ASSASSIN (Thief): An assassin is a trained killer and sometime bounty hunter, an adept instrument of death.
Oft trained by a master assassin, the instructors of an assassins’ guild, or a special branch of a thieves’ guild, an assassin might serve a nobleman, liege lord, or religious order. Assassins are viewed with disfavour or disdain (even by those who employ them); hence they oft lead solitary lives. Even those assassins who lack moral turpitude are of Neutral alignment at best. Assassins are capable of murder without compunction, whether by a knife across the throat of a sleeping victim, poisoned wine, or some other means nefarious.
Totem: The sacred symbol of kinship that a clan, tribe, family, or individual shares with an animal, plant, or other natural object. Ofttimes the clan is named after the totem; e.g., Clan of the Wolf or the Frog Tribe. Emblems of the totem are engraved on amulets, stones, ivory, and other media. The totem may be the primary object of adoration for the tribe; it may be a component of ancestor worship; or perhaps it is used as a devotion to otherworldly beings. The totem might be viewed as a brother, guardian, protector, and/or an object of awe and fear; furthermore, prohibition from killing, eating, and/or touching a totem animal can be strict doctrine. Dualism is a distinct possibility with shamans, meaning it is quite possible that the totem is speaking and acting, not the shaman; whether this is possession or spiritual immersion is a matter of conjecture. Individual totems might be transferred from one person to another through elaborate ceremony, or by means of inheritance, or in some cases by expropriation. Once per week, the shaman may beseech his totem spirit for wisdom and guidance. This petition functions as the contact otherworldly being spell (q.v.), requiring but half the monetary sacrifice, though carrying the same risks.
Assassin (Thief) Class Abilities:
Agile: +1 AC bonus when unarmoured and unencumbered.
Assassinate (Backstab): To backstab (cf. the thief ability) using a class 1 or 2 melee weapon (see table I�43�) with which the assassin is skilled. If the target lacks vital organs (e.g., automaton, skeleton, zombie) or a discernible “back” (e.g., black pudding, green slime, grey ooze, ochre jelly, otyugh, purple worm), this ability is ineffective. The target must be unaware of the attack; this may be the result of hiding or moving silently (qq.v.). The attack is made at +4 “to hit”. Unlike the thief, the assassin can also use this ability with a missile weapon (such as a bow or thrown dagger), though at short range only. The target must be completely unaware of danger and not otherwise engaged in combat; in effect, this is a snipe attack.
Table I�30�: Assassination Attempt 12 16:20 15:20 14:20 13:20 12:20 11:20 10:20
Assassination Attempt Table Defined: A d20 is used to determine the chance of success. The referee might adjust the probability based on existing circumstances. If successful, the target must make a death saving throw or die—unless the d20 attack roll was a natural 19–20, in which case no save is allowed. Even if the assassination attempt fails, termination may still result; e.g., if the assassin is using an envenomed blade, a death (poison) save must be made. Too, normal backstab damage rules apply if the result is a hit but not an automatic assassination; i.e., roll weapon damage, multiply the damage die according to level of experience (1st to 4th levels = ×2; 5th to 8th levels = ×3; 9th to 12th levels = ×4), and then apply modifiers (strength, sorcery, etc.). N.B.: If an assassination attempt is made against an assassin of higher level, the chance-in-twenty of success is reduced by one for every level of difference.
Attribute Requirements: club (light), crossbow (light), dagger, dart, flail (horseman’s), hammer (horseman’s),
Detect Secret Doors: Find a secret door on a base 3-in-6 chance.
Disguise: To fashion a façade that simulates a particular social class, possibly making one appear a few inches taller or shorter, and/or several pounds heavier or thinner. The assassin can also appear as the opposite sex.
Access to appropriate properties and apparel is assumed. The base chance of the disguise being discerned is 1-in-6. If the wisdom score of the person or persons being duped is 15+, or if the victim is generally wary of deception, the probability of detection may be increased at the referee’s discretion.
Poison Resistance: Toxicological training and exposure to various poisons and toxins provide a +1 bonus on all saving throws versus poison.
Poison Use: The use of poison to kill, murder, assassinate. Some assassins’ guilds have in-house alchemists who concoct poisons and toxins potentially available for purchase (see VOL� III, SPECIAL DAMAGE, poison).
Assassins also learn to extract venom sacs from snakes, spiders, giant insects, and the like, should the opportunity present and appropriate containers be available.
Poison Manufacture: At 9th level, the ability to concoct deadly poison (see VOL� V, MAGIC ITEM CREATION, manufacture of potions).
Stronghold: At 9th level, an assassin can establish headquarters (building, dungeon, tower, etc.) for a band of slayers: 1d12+12 assassins of 0th level (1d4 hp, each with a smattering of nascent assassin skills) who serve without pay. The headquarters might be in a city, town, or village. If said headquarters are part of his stronghold, castle, or fortified manor, with a 5- to 10-mile radius of control, the assassin is also eligible to attract a small body of men-at-arms, 0th-level fighters of 1d8 hp each. Here follows a typical troop:
H 10 infantrymen (chain mail, small shields, light crossbows, long spears, short swords) H 10 halberdiers / pikemen (splint armour, halberds or pikes, hand axes)
H 10 shortbowmen (studded armour, short bows, short swords)
Attracted units include one officer, a 3rd-level fighter responsible for the unit and for communication betwixt the lord and his men. If the reputation of the lord is favourable, further troops may be attracted. Men-at-arms receive 10 gp per month for their service, plus 100 gp for the officer. Common inhabitants of the assassin’s domain provide 5 sp in taxes per person per month. N.B.: If the assassin’s headquarters are established in the vicinity of another assassins’ guild (or a thieves’ guild that also maintains an assassins’ division), and the assassin is not tithing an agreed percentage of all bounties to said guild, then he is guilty of subversion;
severe repercussions are likely.
Progressive Thief Abilities: The following thief abilities progress as the assassin advances in levels of experience. By 12th level, the assassin has achieved his full potential in these abilities. Refer to table I�13� for more information.
Climb: To ascend or descend sheer cliffs or walls without need of climbing gear, if lightly armoured or unarmoured.
If vertical, the surface must be rough or with cracks. At least one check must be made per 100 feet of climbing.
Failure indicates the climber has slipped and fallen at about the midway point of the check (see VOL� III, DAMAGE, falling damage).
Discern Noise: To hearken at a door and detect the faintest of noises on the other side, perceive the distant footfalls of a wandering monster, or distinguish a single voice in a crowd. Six rounds (one minute) of concentrated listening are required to potentially achieve success.
Hide: To hide in shadows, camouflage oneself, or flatten one’s body to a seemingly impossible degree—all whilst remaining still as a statue. Only the slightest of movement is permissible (unsheathing a blade, opening a pouch, etc.). Hiding is impossible in direct sunlight, or if the assassin is actively observed.
Manipulate Traps: To find, remove, and reset traps both magical and mundane. Separate checks must be made to accomplish each facet of this skill: find, remove, reset. Also, a new trap may be built if the mechanism is simple and the parts available; anything more complex will require the assistance of an engineer. Thieves’
tools are required when practicing this ability.
Move Silently: To move with preternatural quiet, even across squeaky floorboards, dry leaves, loose debris, and the like. This skill is executed at half the assassin’s normal movement rate.
Open Locks: To pick locks or disable latching mechanisms both magical and mundane. Thieves’ tools are required. Picking or dismantling a lock may be attempted but once; if the attempt fails, the assassin cannot try again until he has gained another level of experience. Most locks require 1d4 minutes to pick; complex locks might necessitate 3d6 minutes.
Table I�31�: Bard (Thief)
Countersong: To recognize and identify songs of enchantment and react with a countersong (melody, poetics, instrumentation, etc.), if the opponent is of equal or lesser level / HD. The bard opens a channel that taps the horrible vibrations of the Black Gulf, at once muting or disrupting auditory sorceries.
Folklore: To identify or recall a random fact or sliver of knowledge regarding ancient artefacts, legends, myths, folklore, and other oddities. Whether anything exists to be gleaned, as well as the extent and veracity of the information, is ultimately the purview of the referee.
Inspirit Allies: In the midst of battle, recite poems or sing verses that inspire fellows to fight with enhanced ferocity in melee (not missile) combat: Allies gain a +1 bonus “to hit” and damage. The boon takes effect 2 rounds after the singing begins (i.e., on round 3 if the singing begins on round 1), and it lasts as long as the bard continues to perform, to a maximum of 1 turn (10 minutes). The bard can exercise this ability whilst he himself is engaged in battle, so long as he can continue to sing or recite, but he cannot cast spells or perform other like actions. This ability can be used once per day for every three levels of experience (1st to 3rd levels = ×1; 4th to 6th levels = ×2; 7th to 9th levels = ×3; 10th to 12th levels = ×4).
Magic Item Use: Can utilize magic items normally restricted to magicians and clerics.
Mesmerize: Once per day recite a song or poem laced with weird vibrations that permeate the universe; the bard might play a flute or panpipes to effect a like result. Requirements, limitations, and effects are as follows:
H Can take no other action besides walking.
H Targets must be within 40 feet and of animal intelligence or greater; slimes, oozes, mindless automata, and some undead are immune.
H Allies and travelling companions are unaffected, unless they have become hostile.
BARD (Thief): The bard is a mystic thief with the martial versatility of a fighter, the dweomercræft of a sorcerer, and a plethora of strange and esoteric skills.
Through song, verse, or music, the bard opens windows to other dimensions and taps weird vibrations that permeate the illimitable Black Gulf. Cherished (or detested) by kings, knights, noblemen, and peasants alike, some bards use their preternatural gifts to craft poems and satires interwoven with sorcerous vibrations, whilst others may play musical instruments to effect similar results. In Hyperborea, a Viking bard is called a skald. A skald performs kennings (compound metaphorical poems laced with sorcery) and composes sagas of kingly deeds, blood feuds, and heroic battles. Other bards learn their weirding way from the enigmatic men of Leng, strange satyric creatures of the hoary wilderness. Often the bard is a notorious wanderer; he might roam the land and sea with reavers or adventure seekers and of their tales of glory and derring-do compose new works.
Attribute Requirements:
connexion with the weird vibrations that permeate time and space, the bard develops one or more new spells at each level gain: at odd levels, druid spells; at even levels, illusionist spells. These spells are automatically learnt, with no need of qualification rolls. To learn a new spell outside of level training, refer to VOL� II, SPELLS, acquiring new spells; note that druid spells are associated with wisdom, and illusionist spells are associated with intelligence. A bard cannot learn new spells from other spell books, prayer books, or scrolls, though he might glean wisdom from an elder bard or (in rare cases) a man of Leng. Note that bards gain no bonus spells for high intelligence or wisdom.
Ward: At 9th level, a bard of suitable reputation attracts 1d3 apprentices (0th-level bards) who petition him for learning.
Progressive Thief Abilities: The following thief abilities progress as the bard advances in levels of experience.
By 12th level, the bard has achieved his full potential in these abilities (see table I�13�).
Decipher Script: To translate texts otherwise not understood—maps are interpreted, instructions decoded, and so forth. Ancient and alien languages, however, may remain unintelligible, lacking any basis for comparison.
Discern Noise: To hearken at a door and detect the faintest of noises on the other side, perceive the distant footfalls of a wandering monster, or distinguish a single voice in a crowd. Six rounds (one minute) of concentrated listening are required to potentially achieve success.
Move Silently: To move with preternatural quiet, even across squeaky floorboards, dry leaves, loose debris, and the like. Must be lightly armoured or unarmoured. This skill is executed at half the bard’s normal movement rate.
Read Scrolls: To decipher and invoke any scroll. If the attempt fails, a backfire may result. A second d12 must be rolled, with a 3-in-12 chance of disaster.
H Targets are allowed sorcery saving throws.
Those who fail are mesmerized for as long as the bard continues to sing. Mesmerized victims are considered stunned (+4 “to hit”;
see VOL� III, COMBAT, attack modifiers);
however, mesmerization effects are broken once a subject is attacked.
H Victims’ minds can be imprinted with a suggestion effect (as the spell) that lasts 1 turn per level of the bard; this is a blanket effect that cannot be individualized.
H At 9th level, victims’ minds can be infected with madness (see VOL� III, SPECIAL DAMAGE, madness); a sorcery saving throw for each subject negates insanity and ends mesmerization. When determining madness results, a single form of insanity affects all subjects, which may or may not produce immediate effects.
Sorcery: Through the memorization of sorcerous songs, poems, or kennings, or by the piping of a flute (or other instrument), the bard can memorize and cast druid and illusionist spells, these drawn from the Druid Spell List (see table II.4�) and Illusionist Spell List (see table II�5�), respectively; however, no spell or prayer books are required. The bard begins his career with knowledge of one level 1 druid spell. At 2nd level he develops a level 1 illusionist spell. Through his mystical
LEGERDEMAINIST (Thief): The legerdemainist is a master of skulduggery, a specialist who practices the skills of a thief and the sorcery of a magician. A legerdemainist might serve a powerful magician, as both apprentice and appropriator of rare artefacts, tomes, and spell books; or he might function as the resident sorcerer of a thieves’ guild; or perhaps he is a thief who secretly doubles as the apt pupil of a notorious hedge wizard. A legerdemainist who practices the sorcery of an illusionist is regarded a mountebank; one who practices the sorcery of a pyromancer is oft called a fire thief. Some legerdemainists (particularly those who operate as mountebanks) combine their thievish and sorcerous skills to rob or swindle the ignorant and foolhardy of their money; others might use their skills and sorcery to effect grand schemes of treachery and deception.
Legerdemainist (Thief) Class Abilities:
Agile: +1 AC bonus when unarmoured and unencumbered.
Backstab: An attack from behind with a class 1 or 2 melee weapon (see table I�43�) with which the legerdemainist is skilled. If the target lacks vital organs (e.g., automaton, skeleton, zombie) or a discernible “back”
(e.g., black pudding, green slime, grey ooze, ochre jelly, otyugh, purple worm), this ability is ineffective.
The target must be unaware of the attack; this may be the result of hiding or moving silently (qq.v.). The attack is made at +4 “to hit”. Weapon damage dice are multiplied according to the legerdemainist’s level of experience (1st to 4th levels = ×2; 5th to 8th levels = ×3; 9th to 12th levels = ×4). Other modifiers (strength, sorcery, etc.) are added afterwards.
Clandestine Tongue (Thieves’ Cant): The secret language of thieves; a strange pidgin in which some words may be unintelligible to an ignorant listener, whilst others might be common yet of alternative meaning. This covert tongue is used in conjunction with specific body language, hand gestures, and facial expressions. Two major dialects of thieves’ cant are used in Hyperborea: one by city thieves, the other by pirates; commonalities exist betwixt the two.
Detect Secret Doors: Find a secret door on a base 3-in-6 chance.
Magic Item Use: Can utilize magic items normally restricted to magicians.
Read Magic: The ability to decipher unintelligible magical inscriptions or symbols placed on weapons, armour, items, doors, walls, and other media by means of the sorcerer mark spell (q.v.) or other like methods.
Scribe Scroll: To scribe a familiar spell onto a scroll, creating a single-use magical device, at a cost of 500 gp + 100 gp per spell level. The legerdemainist creates a scroll type compatible with the school of magic with which he has been instructed (magician, illusionist, or pyromancer). Materials may include the finest vellum, paper, or papyrus; a fresh quill; and sorcerer’s ink, such as sepia. This involved process requires one week per spell level.
Sorcery: A legerdemainist casts spells that he memorizes from an arcane tome. At character creation, the player must select which school of magic his legerdemainist practices—that of the magician (see table II�2�), illusionist (see table II�5�), or pyromancer (see table II�7�). Regardless, the legerdemainist begins play with a spell book that contains one level 1 spell. Through personal research, a legerdemainist develops a new spell at 3rd, 5th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th levels; each is automatically learnt, with no need of a qualification roll.
To learn a spell outside of level training, refer to VOL� II, SPELLS, acquiring new spells. Legerdemainists of high intelligence cast a greater number of spells per day (see ATTRIBUTES, intelligence).
Stronghold: At 9th level, a legerdemainist who establishes suitable headquarters (building, dungeon, tower, etc.) will attract a band of reprobates: 1d12+12 thieves of 0th level (1d4 hp, each with a smattering of nascent thief skills) who serve without pay; in fact, they will tithe up to 50% of their earnings to him. The headquarters might be in a city, town, or village. If said headquarters are part of his stronghold, castle, or fortified manor, with a 5- to 10-mile radius of control, the legerdemainist is also eligible to attract a small body of men-at-arms, 0th-level fighters of 1d8 hp each. Here follows a typical troop:
H 10 infantrymen (chain mail, small shields, light crossbows, long spears, short swords) H 10 halberdiers / pikemen (splint armour, halberds or pikes, hand axes)
H 10 shortbowmen (studded armour, short bows, short swords)
Attracted units include one officer, a 3rd-level fighter responsible for the unit and for communication betwixt the lord and his men. If the reputation of the lord is favourable, further troops may be attracted.
Men-at-arms receive 10 gp per month for their service, plus 100 gp for the officer. Common inhabitants of the legerdemainist’s domain provide 5 sp in taxes per person per month. Once control and reputation are established, the legerdemainist attracts 1d2 apprentice legerdemainists (0th-level) who petition him for learning. N.B.: If the legerdemainist’s headquarters are established in the vicinity of a thieves’ guild, and the legerdemainist is not tithing an agreed percentage of all earnings to said guild, then he is guilty of subversion;
severe repercussions are likely.
Progressive Thief Abilities: The following thief abilities progress as the legerdemainist advances in levels of experience. By the 12th level, the legerdemainist has achieved his full potential in these abilities (see table I�13�).
Climb: To ascend or descend sheer cliffs or walls without need of climbing gear. If vertical, the surface must be rough or with cracks. At least one check must be made per 100 feet of climbing. Failure indicates the climber has slipped and fallen at about the midway point of the check (see VOL� III, DAMAGE, falling damage).
Decipher Script: To translate texts otherwise not understood—maps are interpreted, instructions decoded, and so forth. Ancient and alien languages, however, may remain unintelligible, lacking any basis for comparison.
Discern Noise: To hearken at a door and detect the faintest of noises on the other side, perceive the distant footfalls of a wandering monster, or distinguish a single voice in a crowd. Six rounds (one minute) of concentrated listening are required to potentially achieve success.
Hide: To hide in shadows, camouflage oneself, or flatten one’s body to a seemingly impossible degree—all whilst remaining still as a statue. Only the slightest of movement is permissible (unsheathing a blade, opening a pouch, etc.). Hiding is impossible in direct sunlight, or if the legerdemainist is actively observed.
Hide: To hide in shadows, camouflage oneself, or flatten one’s body to a seemingly impossible degree—all whilst remaining still as a statue. Only the slightest of movement is permissible (unsheathing a blade, opening a pouch, etc.). Hiding is impossible in direct sunlight, or if the legerdemainist is actively observed.