thief is the quintessential treasure seeker. Often self-serving, and almost invariably chaotic, this character prefers the sideways approach to wealth acquisition.

While stealth and a good plan (when possible) are the thief �s favored weapons, it would be ill-advised to discount this hugger-mugger as a lesser-skilled combatant. Only a man-at-arms is likely to survive, let alone escape unscathed, a tussle with a rogue.

Thieves are often proven swordsmen, rivaling even the best of fighting men. Only their preference for light armour endangers their chance for victory against more heavily armoured foes.

• Prime Attribute: (+5% xp) Dexterity 13+
• Hit Dice: 1d6 (Gains just 1 hp/level after 9th level.)
• Armour/Shield Permitted: Leather armour only, no shield
• Weapons Permitted: Any one-handed melee or missile weapon, bows, crossbows.

Thief Class Abilities

Keen Detection: A thief is adept at noting slanting passages, traps, shifting walls, and new construction, and is good at spotting hidden and concealed doors. Thieves are all also keen listeners, whether it�s overhearing conversations in a tavern or through a door in a quiet dungeon.

Deadly Accuracy with Missiles: Thief characters gain a +1 bonus when throwing or firing missile weapons.

Picking Locks: a d6 is rolled twice:

• The FIRST die indicates the number of rounds taken for that attempt, with a 6 indicating a potential jam.
• The SECOND die (or dice) indicates success, failure, or jamming.

For every three Thief levels, add another d6 to the second roll. Success is achieved if any of the dice on this roll score the required 1 or 2. In other words, at 3rd level the thief rolls 2d6 for success or failure, at 6th level 3d6, at 9th level 4d6 and so on.

The lockpicking attempt normally succeeds on a 1 or 2 on 1d6, though particularly fiendish locks may require more than one success, or even be unpickable.

Consecutive attempts are normally allowed until success is achieved or the lock proves unpickable:

• A 6/6 result at any stage indicates that the lock is jammed or otherwise beyond the thief�s skill to pick.
• If rolling multiple dice, a success (1 or 2) will cancel out a jam (6), allowing another attempt to be made.

Moving Silently: When using proper precautions and dressed appropriately, thieves move nearly noiselessly, at a movement rate of 1 per level (up to their maximum normal speed).

Surprise Attack: Thieves gain a +4 attack bonus and do exceptional damage on the first, and only the first, attack on a surprised foe. At levels 1-5 a surprise attack does double damage, at levels 6-10 triple damage, at levels 11-15 quadruple damage, and so on every five levels.

Hide in Shadows: If a location includes any shadows, or has interrupted sight-lines, or a suitable background (e.g. a mural the thief can “blend” into) he or she can make use of them to become effectively invisible. The thief succeeds on a roll of 1 on 1d6, and gains another die for every three levels in the same fashion as for lock-picking (see above). This skill cannot be used while moving.

Climbing: Thieves may climb normally inaccessibly vertical surfaces at the rate of 10ft per round for every two levels, up to their normal walking speed. Depending on circumstances, the referee may require die rolls, which may or may not be modified by the use of climbing equipment.

Sleight of Hand: This skill allows the character to pick pockets, palm small items, run a shell game, etc. A thief starts with an extra d6 to determine success (i.e. 2d6 at 1st level), and gains another for every three Thief levels.

Changing Class

At some stage in a character�s career, they may decide that they want to change direction. A Fighter may elect to embark on the path of magic, or a Thief decide that he or she wants to give up their life of crime and take up a career of martial valour.

Changing one�s class is possible, but it is subject to a few restrictions:

• A teacher of the appropriate class must be available and willing to take on the character as an apprentice.
• This teacher must be of at least 10th level; the term of the apprenticeship will depend on the individual class, but will be at least a year and probably longer.
• Hit-points accrue at the rate of the new class�s upper levels, until the new class exceeds the old in level. For example, a L7 fighter, on becoming a Thief, accrues only 1hp per level (because thieves get only 1hp per level from L10 onwards) until they reach Thief level 8, whereupon they roll 1d6 for their new Thief level.
• The character retains the Attack Bonus, Saving Throw and any special abilities from their original class until such time as those of the new class become better. For example, a L7 Fighter attacks at +4 and has a save of 10. If he were to become a Thief, his attack bonus would not improve until he reached L10 as a thief, but his save would begin to improve from Thief L7.

Once a base class is abandoned for a new, it may never again be restarted. The character above could not later decide to go back to being a fighter and continue progressing in that class.

Sub-classes

These are not fully-fledged classes in their own right, but rather they modify the base class to which they are attached. They add abilities which usually become more powerful as the character�s level increases; some abilities are not available until the character reaches a certain level. Note that where an ability is level-based, it refers to the Sub-Class level, which may not necessarily be the same as the character�s base level.

As long as the sub-class�s prerequisites are met, a character can adopt more than one sub-class � for example, a Thief could, with the approval of the DM, decide to be a Barbarian Druid and get the benefits of both of those sub-classes. Of course the experience penalties for each sub-class are cumulative.

Note that not all sub-classes will be appropriate to every character, regardless of whether the formal prerequisites have been met or not. A thief with the back-story of an urban guttersnipe who has made his way to adulthood through the streets and alleys of a great metropolis will have a hard time convincing the DM that he could reasonably become a Barbarian or a Druid.

Experience Cost

Each sub-class has an Experience Penalty associated. This reduces the amount of XP the player gets (or increases the amount required to rise in level � the effect is the same), which means that by applying one or more of these sub-classes it will take longer for the character to rise through the levels.

Total all the character�s experience modifiers to determine the final experience cost. For example, if a character has Wisdom 13 and Charisma 13, he or she would have a +10% experience modifier. If they took the Priest sub-class with a -25% experience modifier, they would calculate the total experience cost at +10% -25% = -15% experience.

Starting a Sub-Class after Level 1

It is most straightforward to assign any Sub-Class at the time of character creation, but it is not impossible, with the appropriate training and so forth, for a character to begin advancement in a sub-class at a later date.

If this is the case, the effective level of the sub-class begins at Level 1 when the character takes it on, regardless of their base level, and the sub-level�s experience cost takes effect from that point. The level of the sub-class rises with the character�s base level, but it will never catch up.

For example, a Level 4 Fighter, through persistence and luck, manages to convince some NPC that they would make an excellent paladin and begins training. At their next level they would become a Fighter (L5) Paladin (L1), and they would then begin to suffer the -33% experience penalty associated with the paladin sub-class. The next time they levelled up, they would become a Fighter (L6) Paladin (L2), and so on.

Dropping a Sub-Class

A player can choose to stop advancing in a sub-class at any time, (though there may be certain in-game consequences...) but that doesn�t mean that they lose any of the abilities they have gained up to that point, nor do they entirely lose the sub-class experience penalty.

The experience penalty for an inactive sub-class is halved from the character�s next level gain and rounded up to the nearest 5%.

For example, a character with the Priest sub-class who drops it half way through level 4 still has to pay the full 25% experience penalty until he or she attains level 5. From that point on, the experience penalty is halved to -12.5% (rounded up to -15%).

Under most circumstances a voluntarily dropped sub-class can never again be restarted. A character who loses the abilities of a sub-class for some reason rather than giving the sub-class up voluntarily can usually find some way back � a paladin or priest who accidentally incurs the wrath of his deity and must atone to regain his powers is a classic example. Another is a character whose characteristics or alignment is involuntarily changed so that they no longer conform to the sub-class�s prerequisites; if the alignment and/or acharcteristics are regained, the character will normally be able to continue the sub-class from that point � though there may then be a disparity between the character�s base level and that of his or her sub-class.

Sub-Class Descriptions

Barbarian

• Can be attached to: Fighter, Thief
• XP Penalty: -20%
• Prerequisites: None, but no spell use

Barbarians are savage, primitive warriors.

Barbarians may use only simple weapons; they are profoundly suspicious of mechanical arms such as crossbows or catapults.

Barbarian features

Battle Fury: Barbarian warriors can drive themselves into a battle-rage that bestows upon them additional strength and hit-points for a time, and makes them immune to fear or mental control. The battle-rage grants the barbarian one additional point of STR and CON and 1d3 hit-points at 1st level, and an additional point of STR and CON and 1d3 hitpoints for every 2 Barbarian levels thereafter. The additional CON may also grant temporary extra hit-points if it increases the barbarian�s CON modifier.

Damage is taken to these temporary hit-points first; only when they are gone does the Barbarian begin to lose their own hit-points.

The battle-rage lasts for up to 1d3 rounds per Barbarian level.

This ability is not without its drawbacks however � it is extremely tiring, and after the fit has passed the barbarian is weakened by the same amount of STR and CON they gained, and for as many Turns as rounds were passed in the fury. Note that if they are badly wounded at the end of their Battle Fury, this can actually kill them!

When entering the battle-trance, the barbarian must make a WIS roll; if it is failed, they instead descend into a berserk fury in which they will attack any creature they can see, always attacking the nearest creature until it is dead (or appears to be dead). A barbarian in a berserk rage cannot voluntarily calm down until they literally drop from exhaustion.

A Barbarian in a berserk fury may never alot any of his or her Combat Bonus to defence.

Alert: Barbarians are alert to danger and difficult to take by surprise. They are surprised only on a 1. At 5th level, they roll a d8 for surprise; at 10th level, a d10; at 15th level, a d12, and at 20th level or higher, a d20.

Bard

• Can be attached to: Fighter, Magic-user, Thief
• XP Penalty: -33%
• Prerequisites: Must be Neutral in alignment. Wisdom, Intelligence & Charisma all 13+

Bards are a member of the Druidic order (see below). They fall below true druids in rank, but nevertheless enjoy many of their perquisites. Their primary function is to record tribal history in verse, and to retell those stories, as well as traditional hero-tales, both for entertainment and as oral history.

Bard Features

Bards may wear no armour heavier than leather, and may use only one-handed melee weapons. They may use any muscle-powered missile weapon.

Druids� cant: All bards learn to speak a secret language called the Druids� Cant. The druidic cant may never be taught to non-druids (or bards) on pain of death for both teacher and student. It has a runic written form called Ogham, but bards are not automatically literate as their training and mode of expression is primarily oral.

Music and Poetry: Bards are skilled performers, and begin their careers Good At playing some sort of instrument. They pick up new instruments, songs and tales easily, and are skilled at the compositon and recitation of poetry � usually hero-tales, but also rhymes of lore, or even lyrics for pure entertainment.

Magic Use: Bards based on the Fighter or Thief classes are able to learn and cast magical spells, but only those related to charms, illusions or divination. Bards based on Magic-Users can cast spells of any kind. They are restricted to spells of 12th level or lower, and can learn one spell of their own level per day, and up to two spells of each lower level. A fighter- or thief-bard can never learn more total spell levels per day than the sum of his or her Wisdom. For example, a bard with a WIS of 16 could learn a number of spells per day totalling not more than 16 spell levels.

Unlike other spell-casters, bards carry all of their magical lore in their heads � in other words, they don�t need spell books. However, it�s possible that they may be unable to master any given spell. When attempting to add a new spell to their repertoire, the bard must make an INT save at -1 per level of the spell. If the save fails, they can never learn that particular spell. Aside from the ability to do without a spell book, bards cast spells the same way as any other spell caster... though probably with a little more flair and showmanship.

Memory and Lore: Bards are trained in the techniques of recall, and can set themselves to remember long passages of speech (or writing, if literate). They are storehouses of history, and can often identify objects such as magic items that appear in old tales or lore-lists.

Druid

• Can be attached to: Any
• XP Penalty: -33%
• Prerequisites: Must be Neutral in alignment

Druids worship the spiritual power of nature, maintain and protect holy places, perform festivals and ritual observances, and protect balance and harmony between civilisation and nature. Their magic is rooted in the mystical oneness of nature, and they have particular power over fire, stone, and weather, as well as over plant- and animal life.

Some druids pay homage to particular nature gods (some of these quite savage), while others eschew all deities and commune directly with the spiritual power of nature.

Historical druids were pan-tribal priests and law-givers, and included in their ranks the bards (see above).

Druid features

Druids may wear no armour heavier than leather, and may use only one-handed melee weapons. They may use any muscle-powered missile weapon.

Druids� cant: All druids learn to speak a secret language called the druids� cant. The druidic cant may never be taught to non-druids on pain of death for both teacher and student. It has a runic written form called Ogham.

Resistance to Fire and Lightning: All druids gain a saving throw bonus of +2 against fire and lightning (electrical) attacks of all kinds.

Druid�s Knowledge: A druid can identify natural plant and animal types, and are versed in the lore of natural living things � how they grow, their habits and preferences, and so forth. They can also determine when water is pure and safe to drink.

Speak With Animals and Plants (3rd and higher): Druids can speak to and understand natural animals, and eventually, even plants. At third level, a druid can converse with mammals. At 6th level, they can speak with reptiles and birds, at 9th level with fish, and at 12th level with insects and arachnids. At 15th level they can converse with and understand the slow speech of plants. Understanding is not necessarily automatic � each Round (or Turn, if speaking with plants) of conversation requires a successful Wisdom roll.

Wilderness movement (3rd): At third level and higher, a druid can move through any natural undergrowth leaving no trace of his or her passage, and may do so with no reduction in normal movement speed.

Immunity to fey charm (7th): At seventh level and higher, the druid becomes immune to charms and other such mental enchantments cast by fey creatures such as dryads, pixies, brownies, etc. Shapeshift (7th): Druids of 7th level or higher may change their form up to once per day per three levels. The form assumed must be a natural animal, no smaller than a mouse, and no larger than a horse; in the process of shapeshifting, the druid recovers 1d6 x 10 percent of any hit points he or she might have sustained as damage.

Paladin

• Can be attached to: Fighter
• XP Penalty: -33%
• Prerequisites: Wisdom 15+, Charisma 17+, Must be Lawful/Good

A paladin is a holy warrior, dedicated to the service of some god or other and sworn to be and always to remain Lawful Good. If this vow is ever breached, the paladin must atone and perform a penance to be decided by a powerful NPC priest of the same alignment � unless the breach was intentional, in which case the paladin instantly loses his or her enhanced status as a paladin and may never regain it. Such a “fallen paladin” is in all respects a fighter, with no special powers, for the remainder of his or her career.

Paladin features

The Paladin�s Path: Paladins may never engage in dishonest or dishonourable conduct, such as lying, stealing, attacking from ambush or by deceit, etc., nor may they tolerate others to do so. They must always grant quarter if requested. Paladins may retain no more than five magic items, and must spend a monthly tithe (1/10) of their total monetary wealth on charitable works.

Divine Favour: Paladins gain +1 to all saving throws, and an additional +1 for every 4 paladin levels.

Cure disease: Paladins can cure disease (as the clerical spell) by touch, once per week. Paladins of higher than 5th level may do so twice per week, and those higher than 10th level thrice per week. Paladins themselves are completely immune to natural diseases.

Detect evil: A paladin may detect evil at any range up to 60 ft at will, provided he or she concentrates on doing so for at least one minute.

Protection From Evil: A paladin radiates an aura within a 10 ft radius, equivalent to the spell Protection From Evil.

Lay on hands: Once per day, the paladin may heal 2 hit points per level to themselves or to any other creature touched (e.g. a third level paladin would heal 6hp with this ability).

Turn Undead (3rd): Paladins of third level and higher gain the ability to turn undead, but at two levels lower than the paladin�s level. For example, a 5th level paladin would turn undead as if he or she were 3rd level. This ability may be used once per day per two paladin levels.

Summon warhorse (4th): At fourth level, the paladin may call a special Paladin�s Warhorse, a heavy warhorse with enhanced hit points, intelligence and movement speed. Such a destrier may be called only once every ten years. The �calling� will grant to the paladin some sort of vision, showing him or her the location of the destrier, which may need to be caught and tamed, or rescued from some evil captor, or be given by some ruler in return for the fulfillment of some quest � the exact details vary from horse to horse.

Once tamed (or otherwise legitimately obtained), a paladin�s destrier is utterly loyal. If the paladin should fall from grace however, it will become an implacable enemy.

Priest

• Can be attached to: Any
• XP Penalty: -25%
• Prerequisites: None

Priests intercede between the laity and their gods, and perform the rituals necessary to keep their flock in good odour with often capricious deities. They birth and bury, wed and divorce, bless and curse. In a fantasy milieu where creatures like wraiths, zombies and vampires stalk the night, one of a priest�s most important functions is in laying to rest the dead, so that they don�t return to trouble the living.

A priest must adhere to the tenets of his or her deity�s faith or else they lose all priestly abilities. They could still carry out the rituals, but they would have no real effect (except perhaps to make the recipients feel better). A fallen priest must atone and perform some penetential task set by a priest of the same faith and at least tenth level, or five levels higher than themselves, whichever is higher.

Priest features

Divine Power: A priestly magic-user (or fighter-mage) does not need to keep a spell-book, but can pray directly to their deity for the miraculous power to do their will. This requires the same amount of preparation time as arcane magic use, but the time is spent in prayer and meditation. Spells granted in this fashion require no other material components than the priest's Holy Symbol.

Note that this power is granted directly by the deity for that deity's own purposes; there is not neccessarily any guarantee that the spells granted will be precisely those petitioned for — or any guarantee, for that matter, that any spells at all will be granted, especially to the unworthy!

Divine Favour: Priests gain +1 to all saving throws, and an additional +1 for every 4 priest levels.

Ceremony: A priest can perform day-to-day rituals like marriage and so forth for members of their faith, and have them recognised not only legally, but more important, divinely.

Turn Undead: Good-aligned priests can turn, and evil priests command undead as per the spell. This ability can be used once per day per two priest levels.

Divine Healing: Once per day, the priest may heal 2 hit points per level to any creature touched (e.g. a third level priest would heal 6hp with this ability)

Divine Intervention: A priest in good standing can supplicate his or her deity for aid in extremis. Unlike other characters, who get a straight 1% chance of success, a priest�s chance of receiving some kind of divine intervention is 3% per level.

The exact response cannot generally be predicted, and will depend largely on the deity�s mood. Gods are notoriously short-tempered, and a priest who over-uses or abuses this privilege is likely to find him or herself in their deity�s bad books.

Bless/Curse (3rd): Once per day per level, from Level 3, a priest can bless (or curse) as the spell.

Peaceful Repose (3rd): From Level 3 the priest can perform a ritual to prevent a recently-slain corpse from rising as an undead monster. The priest can shield the body against becoming undead two levels or more below his or her own level � so a 3rd level priest could stop a corpse from becoming a skeleton (type 1 undead) while a 9th level priest could stop the creation of anything up to a wraith (a type 7 undead). The ritual takes one Turn (ten minutes) per level of the potential undead being laid to rest.

Note that this ability has no effect on an existing undead creature, except that it may prevent the abomination from regenerating (if it has such a power, and if the priest is of high enough level to affect it).

Intercession/Excommunication (10th): At 10th level a priest can cast out a member of the same faith from their church, as long as they are at least five levels lower than themselves, making them unable to get any benefit from religious rituals and (usually) making them a pariah among the faithful. Alternately, they can intercede with the deity on behalf another who has fallen out of the faith, and determine what act is required for atonement.

Note that an unjustified excommunication is an evil act, and depending on the character�s deity, may have unfortunate consequences for the priest who indulges in it in a fit of pique.

Interdiction (16th): At 16th level the priest can perform a mass-excommunication, affecting all the faithful within a stated area. A 16th level priest can interdict a village (and its surrounds), a 17th level priest can interdict a town, an 18th level priest a small city, a 19th level priest a large city, and a 20th level priest an entire realm.

Ranger

• Can be attached to: Fighter, Thief
• XP Penalty: -25%
• Prerequisites: Not evil

Rangers are monster-hunters and the defenders of civilization from the encroachments of chaos. They characteristically spend most of their time in the Wild, scouting out and destroying encroaching enemies, but they can sometimes be found working in urban environments as well, hunting down night-walkers, vampires and the like.

Ranger features

Enhanced Hit-Dice: Rangers start with 2 hit-dice instead of one � that is, a fighter-based Level 1 ranger rolls 2d6+4 for their starting hit points, while a thief-based ranger rolls 2d6. Successive levels revert to the same roll as the base class.

Wilderness Lore: Rangers are automatically Good At the following list of skills, and get an additional d6 for each of these skills for each 3 Ranger levels. In other words, they start at 1st level with 2d6, then get 3d6 at 3rd level, 4d6 at 6th level, 5d6 at 9th level and so on.

• Animal lore
• Direction sense
• Fire-building
• Foraging (inc. hunting/fishing)
• Healing
• Plant lore
• Rope use
• Survival (select terrain/climate, other may be added as the character develops)
• Tracking
• Weather sense

Favoured Enemy: Rangers can select a type of monster to specialize in hunting when the class is first adopted. This �favoured enemy� cannot thereafter be changed.

The ranger gets +1 to hit and to damage for every 4 levels when attacking their Favoured Enemy. That is, +1 at levels 1-4, +2 at levels 5-8, +3 at levels 9-12, +4 at levels 13 to 16, and +5 at levels 17 to 20. The ranger is also assumed to have a good working knowledge of the anatomy, customs and language of their Favoured Enemy.

The Favoured Enemy category need not be too specific, but neither may it be too broad. For example, the ranger could choose to be a giant-hunter, a category that could include ogres, trolls and titans. Or they might elect to be a dragon-hunter, and include similar creatures like wyverns and hydra. Generally speaking, a Favoured Enemy grouping should all have a similar anatomy to qualify the ranger for his or her to hit and damage bonuses. Orcs, goblins, and hobgoblins for example are similar enough to be grouped in this way. Demons on the other hand are so dissimilar that they could not be so grouped � the ranger would have to select a specific type of demon as a Favoured Enemy to get the bonuses.

Just what can or can�t be included within the Favoured Enemy category is ultimately up to the GM. Two-Weapon Fighting: Rangers can fight with a one-handed sword in each hand, instead of just a sword and dagger. They are still subject to the penalties to hit for fighting with two weapons.

Alert: Rangers are difficult to catch off-guard. They are surprised only on a 1. At 5th level, they roll a d8 for surprise; at 10th level, a d10; at 15th level, a d12, and at 20th level or higher, a d20.