Gladiator

Description: The gladiator is a showman-warrior from a society where public combat competitions are a popular sport. The gladiator is a professional warrior in this high-profile arena; for the delight (and bloodlust) of the crowds, for his own personal wealth and aggrandizement (or, if he is a slave, for the profits of his owner), he fights organized matches against human, demihuman, and even monstrous opponents.

There are no special ability-score requirements to be a Gladiator.

Role: For the Gladiator to appear in a campaign, the DM must establish that at least one culture has gladiatorial combats, and the Gladiator character must come from such a culture. (He need not have been born there . . . but he will either have been a slave there or, if he was a freeman, will feel like a naturalized citizen there.) A Gladiator player-character can be an active gladiator in the arena, one who adventures in his free time (or within some other context of the current adventure), or can have formerly been a gladiator now living the life of the adventurer.

In the campaign, the Gladiator is going to be a showy, high-profile warrior. He performs dangerous stunts in combat. He attracts the attention of crowds of admirers. He receives a lot of credit for brave deeds whether he deserves the credit or not. A Gladiator can be a callous brute, a dirty arena fighter with no interests other than killing his enemy as quickly as possible and making off with his prize; or he can be a clean-limbed, heroic figure, a hero who always fights honorably in the arena and never kills when he does not have to.

DMs take note: a Gladiator character is not likely to be a Ranger. You can permit it if you wish, but Rangers are very wilderness-oriented characters, and Gladiators are very urban. A Ranger could have been captured, enslaved, trained as a Gladiator, and then escaped—but still, the Ranger and Gladiator personalities don't seem to work together very well. Allow this only if you really wish to.

It's up to the DM to decide whether there are female gladiators on his world. Unless his campaign is already rigidly set up to prevent it, he might as well allow it; a she-gladiator character could be a very interesting one.

Secondary Skills: The Gladiator character receives his secondary skill through whatever means is usual for the campaign—by choice or random die-roll. This skill probably represents the trade he learned before becoming a Gladiator.

Weapon Proficiencies: Required: short sword (gladius), trident, net. Gladiators should learn an even mix of normal and unusual weapons; the DM is within his rights to insist that the Gladiator learn one strange weapon proficiency (such as whip) for every "normal" proficiency (like sword, spear, etc.). (Also, see the Equipment chapter, under "New Arms" and "New Armor," for weapons and armor especially appropriate to Gladiator characters.)

Nonweapon Proficiencies: Bonus Proficiencies: (Warrior) Charioteering, (Rogue) Tumbling (for the combat showmanship that characterizes arena fighting). Recommended: (General) Animal Handling, Animal Training, Etiquette, Riding (Land-Based), (Warrior) Armorer, Blind-Fighting, Endurance, Gaming, Weapon-smithing, (Priest) Healing (double slots unless Paladin).

Equipment: The Gladiator may buy any sort of non-magical weapon or combination of weapons before beginning play. However, he must choose his armor from the listing of Gladiator Armor in the Equipment chapter, under "New Armors."

Special Benefits: Gladiators, because of their intensive training, get a free Weapon Specialization (see under "Weapon Specialization" in the 2nd Edition Player's Handbook). This doesn't cost any of their beginning weapon proficiencies: They still get all four of those, and get this Specialization free. It must be chosen from one of the following weapons: bow (choice), cestus*, dagger, drusus*, lasso*, net*, scimitar, short sword, spear, trident, and whip. (The "*" indicates a new weapon found in the Equipment chapter.)

Special Hindrances: Gladiators tend to be recognized—as Gladiators, at least, if not by their own names—wherever they go. This makes it more difficult for them to do things in secret; some troublesome NPC is always remembering "the tall, fair-haired gladiator" who was at the scene of the action, which makes it very easy for the authorities to follow the heroes' trail. (This is something the DM will have to enforce scrupulously if the Gladiator is to have hindrances offsetting his benefits.)

Also, and this is strictly a role-playing consideration, promoters and managers are always interfering in the Gladiator's life: Trying to hire him to participate in certain-death events, to fight people the Gladiator doesn't want to fight, to force him to participate in events taking place at the exact time the Gladiator needs to be somewhere else, etc. These promoters will go to any length to get their way; they may blackmail the character, kidnap his followers, use the time-honored bait of a gorgeous romantic interest (whom the Gladiator doesn't immediately realize is an employee of the promoter), and so forth.

To make sure this is regarded as a hindrance, the DM should make it clear that these promoters are mostly of the sleazy variety who will cheat, rob and betray him at the drop of a hat.

Wealth Options: The Gladiator gets the standard 5d4x10 gp to spend, and may spend it any way he chooses (subject to the restrictions listed in "Equipment," immediately above) or have it all unspent at the beginning of play.

Races: Any demihuman warrior can be a Gladiator. Operators of the arenas try to acquire as many different, unusual fighters as they can, by hiring or enslaving them, and demihumans (when they can be acquired) are major attractions.

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