Power Classes II - Gladiator

[Messageboard Golem]

Recently freed from the arena, the Gladiator is a master of arms, highly specialised into flashy combat tactics and his renowned "death move". Just as efficient in the front line of battle as the party fighter, the Gladiator is able to achieve the same ends but with a great deal more style.

 

[Simon Collins]

This is not a playtest review.

Gladiator is the second in Mongoose's Power Classes series, offering a new class which can be taken from 1st level.

Gladiator comprises 16 half-A4-size staplebound pages, cut vertically in the same manner as AEG's Adventure Keep modules. At $2.95, this is a very high price per page (AEG's Adventure Keep modules were $2.49 at the same page count). The inside covers are used for credits and OGL but, unlike AEG's Adventure Keep modules, information from the back cover is reproduced on the first page. Font size is good, margins are average (but due to the format are effectively doubled compared to an A4 size format) and to the nature of the presentation spaces between paragraphs impinge on the actual space used quite considerably. The three pieces of mono internal art and the colour front cover are fairly average. Due to the nature of the content, the writing style is pretty mechanics-driven - what isn't mechanics-driven is fairly good. Editing also seems good.

The first half of the book is essentially a new 20-level class, the Gladiator. The layout follows the standard template set by Core Rulebook I. The Gladiator gains a Fighter's BAB, HD, skill points, and Save progression. At 1st level, the gladiator must make two important choices. Firstly, he must choose a character concept - a gladiatorial slave, captured soldier, or criminal. Secondly, they must choose a combat style - equite (mounted gladiator), hoplomachus (armoured foot soldier), retiarius (net & trident with minimal armour), or secutor (lightly armoured, uses a variety of weapons). Each of these choices offers various game advantages as the gladiator progresses. A gladiator also gains exotic weapon proficiencies as he progresses and later on gains his own personal symbol (if he survives that long). The gladiator also gains two further combat styles/manoeuvres - spectacular combat (where the gladiators may show off in front of a crowd) and a progressively improved Death Move, which is an enhanced version of the coup de grace. The accessory ends with details on some specialised gladiator armours and a new weapon - the kopis, which would have benefited from an image as the description is not entirely clear - "an odd-shaped sword...much like a kukri" (fine if you know what a kukri is).

Conclusion:
Somewhat like its predecessor, Assassin, this accessory's usefulness is dependent on the importance of gladiators in the campaign setting, their role, and the GMs decision to allow them as character classes. Due to the nature of a gladiator (in most cases a slave/performer who is fairly limited to a single city) the gladiator may not suit many GM's campaigns as a PC class.

However, there are some interesting concepts here, and I will probably use it to create NPC gladiators, or to create a prestige class.

 

[Felon]

Simon wrote:
"The accessory ends with details on some specialised gladiator armours and a new weapon - the kopis, which would have benefited from an image as the description is not entirely clear - "an odd-shaped sword...much like a kukri" (fine if you know what a kukri is)."

The kukri is an exotic weapon described and depicted in the PHB.

 

[Simon Collins]

[No message]

 

[Simon Collins]

Duh!

I posted this and within about four seconds remembered the kukri was in the PHB. I went in and thought I'd edited it out, but it seems the edit function isn't working properly since moving over to the new server.

B*gger!!

Simon Collins

 

[JoeGKushner]

Don't worry Simon. That's about as good as me complaining that the Wrath and Rage book didnt' have the racial stats and that if you did it via the DMG you'd get the wrong stats because there's no con bonus. These things happen eh? Even to 'professionals' like us. ;-)

 

[GameWyrd]

The Gladiator is the second in Mongoose’s Power Classes series (and not the first as the introduction claims). The Power Classes are a series of mini-books or 16-paged booklets that come at the cost effective $2.95 each. I think the idea behind the series is about value for money. This mini-book is packet to the hilt with core gladiator class information. There are actually four different background concepts and then four different types of gladiator choices which effect the roleplaying and game mechanic options in the booklet and simple maths says that’s actually 16 possibilities in 16 pages.

The types of gladiators effect special abilities available as the character levels up. An "Equite" is a gladiator who fights from horseback (or I guess any suitable fantasy mount), the "Hoplomachus" is a heavily armoured foot solider, the "Retiarius" is a gladiator who fights with the movie-famous trident and net combination and the "Secutor" is the unfortunate gladiator who is thrown into battle with only a gladius and shield. These types are actually evilly pitted against one another; the Secutor are fast enough to chase down the Retiarius and the much slower Hoplomachus is more likely to find himself up against an Equite.

Tucked away at the back of the booklet and just before a token couple of gladiator weapons (the awkward but deadly Kopis sword and various weights of Hoplite armour) there is quite a long spiel on spectacular combat and death moves. The gladiator needs to win the crowd over and so he develops such fancy fighting styles and here they’re actually class abilities available at 3rd level and 6th level.

You don’t need to have or even have heard about Mongoose’s Gladiator: Sands of Death in order to use this Power Classes book but if you do have Sands of Death then you’ll be pleased to see that this Gladiator offering stacks nicely with it.

The gladiator class presented here is a fighting class but it works because it can either be used along side the fighter class or instead of it. The gladiator class also adapts to either high fantasy or low fantasy games, the early abilities tend to have the grittier qualities that suit the low fantasy games whereas as the levels increase (and you’re less likely to be playing low fantasy) the class abilities grow into more typical high fantasy roles. The gladiator class also serves well as an option for GMs who decide that there isn’t such a thing as the strange mix of profession and amateur that the core fighter class is.

The contents of Gladiator certainly work. It’s the size and physical style of the booklet that might cause doubt. If you’re a fan of big and solid hardback books then the mini-book style seems a little awkward, almost as if it would be wrong to apply something so temporary to your campaign. On the other hand, if you want value for money, if you can’t (or don’t want to) spend mega-bucks on a book you’ll rarely use or just use a tiny part of then the booklet approach should hold some appeal.

* This GameWyrd review was first published here.

 

[trancejeremy]

This is the second in a line of mini-books from Mongoose, "Power Classes", each of which introduce a new core class. This details the Assassin core class. By mini-book, I mean basically like the various mini-modules from AEG and FFG - an 8 page regular sized book folded in half so it's 16 small or half pages. It's priced at $2.95.

While I tend to think the Gladiator is probably something of a marginal class concept (you can make a pretty good one using the fighter), the old Dark Sun setting for AD&D had a gladiator character class. So, if nothing else, there is a precedent for it.

The basics of the Gladiator are in fact identical to that of the Fighter. d10 for HD, best attack bonus progression, great save for fortitude, poor for reflexes and will, 2 skill points per level. The differences are in the special abilities - the gladiator gets lots of them (though not quite as many as a Fighter would get feats. But close).

Most of the Gladiator's special abilities are mostly suited for fighting in the Arena (not surprisingly, since that's what they do). This doesn't make this class very useful for a standard D&D/d20 game, though it's probably quite useful for Mongoose's Sands of Death game or possibly a setting that features a Roman style culture (as a note, it does refer to their Sands of Death book). So while it's probably not terribly useful for the average d20er, it does do what they set out to accomplish.

Besides the class, there's a small amount of new armor and a new weapon, the kopis.

So, if you want a gladiator class for you game, this should fit the bill pretty well (but if you don't, you have zero reason to buy this, other than perhaps the amusing picture on page 10).

 

[Krug]

Gladiator is book V of Mongoose's Power Classes series; 16-page mini books that detail a core class.

I never quite understood the logic of having the gladiator as a core class. What happens if the gladiator broke out or was released? Did he then become a fighter? Couldn't it all be achieved with a few new feats, rather than a whole new core class?

Still Mongoose's Gladiator Power class makes an attempt. Basically, all the extra fighter feats have been traded out and with replaced with combat-duel like feats, a 'character concept', such as being a former criminal, that grants a bonus and a penalty to certain situations, and the Death Move, obviously a nod to wrestling duels.

The book is rounded up wth a look at Gladiatorial weapons. Otherwise, this book doesn't do that much. It's best suited for those actually running gladiatorial style campaigns, and been tackled much better elsewhere. After flipping through it, I'm still unconvinced that this class does that much, or that it should be a separate class from the good ole fighter.

 

[John Cooper]

Power Classes II: Gladiator
By Ian Sturrock
Mongoose Publishing product number 1102
16 half-sized pages, $2.95

The second booklet in Mongoose's "Power Classes" line, this one takes a look at the gladiator as a 20-level character class.

Cover art is again by Nathan Webb and Scott Clark, with a Roman-style male gladiator wearing only sandals, a loincloth, and a helmet, and wielding a trident and a short shield. Nathan also provides the 3 pieces of black-and-white interior artwork, all demonstrating a need for more work on correct human proportions. The combatants on page 3 are way off: the attacker's right forearm is way too thin and his face is squished into a tiny part of the front of his face, while the victim's arms are way too thin, his head is too small, and - to sidetrack off of the body proportion issue a little - seems to be wearing plate mail leg coverings held up by a garter belt! The two half-naked women gladiators on page 16 are completely unappealing; if that's supposed to be "cheesecake" art, the cheesecake's long since gone moldy! Fortunately, Nathan redeems himself with his illustration on page 10: while the gladiator there is physically repulsive, it certainly looks like he's supposed to look that way.

Proofreading/editing slipped a bit on the very first page, with the statement "This is the first book in the Power Class series from Mongoose Publishing." No it isn't, you sillies: it's the second book - it even says so on the back and the inside front cover: Power Classes II. Apparently that bit was copied and pasted from Power Classes I: Assassin.

As far as the game mechanics go, this isn't a bad gladiator character class, although the argument can be made that there isn't really all that much call for a gladiator character class in the standard D&D game. (Still, this is all about options, and for those looking for such a class, here it is.) The class is also perfectly suitable for Mongoose's Gladiator: Sands of Death d20 game; in fact, perhaps even more so. (It should be noted, however, that this character class is not required to play Gladiator: Sands of Death, nor is Gladiator: Sands of Death required to use this character class; they complement each other well, but each is perfectly usable as a standalone.)

Specifics: There are multiple character concepts provided (gladiatorial slave, untrained slave, soldier, and criminal), a sort of mini-version of the Character Concepts that appear in the "Collector Series." This goes a long way toward making each gladiator a bit different, and I like the fact that many of them start out with initial disadvantages that go away over time as the gladiator gets more experience in the arena. There are also different combat styles: the equite (mounted warrior), hoplomachus (footsoldier with sword and tower shield), retiarius (net and trident guy with minimal armor), and secutor (short sword and shield, light armor). Apparently there should also be an andabata style as well, judging from the equipment list, where andabatae armor costs 600 gp, but no rules for either the fighting style or the armor are given in the book. (An asterisk in the armor chart says that special rules apply for the andabatae armor, whatever that is.)

Gladiator PCs get to do the sorts of things you'd expect gladiators to do: gain special combat moves, play the crowd, gain exotic weapon proficiencies, etc. I can't really complain about the way the 20-level class was built: all in all, it makes for a fine gladiator. The new armor and weapons section in the back of the book (while missing the andabatae stuff) gives you plenty of new toys to play with in the arena, although anyone planning on actually running an arena-based campaign would be well advised to pick up Gladiator: Sands of Death, as it's got much more information than the 16 half-pages in this booklet can provide. Still, at $2.95, this isn't a bad start.