Fighter, Gladitorial Slave

The practice of slavery has been outlawed in the majority of truly civilised nations but there are still many slavers who operate covertly in the shadowy underworld or by the leave of corrupt lawmakers. However, the presence of a large gladiatorial arena often necessitates the use of slaves to supply a continuous source of combatants for the sands.

The Quintessential Fighter

Author Matthew Sprange

Publisher Mongoose Publishing

Publish date 2002

In these towns and cities, slavery is deemed part of everyday life, the removal of freedom from another sentient being taken for granted. Indeed, one may measure wealth and status in such places simply through the number of slaves owned and outside of the blood-stained arena, a slave’s life may be deemed safe, if monotonous. Slaves bought and trained for the arena, however, are fated to either one day escape or be slain upon the sands of death.

Adventuring: Every slave dreams of freedom but only those trained for the arena truly have the skills to succeed, given the chance. An escaped gladiatorial slave will be hunted down relentlessly by his owners as he no doubt represents a considerable investment of money on their part. Fleeing the oppressive and brutal nation in which he served, the gladiatorial slave often takes to a life of adventuring, where his fighting skills will be readily appreciated, for he is unlikely to have anywhere else to go.

Role-Playing: The gladiatorial slave is an utterly competent fighter – and he knows it. Having defeated many enemies within the arena, he is an expert in one-on-one combat and has learnt how to study a foe carefully before wading in with weapons flailing. He is also the consummate showman and tends to be very flashy in his fighting style, constantly engaging in flourishes and twists that other fighters will deem necessary. However, the gladiatorial slave also has the manner of the hunted, for he dreads being one day found and taken back to the arena he worked so hard to escape.

Bonuses: The gladiatorial slave is trained in the use of all manner of strange and fascinating weaponry and so automatically starts the game with three free Exotic Weaponry feats of his choice. In addition, he will also begin the game with any light armour of his choice and two of the exotic weapons he has been trained with.

Penalties: A fleeing slave has few allies and less gold. Forced to live by their wits until money can be earnt or stolen, gladiatorial slaves start the game with only 1d6 gold pieces.