Troll Lord Games

Almost every player has, at one time or another, wanted to play a scantily clad warrior of the kind frequently depicted in fantasy art. At least until realizing that under the rules of most Fantasy Role Playing games such an attempt would be extremely unwise. Fear no more! Now you can play that shirtless wild warrior with the gigantic battle axe, or the uber-hot amazon with the chainmail bikini. Of course, there are actual historical precedents here (such as the naked Gaulish warriors encountered by the Romans). Either way, here's a fantasy art staple made into a playable PC Class.

BARE WARRIOR

Every warrior knows that the secrets to survival are a strong arm, a sharp sword, and good armor. No sane fighter wanders into melee without first protecting his body with thick leather, rings of metal, or solid plates of steel. Unless he or she is one of the masters of unarmored combat known as Bare Warriors.

Bare Warriors rely on natural toughness, agility, skilled usage of shields, and dexterous parrying to protect them from harm. If they don't stride into battle completely naked, males will sometimes wear a simple loincloth or cover their groin with a fur wrap. Females may clad themselves in nothing more than small plates for their breasts and loins, or else equally brief coverings of purely decorative chain mail. Bare Warriors may wear fancifully crafted helmets, as much for the intimidation factor they provide as any protective quality.

Many Bare Warriors come from tribal cultures that have never developed heavy armor, sometimes due to an unfavorably hot climate or the inability to work metal effectively. Often, the practice of fighting nude or nearly nude is deliberately practiced in order to unnerve enemies. Sometimes, Bare Warriors belong to religious cults that teach that fighting without armor represents the pinnacle of bravery and demonstrates total faith in their god. Still other Bare Warriors are civilized people who chose the path out of vanity, in order to show off their well-developed bodies. Some Bare warriors will use elaborate body painting or tattooing to make themselves into a bizarre spectacle. Others adorn their skin with nothing more than the sweat and blood acquired through battle.

Bare Warriors are frequently Humans and Half-Orcs. Elves are also particularly drawn to this path, seeing in it the perfect way to display their own beautiful and gracious forms. Dwarves, on the other hand, regard the practice of fighting unclothed as disgustingly decadent. Gnomes and Halflings tend to be puzzled by the idea that someone would actually want to boldly display themselves in combat, rather than strike from cover and run.

Bare Warriors can be of any Alignment, although they are usually not Lawful. Their very existence flouts the social norms of many societies. Additionally, Bare Warriors tend to be interested in their own personal glory, and not work well in the disciplined professional armies characteristic of Lawful cultures.

ABILITIES

NATURAL AC INCREASE: Bare Warriors posses a natural Armor Class of 11 at 1st level. This increases by 1 for every two Levels. Therefore, a Bare Warrior's natural AC is 12 at 3rd Level, 13 at 5th Level, 14 at 7th Level, 15 at 9th Level, 16 at 11th Level, and 17 at 13th Level. High Dexterity adds to a Bare Warrior's AC in the normal fashion, as do magical aids.

COMBAT GRACE: A Bare Warrior can choose to add either their Strength or their Dexterity bonus to their to-hit and damage rolls in melee combat.

SHIELD BLOCK: Once per day, a Bare Warrior can decide to completely block any physical attack, however strong, with their shield. Any time a blow would otherwise hit the Bare Warrior the character can declare that it was Shield Blocked. The shield absorbs all damage and is completely destroyed. The Bare Warrior will take no damage. A Bare Warrior can use a Shield Block in the same round that they attack or Parry.

PARRY: A Bare Warrior can always forgo their normal attack to Parry with their weapon. The Bare Warrior loses their attack that round, but adds ALL of their current attack bonus, from any source, to their AC.

SHOCK (Charisma): By a combination of bravado, sex appeal, and presenting the obvious possibility of being completely insane, the Bare Warrior can shock and unnerve intelligent opponents who are actually wearing armor, making them feel weak, distracted, and uncertain. The Challenge Level is usually equal to the Level or Hit Dice of the opponent. Affected beings will be stunned for 1d4 rounds, unable to effectively attack. The Shock ability affects all intelligent humanoids who can see the Bare Warrior, but will only affect a given opponent once.

WEAKNESSES

DISCOMFORT IN ARMOR: If the Bare Warrior is actually forced to wear body armor (such as for ceremonial reasons or as part of a military uniform) the armor's usual AC bonus becomes an AC penalty. As previously mentioned, shields and helmets can be freely worn.

PRIME ATTRIBUTE: Dexterity

HIT DICE: d10

ALIGNMENT : Any

WEAPONS: Any (Bare Warriors are particularly fond of Battle Axes, Two Handed Axes, Bastard Swords, and Spears)

ARMOR: None, except Shields and Helmets.

Level | Hit Dice | Basic To-Hit Bonus | Experience Points

1 | d10 | 0 | 0

2 | d10 | +1 | 2,701

3 | d10 | +2 | 5,501

4 | d10 | +3 | 12,001

5 | d10 | +4 | 24,001

6 | d10 | +5 | 48,001

7 | d10 | +6 | 95,001

8 | d10 | +7 | 180,001

9 | d10 | +8 | 360,001

10 | d10 | +9 | 700,001

11 | +3 HP | +10 | 1,000,001

12 | +3 HP | +11 | 1,300,001

13+ | | | +300,000 per level
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The Engine of Oracles: Creations For Gaming
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silly, but cool.
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Dan
http://home.comcast.net/~danbuter/candc.html - my Castles and Crusades webpage

I think they should also be able to use Bracers, Rings and Amulets.

Not to mention magical thongs....

After all those do not cover nakedness either (except minimally) but would add some protection.

If not then Why allow Shields?

Besides an amulet if worn by a nice looking warrior (female) would likely draw the enemies eyes to what is on either side of the amulet.
Any or all of those items listed above would cover/conceal far less than a normal shield anyway.

ummm....
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Aneoth of Ironwood wrote:
I think they should also be able to use Bracers, Rings and Amulets.

Not to mention magical thongs....

After all those do not cover nakedness either (except minimally) but would add some protection.

If not then Why allow Shields?

Besides an amulet if worn by a nice looking warrior (female) would likely draw the enemies eyes to what is on either side of the amulet.
Any or all of those items listed above would cover/conceal far less than a normal shield anyway.

I agree that this should be Bracer Block, a little more Wonder Woman, but fits in event more thematically.

Not bad, a swashbuckling type character...

I agree with some of the other thoughts here.

I would perhaps change the Natural AC Increase to match the Monk's Unarmored Defense, and note that in any situation where the character is denied her Dex bonus, she is also denied this bonus.

I am not sure about the Discomfort in armor ability. Why would a suit of plate armor be any less effective on such a character in terms of defense. I would make the Dex AC modifier a penalty rather than the armor being a negative modifier. I mean it will still be just as hard for a mace to bash the armor, but the character, not used to the bulk and weight of the armor is weighed down and moves poorly. Also when in armor, the character may not use the Unarmored Defense AC bonus, as would be expected, since it is unarmored
And the Shock ability, I'm just not quite sure on. I like the concept, but would tend to want the opponent to have a Wis save against it. Make sure you stress the Intelligent and unarmored part, though really, if the character is trying to appear insane, then primitive and tribal creatures with many superstitions would be affected whether in armor or not, one such race would be the Kobold. Also a d4 rounds of being stunned seems a long time to stand there and not act, especially since it can potentially affect all opponents that can see the character. I would rather see it be a mass Daze effect that can affect any creature within sight (regardless of HD), and force them to take no actions, but does not leave them standing completely defenseless, or if you do want to have it be a Stunned result, reduce it to only 1 round. Another option would be to have it be HD based for affect, 2 or fewer effect lasts for d4 rounds, 3-4 effect lasts for d2 rounds, 5+ effect lasts for 1 round. This has a huge implication in the game, as being stunned grants a +10 bonus to hit, and brings with it the possibility of a coup-de-gras, if the CK allows such. Could you imagine a 1st level Bare Warrior stunning 4 10th level knights for 4 rounds, and giving each a coup-de-gras?

Thank you everyone for the ideas. I originally thought of the class for its comedic value, but it probably would be a lot of fun to play seriously. After all, there really were historical warriors who fought with little clothing. It seems a redux version is in order!

Regarding some of the specific criticisms:

The natural AC. I like the increase being better than the Monk's, beacuse the Bare Warrior is really a frontline fighter, just one with less clothing! A natural AC of 16 at 11th Level isn't actually that great, considering that Full Plate armor grants an AC of 18, and the Bare Warrior can never benefit from magical armor.

I think that the Bare Warrior should in fact benefit from things like Amulets of Natural Armor, Bracers of Defence, and Bracers of Deflection. That definitely needs to be more explicit.

Allowing shields replicates actual fighters like the Zulu Warriors. Allowing helmets suggests the popular conception of Roman gladiators, and the idea of warriors who are half-naked except for a shield and helmet has popped up in pop-culture portrayals of certain ancient Greek soldiers... Also, there is the almost iconic (and completely unhistorical) image of the shirtless Viking with the massive battle axe and horned helmet. As for blocking projectiles with a metal bracer instead of a shield, why not? I'd probably allow it as a CK. Perhaps that should be explicit in the text.

The discomfort in armor is intended as a serious limitation. The idea was that the Bare Warrior is so uncomfortable in heavy armor that it makes them an easy target if they wear it. Perhaps it can be more elegantly implemented.

I thought of the Shock ability as primarily comedic. Thinking about it again, 1 round is probably better as a duration. Or maybe the ability should simply allows the Bare Warrior to always gain initiative on the first round of combat.

Once again, thanks everyone for the input and criticism.
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The Engine of Oracles: Creations For Gaming
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Not bad, and interesting class, I'll have to copy/paste it and meld it into my home brew.

It's close to an "Amazon" class I saw floating around somewhere a while back. I think it was associated with the wilderlands &/or judges guild, but don't quote me on that. I can't remember the specifics of it but one thing I do remember (I planed on using the same idea for my home brew and a "Roman witch") is the shock ability was negated by a wis save, but the first encounter was at a steep negative, the next less so, the one after that no neg and by the 4th encounter its all most guaranteed etc. I can't find my notes to post the specifics...
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clavis123 wrote:
The natural AC. I like the increase being better than the Monk's, beacuse the Bare Warrior is really a frontline fighter, just one with less clothing! A natural AC of 16 at 11th Level isn't actually that great, considering that Full Plate armor grants an AC of 18, and the Bare Warrior can never benefit from magical armor.

Ah, but the Monk is most definitely a front-line warrior. He is nothing if not... almost ever ability he has is geared towards combat, and including his d12 for hp... Even if you keep the advanced progression, consider making it an unarmored adjustment. This ties with the discomfort in armor, as they would loose this bonus to AC if armored.

Further in my games, I allow a maximum AC bonus for dexterity equal to 4-EV of the armor worn, if it is a full suit of armor, or 5-EV if it is a shirt, breast plate, etc. Note this is the base EV, not the worn EV. Thus, if in Full Plate with 18 Dex, your AC is 18, where as if you are wearing Polish Hussar with 18 Dex your AC is 19, and if wearing a mail shirt with a Dex of 18 the characters AC is 16. If Dex is prime for you character, this adjustment instead becomes 5-EV or 6-EV if partial armor listed as above. Some argue this point, I simply point, it isn't just the weight, but the bulk you have to consider, especially when draping the arms and legs. This will tend to restrict movement, thus lower the Dex adjustment. Someone that is trained in such armor with a Dex prime has learned to move in it better than someone that just is not as agile (non-prime).

clavis123 wrote:
Also, there is the almost iconic (and completely unhistorical) image of the shirtless Viking with the massive battle axe and horned helmet.

Ah, I love this... Vikings did indeed wear horned helmets, well at least their priests did during ceremonies. Nor did they or the Celts wear wings on their helms, though the Celtic priests did have winged ceremonial headgear. The Warrior helms were sans horns or wings. Why leave your opponent such a great hand hold on your head? As for armor, the wealthy often wore chain shirts, while the less well off had leather vests. Other armors include lamelar, and possibly ring mail. And weapons, a Viking was just as apt to wield a sword, axe, spear, bow, and even the trusty staff.

So a great point that the "iconic" Viking was far from the truth. Great for stories and gaming fluff though.

clavis123 wrote:
The discomfort in armor is intended as a serious limitation. The idea was that the Bare Warrior is so uncomfortable in heavy armor that it makes them an easy target if they wear it. Perhaps it can be more elegantly implemented.

Again, I see what you are saying, and I think (as I stated above), that while wearing armor, they do not receive their unarmored AC bonus, and couple that with a Dex adjustment as a penalty, the more agile and used to relying on their dodging abilities, the more vulnerable they become. Thus in Full Plate, with a Dex of 16, the character would have an AC of 16. The metal is still going to protect the character, the properties of the metal haven't changed, but the character cannot dodge as she expects and leaves herself open to attack. (of course in this instance ignore my rule above on EV and Dex Adj., use the base Adj.) In situations where she is denied her Dex Adj., the armor provides it's full AC, so when attacked from the rear, the AC would still be 18.

Further, make all of the class special abilities require the character to be out of armor. This further restricts the use of armor by the character, providing even more reason to not wear it.

clavis123 wrote:
Once again, thanks everyone for the input and criticism.

You are welcome, I have been out of touch for the last week, so I appologize for my late response.

I have my own swashbuckling type class (originally posted here http://www.freeyabb.com/phpbb/viewtopic ... llordgames)... not so much Celtic (well pre-300BC or so when they preferred to fight naked as a rule, after this period they often did but the trend was on it's way out) as this class appears to be based on, but more of the way of Erol Flynn's Robin Hood or Captain Blood, Tyrone Power's Don Diego Vega (AKA Zorro), Jonny Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow, the many incarnations of the Three Musketeers. Though not all are heroes, some are villains such as Basil Rathbone's Guy of Gisborn (The Adventures of Robin Hood) and Captain Pasqualle (The Mark of Zorro), and from more modern movies both Hector Barbarossa and Davey Jones from the Pirates of the Caribbean series. These (un)worthies oft wore little or no armor, but were much more "civilized" than the class presented here.

This class idea rings a (Julie) Bell. Or a Boris Vallejo.
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koralas wrote:
I have my own swashbuckling type class (originally posted here http://www.freeyabb.com/phpbb/viewtopic ... llordgames)... not so much Celtic (well pre-300BC or so when they preferred to fight naked as a rule, after this period they often did but the trend was on it's way out) as this class appears to be based on, but more of the way of Erol Flynn's Robin Hood or Captain Blood, Tyrone Power's Don Diego Vega (AKA Zorro), Jonny Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow, the many incarnations of the Three Musketeers. Though not all are heroes, some are villains such as Basil Rathbone's Guy of Gisborn (The Adventures of Robin Hood) and Captain Pasqualle (The Mark of Zorro), and from more modern movies both Hector Barbarossa and Davey Jones from the Pirates of the Caribbean series. These (un)worthies oft wore little or no armor, but were much more "civilized" than the class presented here.

I like your Swashbuckler class. The abilities are precisely those I would expect to have if playing a character inspired by the figures you mention. Good work!
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Perhaps this tweak to armor (ala chainmail-bikini):

Bare Warriors can opt to wear non-discomfitting chainmail (AC is 1-less-than normal chainmail due to wide-spaced links),
but only if no helmet or shield is employed. Either/or.

Non-discomfitting chainmail would actually help enhance the effect of being 'bare'.