Thug - Dragon (Character Kit)

:This was originally published in Dragon Magazine #225
==Thug==
(Rogue kit)
Something was in the bushes with Sepahee, so he fell back from the road. Cautiously, as if it knew malevolence was near, a four-horned chousingha antelope crept out and then darted into the woods to Sepahee's right. Sepahee smiled. The antelope was a propitious omen—for him, at least. Those in the oncoming bullock-cart would not find it so propitious, Sepahee swore, us he knotted his strangling cord and dedicated their blood to his deity...
Description: Unlike their more profit-minded descendants in the kit section of The Complete Thief's Handbook, Indian thugs are ritual stranglers, practiced  killers serving their deity. The AD&D rogue kit based on these remorseless killers should be limited to NPCs.
Thugs are ruled by omens (see below) and rewarded for plentiful sacrifice. A few times a year, huge groups of Thugs go on thuggee, a murderous pilgrimage. On thuggee, they kill any traveler they meet, provided omens are right; failing to kill such a traveler, they fear, brings divine wrath upon them. They employ deceit in murder and rarely attack larger groups. They stake out favored places for murder, usually in areas of solitude and softground. When omens sour, the band turns back, the thuggee expedition over.
Thugs are also called phansigars, or “noosemen,” due to their use of strangling cords. They use cords (rumals) to avoid shedding blood, though they can use sharp weapons if they like. In thuggee, more experienced Thugs use the rumal, while lesser Thugs kick at noosed victims. Thugs bury victims using blessed pick-axes. Bodies are buried face down and disfigured to blur identification.
Class role: Thugs are outside the normal social system and are despised by everyone in society, even thieves. Thugs subsist off plunder and raise their children (and sometimes captured children) in service to their calling. They are self-sufficient and sometimes secretly work with the more unscrupulous members of society. A Thug who attacks a member of another band will start a bloody war, but bands are much more likely to work together for mutual gain.
Minimum requirements: Strength and Dexterity of 11. Thugs are chaotic evil and male; women occasionally participate in Thug attacks as decoys and lures, but they never engage in physical combat.
Skill progression: A Thug must put at least 40 of his 1st-level points into moving silently and hiding in shadows.
Weapon Proficiencies: The Thug's initial choices must be rumal and martial arts (the latter being from The Complete Fighter's Handbook). The Thug gets a bonus proficiency in pickaxe (horseman's pick), but blessed pickaxes cannot be used in combat. After 1st level, a Thug may choose any weapon (talwars, tiger's claws, and daggers are common) or specialize in martial arts.
The rumal can be up to 20' long and worn as a turban. The last 5' are doubled to form a loop, with a knot at the doubling point and a slipknot 18” beyond. The noose is tossed around the victim's neck and the knots are pulled together, allowing the user to pull the victim to ground with an overbearing attack at +2. The user looses the slipknot and pulls tighter, causing 1d6+2 hp damage per round and requiring the victim to make a Constitution check to avoid unconsciousness. The victim is at -2 to hit, but a successful attack from the victim breaks the hold. Only users with a Strength of 17 or greater, or 4th level and beyond, can use a rumal alone. Otherwise two users must use the same rumal; they must both hit for the attack to be successful.
Nonweapon Proficiencies:
* Bonus: Rope use.
* Required: Disguise, trailing*.
* Recommended: Alertness*, animal noise*, blind-fighting, forgery, jumping, local history, mudra sign language (see below),reading lips, religion, set snares, tightrope walking, tracking, tumbling, ventriloquism. Forbidden: Begging*. (Proficiencies marked with an asterisk are from TheComplete Thief's Handbook.)
Equipment: Very little. First level Thugs are allowed only basic subsistence and few items above their rumals and pickaxes.
Special benefits and hindrances: The Thug is ruled by omens that affect his attack rolls on thuggee. See chart.
Wealth Options: Poverty is mandatory at 1st level. Plunder is divided among the Thugs with leaders getting two shares each, murderers getting one and a half each, and others getting one.
Fakir (Bard kit)
Hunath knew he almost had these outlenders. The breath of fire, the bed of nails, the rope to nowhere these simple illusions were the gods work to these ash-faced northern invaders. Now he drew forth from his turban a pungi flute and on it played a spellbinding melody to entrance the serpent before him. With the forces of the Rajah circling back on the invaders, he hoped to entrance these serpents from the north for crucial moments. "Play on, Hunath!" he thought to himself "Your countrymen depend on you, so play on! Description: Fakirs are wonder-work-in entertainers who rely on their skills to win food and coins from strangers. They can be found in marketplaces, smoke-houses or anywhere they can find benefactors. They are often master showmen, though wealthy persons often find them to be irritants. Their magic may seem mere con jury compared to that of Swamis, but woe betide those who anger Fakirs. They often credit their work to the gods, but only a few mean it.
Fakirs play instruments as do Western bards. They specialize in flashy magic, as there is rarely anything subtle about a Fakir. They almost never receive enough money to do anything but entertain for food; though many high-level Fakirs could do whatever they wanted with their skills, few leave the art of fakirism. Fakirs sometimes have alliances with thieves, Swamis, and even Brahmins.
Class role: Very low, hardly above panhandlers. However, a few Fakirs rise in society, usually in service to a Kshatriya or Swami.
Minimum requirements: Standard in all respects. Fakirs can be of any gender and alignment, though reputation is important, more so than anything else.
Weapon Proficiencies: Any. Fakirs sometimes work weapons into their acts; swords, daggers, lassoes, and so on can work here.
Nonweapon Proficiencies:
* Bonus: Crowd working* plus one of musical instrument, singing, or dancing.
* Required: Begging*, spellcraft (see below).
* Recommended: Acting*, animal training, appraising, artistic ability, chanting*, craft instrument*, fast-talking*, languages, local history, rope use, sword swallowing (see below), ventriloquism. Forbidden: Intimidation*. (Proficiencies marked with an asterisk are from The Complete Bard's
Handbook and  The Complete Thief's Handbook.)
The Fakir gets his choice of instruments, among them the sitar, the pungi nose flute, the narsinga curved trumpet, the 19-stringed bina guitar, the bowed sarod lute, the sarangi violin, the tambourine, the tandava and tabla drums, the shruti harmonium, or the vina zither. Instead, the Fakir may choose to sing ragas or dance in any number of styles.
Equipment: A Fakir can have no apparent equipment except instruments and magic when working to receive benefactions.
Special Benefits: The Fakir has the Jongleur's ability to entertain the crowd; after the Fakir performs for 1d10 rounds, all viewers must make a saving throw vs. paralyzation or have their reactions adjusted one step friendlier. He also has the ability to inspire benefactions; the combination of skill and poverty requires anyone with money to make a Wisdom check or be compelled to donate some of it to the Fakir. He also has the Charlatan's ability to detect fakery: If the Fakir attempting to detect lies or swindling makes a Charisma check, he realizes the nature of any deception.
Fakirs need no spell books, instead having a unique ability called “spell mimicry.” When a Fakir watches a caster use a wizard spell of a level he can use, he can make a Chance to Learn Spell roll. If successful, the Fakir can memorize the spell from then on. However, if a month passes between uses of a spell in an act, he forgets it. The uses of rope trick and phantasmal force may be obvious, but protection from evil might be harder to work in. Once a Fakir's maximum spells for a level is reached, he can learn no new spells. The Fakir cannot choose to forget a spell to make room for another.
The Fakir also rarely needs material components. When a component crucial to a spell is required, the Fakir can substitute something cheap. For example, instead of the 5,000 gp in powdered diamond for a wall of force, the Fakir uses colored powder. Use good judgement; a building is still needed for guards and wards.
Special Hindrances: Fakirs lack the abilities to rally allies, counter song effects, or identify magic items. They do not have access to the read languages ability. They attract no followers, cannot build strongholds, and cannot use written magical devices. Wealth options: Poverty is mandatory at 1st level. The Fakir cannot have wealth showing when using his special abilities.
 Thugee Omens and their meanings
Omens 	Effect
Dropped pickaxe; turban set afire; donkey comes from front; snake In front or back; meet protected traveler (woman, carpenter, oil-vendor, fakir, blind or crippled man, dancer, washerman, poet, musician, smith, sweeper, bard, leper, pilgrim or one who sneezes) or corpse soon after leaving home. 	Turn back: -3 to hit till heeded
Travelers contain protected traveler, jackal bays or wolf cries at night: dog shakes head. 	Do not kill: -3 to hit
Pregnant women carrying water, met donkey braying left then right call of lizard (very rare) 	Great luck: +2 to hit
Fair of festival; marriage women bearing donkey brays on right: jackal passes from right or antelope from the left corpse on the road, deer heard met (will meet Thugs); herd met (will meet Thugs; hare calls on left, owl flights in evening: crow or partridge on left; owl or jay on right kite cries in day on right	Good luck: +1 to hit
Jackal passes on left; wolf passes or cries at night: hare in front or calls on right; antelope crosses on right; cats fight day or night, crow or partridge on right; owl or jay on left; kite cries in day on left 	Bad luck: -1 to hit
Victims not buried; turban falls off; woman met with empty pitcher; donkey brays on left; jackal cry at night; two jackals cross path; snake seen; lizard falls; eating animals in first week; drinking milk 	Very bad luck: -2 to hit
Killing women; being captured; sparing victims with good omens 	Betrayal: -3 permanently
: Note: Some text on table was guessed from context. Need better scan to see the text more clearly.
Category:Character Kit
Category:Character Kit Dragon Magazine