Fighter

Benefits

• Commands respect among her own people; treated as a defender of her civilization.

Hindrances

• In male-dominated outer-world cultures she is regarded with suspicion and discomfort until she proves herself.

Benefits

• Sheer strength and animal magnetism: +3 reaction adjustment in certain situations.

Hindrances

• Intimidating presence backfires: on a reaction roll of 14 or more, an additional -3 (more negative).

Benefits

• Bonded from the start to one declared type of unusual mount, with Animal Training and Riding for that animal; an exceptional mounted warrior whose bond and mount are central to the kit.

Hindrances

• Identity and effectiveness are tied to mount and tribe; losing the mount or fighting far from its terrain is a serious setback.

Benefits

• +3 reaction bonus from NPCs of any tribe that also has Berserkers.
• Go Berserk: takes a full turn (10 rounds) to enter. While Berserk: +1 to attack, +3 to damage, and +5 hit points.
• While Berserk, immune to KO results and takes only half damage from bare-handed Punching/Wrestling attacks.
• While Berserk, fear effects and the spells scare, emotion, hold person/monster, and confusion either fail or are resisted (fear/charm-type resistance while berserk).

Hindrances

• -3 reaction from all NPCs (except fellow-berserker tribes).
• While Berserk: cannot use ranged weapons, cannot take cover from missiles, must keep attacking the nearest enemy until all are down, and the DM secretly tracks his hp (he feels no pain).
• While Berserk, may turn on an ally who seems to attack him (1d20 vs Intelligence to recognize them), is unaffected by healing spells (bless, cure wounds, aid, heal, regenerate) until he reverts, and the taunt spell automatically draws him to the taunter.
• On reverting: loses the 5 temp hp (can drop him to 0 or below), and collapses in exhaustion (as ray of enfeeblement, no save) for one round per round spent Berserk.

Benefits

• +1 to hit with any lance from horseback at 1st level, rising +1 every six levels (+2 at 7th, +3 at 13th).
• +1 to hit with one chosen sword type at 3rd level, rising +1 every six levels (+2 at 9th, +3 at 15th).
• +1 to hit with horseman's mace, flail, or pick (choice) at 5th level, rising similarly.
• Courageous and inspiring; resistant to fear.

Hindrances

• Code of honor: cannot attack at range if he could instead charge into melee — no sniping with bow/crossbow, must meet foes face-to-face. (May make rare exceptions to save an innocent, not to aid a friend fighting honorably.)

Benefits

• Free Weapon Specialization (does not cost any of his four starting weapon proficiency slots), chosen from: bow, cestus, dagger, drusus, lasso, net, scimitar, short sword, spear, trident, or whip.

Hindrances

• Easily recognized as a gladiator wherever he goes, making secrecy hard and leaving a trail authorities can follow; promoters and managers constantly interfere in his life.

Benefits

• The ultimate disciplined soldier: trained in military tactics and formation fighting; brings discipline and martial understanding (standing-army officer or mercenary).

Hindrances

• Rigid and contemptuous of undisciplined individualists, causing party friction; bound to his army or mercenary contract and chain of command.

Benefits

• +3 reaction from anyone of his own culture.
• Can demand shelter from anyone of lower social status in his nation; peers/higher will host him and up to (2 x his level) companions.
• In his own land, may administer low justice over commoners (judge minor matters).
• Starts with more gold than other kits (see Wealth).

Hindrances

• Sworn oath of loyalty to a greater noble: must answer his lord's call — accompany him to war, provide troops, even beggar his household for his lord's needs.
• Must live nobly: pays +10% per experience level above base cost on all goods, equipment, and services (noble tastes).

Benefits

• In his home community he always has shelter and aid: people hide him and allies from the law, supply food/drink and what weapons they can (usually daggers), and provide eager 0-level youth helpers.

Hindrances

• His people come to him for help; if he refuses them, he takes a -2 reaction from all peasants in the land until he regains his home community's good graces.

Benefits

• No intrinsic mechanical benefits; the DM may grant campaign-based perks (e.g. a friendly pirate haven to fence goods, or a 'rightful cause' that restores fortunes if won).

Hindrances

• The law is always hunting them — recurring pursuit by clever authorities and distrust in lawful settlements.

Benefits

• Focus ki: once per day per experience level, with a loud kia shout, raise Strength to 18/00 for one full round (all Strength-based rolls calculated as 18/00).
• Honor and standing within a martial society.

Hindrances

• Absolute devotion to his lord: must instantly obey every order, up to killing himself or loved ones. Refusing an order means dishonor (and is expected to commit seppuku, or become ronin).
• A ronin (a masterless/dishonored samurai) earns experience at HALF the normal rate until he regains a lord's service.

Benefits

• Master of the wilds: superb survival, tracking, and at-home in untamed lands; hardy and self-sufficient.

Hindrances

• From an isolated primitive culture: unfamiliar with civilization, advanced equipment, money, and customs; suffers in social/technological situations.

Benefits

• Rogue nonweapon proficiencies cost him the normal number of slots, not double.
• In light or no armor (none, leather, or padded), gains a -2 bonus to Armor Class.
• Romantic figure: +2 reaction adjustment from NPCs of the opposite sex.

Hindrances

• Trouble seeks him out — duels, romantic entanglements, mistaken identities; the DM throws extra good-natured bad luck at him.

Benefits

• Expert woodsman: tracking, foraging, stealth and survival in the wild; comfortable and effective in natural terrain.

Hindrances

• Less effective and less comfortable in urban/civilized settings; prefers the wilds.

Benefits

• Chooses one per combat: RAPID FIRE, giving a rate of fire of 5/2 while moving or 3/1 standing still (the standing rate makes her an easier target); or TRICK SHOTS, +1 per 4 levels on called and trick shots, on top of specialization and Dexterity.
• +1 damage with a bow she has owned and maintained for a month or more, and with keen arrows. Familiar equipment only.

Hindrances

• In melee she uses only long sword, short sword or dagger, and at -1 to hit. She may learn other weapons later but NEVER gains any to-hit bonus with them, which costs her the racial +1 with swords.
• Must keep her missile gear in top condition, and uses inferior gear only in mortal danger or where the mission demands it.

Benefits

• A winged mount — griffon, hippogriff or pegasus — and enough of its species' speech to work with it.
• Mounted, the elven and human upper classes react at +2.

Hindrances

• Once the awe wears off, the lower classes — elven and human alike — react at -3.
• If the mount dies she keeps every hindrance and loses every benefit until she has earned another.
• The mount's welfare is a standing obligation. Failing to feed and shelter it loses the kit's benefits.

Benefits

• +1 to hit AND +1 damage with her chosen weapon, stacking with the racial +1 for swords. This is a hard cap: no further training raises it.
• Offsets special-maneuver penalties by +1 per 4 levels. It cancels penalties and is never a bonus on an unpenalized roll.
• Casting while fencing: her AC improves by her level divided by 2, plus 1, rounded down — against melee only, not rear attacks and not missiles. She may cast one-handed somatic spells at +2 to casting time; a hit still loses the spell as normal.
• From 3rd level she may teach the bladesong, for a steep price.

Hindrances

• Sworn to advance elvendom and to aid any endangered elf at any cost. Wariness of illusions is allowed.
• One weapon, forever. She loses the racial +1 with bows, and every other weapon is at -1 to hit even when she is proficient — nonproficiency penalties stack on top if the slot is unspent.
• No weapon-group specialization.

Benefits

• Battle plan: if she has surveyed and mapped the field and briefed everyone, her whole side gains +1 to attack for that battle — for each participant who passes a modified Intelligence check. A participant who fails gains nothing and risks spoiling a neighbour's bonus.
• +1 to hit with her weapon of choice, cumulative.
• A large-scale offensive or defensive 'spell of choice' every 4 levels, mediated by the DM.

Benefits

• +10% to Move Silently AND to Hide in Shadows, in the city and in the wild alike, on top of Dexterity and racial adjustments.
• Tracks at a reduced non-ranger penalty.

Hindrances

• Good-aligned folk react at -2.
• Hated in evil society whatever her own alignment.

Benefits

• Passes as a tall dwarf or a short human at only -4, improving by +1 per 4 levels of her most XP-expensive class. The improvement applies to the bonus proficiencies only.
• +10% to two thief skills, picked once and for good.

Hindrances

• Identity erosion: her racial resistance to sleep and charm drops 10% per level, to a floor of 30% — which she reaches at 7th.
• Out of role she is beset by self-doubt about who she actually is.

Benefits

• Against her chosen undead species, prepared: +2 to hit and +2 damage.
• Traces a lair from signs and rumours to a general area, and hunts from there.

Hindrances

• Never declines a chance to destroy undead. Not a suicide charge, but the ultimate self-sacrifice is accepted.
• Sentient undead outrank mindless ones as targets.
• Cannot tolerate a sentient undead even when it is friendly or neutral, and will plot against a good lich.

Benefits

• Flank anchor: -1 AC with a solid object within 3 ft of one side, -2 with both sides anchored. A breachgnome fights on a 2-ft frontage, so walls 8 ft apart or less count as both. Cumulative with size and Dexterity adjustments.
• Extra weapon proficiency slots at 1 per 2 levels, the first extra arriving at 3rd level.

Hindrances

• Cannot retreat from a battle he believes winnable until a Wisdom check succeeds; the check may be retried each round.

Benefits

• Declares a hated foe at 1st level: +1 to hit AND +1 damage against it, in melee and with missiles. Stacks with the gnome's racial attack bonuses.

Hindrances

• A Wisdom check is required to decline a battle with the hated foe. The DM may waive it where ambush discipline or similar clearly applies.

Benefits

• +1 to hit AND +1 damage with missile weapons.
• Vanishes into underbrush outdoors as a halfling does, and freezes in place underground as a svirfneblin: 60% undetectable, or 80% for a svirfneblin stalker.

Hindrances

• No shield, and no metal armor of any kind — elven chain included.

Benefits

• Called shot: forgo initiative, fire a single shot that round and hold concentration unbroken, for +2 on that attack.

Hindrances

• One melee weapon may be used at normal proficiency. Every other melee weapon is permanently at -1 to hit, even one the archer has spent a slot on.

Benefits

• Moves at full speed through tangled undergrowth.
• At normal speed in such terrain, moves silently automatically — no check.
• At a reduced speed, hides the party's tracks as it goes. The rate is a DM call.

Hindrances

• Leather armor at most, and often none at all.
• No metal weapon larger than an arrowhead, hatchet or knife.
• A loner: slow to hear news, and penalised on social graces. The size of the penalty is a DM call.

Benefits

• Founds a settlement: long-game wealth and standing, resolved in play.

Hindrances

• Self-reliant by necessity — no community support net to fall back on.

Benefits

• At 2nd level, two bonus weapon-proficiency slots that MUST be spent on a specialization.
• May specialize in a bow or other missile weapon for 2 slots rather than the usual 3.

Hindrances

• -2 reaction from halflings who know the trade he is in.

Benefits

• +2 reaction from halfling NPCs who are aware of his rank.

Hindrances

• Duty on demand: the office can be called on at any time.

Benefits

• +2 reaction with members of the partner's race.
• May advance 2 levels beyond the normal halfling warrior cap.

Hindrances

• A hearthless life on the road, and the loss of the partner is devastating.

Benefits

• A tunnelrat who is not of Stout lineage develops infravision at 10 ft per level, to a maximum of 60 ft.

Hindrances

• -2 reaction from halfling NPCs, who consider the whole business crude or mad.

Benefits

• Never lost: an Intelligence check answers a question about direction. A failure means he knows that he does not know.
• OPTIONAL RULE (the source's own word): on a natural 20 he is confidently wrong instead. Off unless the optional rule phbr9-cartographer-confident-error is switched on.

Hindrances

• None to speak of — the source's own assessment.

Benefits

• News and market intelligence along his routes, and the wealth that follows from knowing both.

Hindrances

• Carries goods, and thieves know it.

Benefits

• +2 on all reaction rolls.
• A story told before battle acts as a bless spell on his friends — the attack and saving-throw bonuses.
• Playing continuously makes the party immune to song-based charm attacks, harpies included.

Hindrances

• Voluntary poverty and no home to return to.

Benefits

• Animal Training free and at +1, for a declared species; trains four animals at once instead of three.

Hindrances

• -2 reaction from other dwarves.

Benefits

• One free weapon specialization in a dwarf-associated hand or missile weapon.
• While under contract, the employer covers all upkeep.

Hindrances

• -3 reaction from dwarves outside a military context.
• Contract discipline binds: desertion ruins the reputation the kit is built on.

Benefits

• +3 reaction from his own clan, +2 from dwarves of other clans in the same craft.
• Guaranteed shelter from the clan.

Hindrances

• Dishonesty or shoddy work gets him outcast: -3 reaction once the news spreads, and readmission is arduous.

Benefits

• One free specialization among battle axe, spear and light crossbow: the proficiency is paid for, the specialization is free.
• +1 to hit and +1 damage while defending the stronghold.
• +2 to hit and +2 damage while defending dwarf young — the attacker must be directly threatening the young or the space they occupy.

Hindrances

• -3 reaction from the male-dominated societies of other races.

Benefits

• Killing rage: after a five-round build-up, +1 to hit, +3 damage, 10 temporary hit points and -1 AC, with a long immunity list and a +4 save bonus on top of the dwarf's own. It runs until no enemy is left standing.

Hindrances

• The rage takes five rounds to build before any of it applies, and only a Wisdom check at the start of a round ends it early. A check at the trigger can hold it back for the encounter — the source names no ability or target number for that one, and none is invented here.
• While raging: current hit points are hidden, the dwarf must attack the nearest target, cover gives no protection from missiles, a friend who interferes forces an Intelligence check or becomes an enemy, a printed list of healing spells will not affect him, and any taunt against him succeeds automatically.
• When the rage ends every benefit goes with it, the 10 temporary hit points included — and losing them can be fatal. The dwarf then fights at -1 to hit, -3 damage and +1 AC (worse) for as many rounds as the rage itself lasted.
• A silence spell bears on the rage. How it applies is a DM call.
• -3 reaction from dwarves, who withdraw from him.
• -2 reaction from other races.

Benefits

• +3 reaction from lawful dwarves.
• May demand food and shelter for himself and his retinue.
• Administers clan justice, subject to being overruled by a Highborn of higher status.

Hindrances

• Conspicuous consumption is mandatory: +10-25% on all goods and services, or the reaction bonus decays by 1 per lapse, to zero. Only lavish spending restores it.

Benefits

• May buy ranger-grade Move Silently at creation for a permanent +10% XP surcharge, paid every level.

Hindrances

• -3 reaction from all dwarves except other Outcasts and Wayfinders.

Benefits

• Starts play with a fully-grown trained mount at 75% or more of its maximum hit points, which obeys all commands.

Benefits

• Equipment and weapon-proficiency grants from the religion, including a blessed weapon. Your DM sets the specifics.

Hindrances

• May never refuse a fight that concerns his religion.
• Refusing a quest strips his specialization and the religion reclaims the blessed weapon.

Benefits

• +2 to hit, +2 damage and +2 on saving throws while defending the temple or holy ground.

Hindrances

• Chain of command: temple duty and assigned missions come first.

Benefits

• All of the Battlerager's killing-rage benefits, on a warrior/priest chassis.
• Members of his own religion do not apply the Battlerager reaction penalty.

Hindrances

• The rage takes five rounds to build before any of it applies, and only a Wisdom check at the start of a round ends it early. A check at the trigger can hold it back for the encounter — the source names no ability or target number for that one, and none is invented here.
• While raging: current hit points are hidden, the dwarf must attack the nearest target, cover gives no protection from missiles, a friend who interferes forces an Intelligence check or becomes an enemy, a printed list of healing spells will not affect him, and any taunt against him succeeds automatically.
• When the rage ends every benefit goes with it, the 10 temporary hit points included — and losing them can be fatal. The dwarf then fights at -1 to hit, -3 damage and +1 AC (worse) for as many rounds as the rage itself lasted.
• A silence spell bears on the rage. How it applies is a DM call.
• No weapon specialization, ever.
• Cannot cast while enraged. Spells cast before the rage persist.
• -3 reaction from dwarves outside his own religion; -2 from other races.

Benefits

• +1 to hit and +1 damage with a dagger or knife.
• Two-weapon fighting at 0/-2 rather than the standard penalties; a dagger or knife in the off hand keeps its +1.
• +5% Pick Pockets and Hide in Shadows.

Hindrances

• -3 reaction from local law enforcement.
• -5% Find/Remove Traps.

Benefits

• +1 to hit and +1 damage when defending his own goods or animals.
• +1 reaction from merchants — which becomes -2 if he is ever caught cheating.

Hindrances

• Caught cheating, the merchant reaction flips to -2.

Benefits

• +5% Find/Remove Traps, Detect Noise and Move Silently.
• +1 to hit and +2 damage with one chosen hand weapon against Small creatures.

Hindrances

• -1 on initiative in restricted tunnels.
• -10% Pick Pockets and -5% Read Languages.
• The dwarf's protection against large creatures is reduced: ogres and their kin attack a Vermin Slayer at only -4 reduced to -2.

Benefits

• +10% Hide in Shadows and Move Silently.
• Languages cost half a proficiency slot each.

Benefits

• Home-territory intimacy: +2 to proficiency checks interacting with the original territory and its inhabitants (the DM locates the territory).

Hindrances

• Unwelcome in the original territory; campaign-complication checks come up more often on return there.

Benefits

• +1 to all die rolls when brawling (punching, wrestling, overbearing).

Hindrances

• Open spaces: -1 to attack when fighting under open sky, and all proficiency checks at -1 whenever not underground or enclosed.

Benefits

• A single-classed Pit Fighter gets a FREE weapon specialization in any melee weapon at creation.
• Any Pit Fighter may take further melee-weapon specializations after 1st level with additional weapon-proficiency slots, may spend nonweapon slots on weapon proficiencies, and takes rogue-group proficiencies without the usual extra-slot cost.

Hindrances

• Trained to prolong a bout for the crowd: -2 to all damage rolls.

Benefits

• +2 to employer reaction rolls whenever fighters are being hired.

Hindrances

• -2 reaction from common people.
• A party that includes a Sellsword takes -1 to its own reactions.

Benefits

• Move Silently, Hide in Shadows and Climb Walls at a base of 10% each, plus 10 discretionary points per level.
• No more than half a clan is ninja-class. A clan member of any other class MUST take their shinobi kit — it is not an optional choice within the clan.

Hindrances

• Full clan obligation, identical to a ninja's: assignments are not optional, and the clan's interest outranks every other loyalty.