ROGUE - THIEF Bandit Kit Description: Bandits are Thieves who keep to the wilderness, preying on travelers through their domain. They make ample use of ambush and missile fire from cover, and are generally the bane of police forces and merchants in civilized lands, where rapacious monsters are relatively few. Bandits are not necessarily evil, and in fact often operate in the wilderness so as to better combat injustice on the part of the official authorities, but they possess a general disrespect for common law and figures of authority. Requirements: As a standard Thief, but Bandits cannot have a lawful alignment but can be elves of any type. The wilderness life of the Bandit is not an easy one, and a Bandit character must have a Constitution of at least 13. Weapon Proficiencies: At 1st level, the Bandit must take proficiency with any knife and any missile fire device of his or her choice. In addition to weapons usable by all thieves, a Bandit can take proficiency in any missile weapon (including all hurled weapons and missile fire devices). Thief Abilities and Modifiers: Appraisal, Climb Walls, Detect Noise, Escape Bonds, Find/Remove Traps, Hide in Shadows, Move Silently, Pick Pockets Special Benefits: Bandits are best at performing their acts of thievery while prowling the open wilderness as highwaymen and robbers, and they possess the following special abilities: Ambush: Bandits are exceptionally skilled at setting up ambushes. If they are able to study an enemy or group of enemies in secret for a full turn prior to engaging in combat, a Bandit can attempt to prepare a flawless ambush, which has a 5% chance per level of working (+20% in rural or wilderness settings, -10% in other settings). If this check is made, the Bandit has correctly assessed the weaknesses of his or her intended prey and will be able to maximize the timing and effectiveness of the attack. If the Bandit and his or her compatriots follow the Bandit's ambush plan, they will automatically gain surprise on their enemies and will automatically gain initiative on the first round of combat after surprise (note that certain characters or creatures may be immune to surprise or may be able to detect the ambush before it is sprung). Obviously, this sort of ambush can only be gained once during a given combat encounter. Bandits are not only expert at setting ambushes, they are also highly skilled at detecting them. In fact, at any time a Bandit can attempt to scan a given area (which can be up to 10 yards across per level of the Bandit) to determine whether or not any ambushers are lurking there. This attempt has a 5% chance of success per level of the Bandit (+20% in rural or wilderness settings, -10% in other settings). The Bandit can examine any location within sight (within reason, use DM's judgment), but each such detection requires a full round of examination and concentration, during which time the Bandit can do nothing else. Backstab: As a standard Thief. Enhanced Surprise: As a standard Thief. In addition, because of their unparalleled level of stealth and woodcraft in rural or wilderness settings, a Bandit's Enhanced Surprise ability is doubled in such settings. Evaluate Target: As a standard Thief. Highway Robbery: Bandits receive a +20% bonus to the following thieving skills when they are in a rural or wilderness environment: Climb Walls, Detect Noise, Find/Remove Traps (including setting traps), Hide in Shadows, and Move Silently. Bandits are also very difficult to track, imposing a -6 penalty to attempts to track them in rural or wilderness settings, reduced to -3 in other settings. In addition, because of their great utility in ambushes and other standard forms of outlawry in the wilderness, Bandits make a point of becoming highly skilled in the use of missile weapons, receiving a +1 bonus on all attack rolls with missiles. Knockout: As a standard Thief. Special Hindrances: Bandits operate best in the wilderness, and their specialization in this area results in a lack of familiarity with other environments (e.g., subterranean, urban). As a result, Bandits lose their wilderness bonuses and in fact suffer a -10% penalty to their Climb Walls, Detect Noise, Find/Remove Traps, Hide in Shadows, and Move Silently thieving skills when not in a wilderness setting. Because they operate in the wilderness, they rarely interact directly with established urban Thieves' Guilds, and therefore they do not gain the Guild Association benefits of a typical Thief (including knowledge of Thieves' Cant). Likewise, they focus much more on woodcraft than 'book learning', and they never gain the ability to Read Magical Writings and can never select the Read Languages thieving ability. Finally, because they are almost universally despised for their preying on travelers, any character recognized as a Bandit will suffer a reaction penalty equal to one-half his or her level (rounding up), as his or her reputation as a highwayman (for good or for ill) becomes more notorious and infamous as he or she advances in level. Even if unaware of the character's reputation, NPCs will sense something a bit shifty or untrustworthy about the character, penalizing reaction rolls by -1 at all times. In fact, each time a Bandit gains a level there is a 1% per level chance that some past victim of the Bandit's actions (for actions real or imagined) will decide that they must put a stop to his or her predations and either personally come after the Bandit or hire someone else to do so. This person will continue harassing the Bandit at least until he or she gains another level unless the Bandit can find some way to get rid of his or her pursuer (temporarily or permanently--ranging from killing to bribery to simply explaining the circumstances of some misunderstanding). Note that the reaction never applies to lower class NPCs, as are generally too fond (for good- and some neutral-aligned Bandits) or afraid (for evil- and most neutral-aligned Bandits) of the Bandit to worry about making trouble for him or her. Bonus Proficiencies: Survival (any) Preferred Proficiencies: Alertness, Awareness, Animal Noise, Bowyer/Fletcher, Camouflage, Cartography, Direction Sense, Distance Sense, Gaming, Hunting, Jumping, Looting, Monster Lore, Navigation, Riding (Land-based), Set Snares, Sign Language, Signaling, Survival, Tightrope Walking, Torture, Tracking, Trail Marking, Trail Signs, Trailing, Ventriloquism, Voice Mimicry ***DISCLAIMER*** As with all postings by me of classes or races, it should be noted that portions of the information contained herein were inspired by or derived from information in published works of TSR, Inc., and may contain references to those works, quotations or passages of text (especially in the area of 'Character Description', where applicable sections from TSR works were often carried over more or less intact into my campaign world), or particular powers or abilities invented by TSR staff writers. No relationship with TSR, Inc., is to be implied by this use, nor is any attempt being made to solicit profit or remuneration of any kind. I have read the TSR Online Policy document, and have tried to accommodate the stipulations contained therein. In instances where I have lifted an essentially complete class or race without significant alteration, I have not included these in my postings but instead have inserted a reference to the appropriate D&D sourcebook for those curious in including it in their campaign. Only variations that include a significant component of original work, alteration, or reformulation (including the compositing elements from various TSR sources into new combinations) of have been included in this set of postings. Jason Eric Nelson < tjaden@u.washington.edu >