I'm a big fan of all the classic classes and that includes later inventions like the Monk and Paladin and such, and yes even the Bard. But there's nothing purely sacred about the way a lot of these classes are put together, and I wanted to play around and see what kinds of options I could present for my players by taking aspects of classes and exploding them across multiple different classes, making these sort of rules variants on the core classes, or something close to what Pathfinder did where some class Archetypes replace almost every feature of a class while still recognizably being that class. In this first instance, I made a Fighter who had the moral code of the Paladin and the implied open-palm sanctity-of-life aspect of Shaolin Monks that would work with a few different class interpretations. I also had one of my players in mind, because he generally had a problem killing creatures.
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| Gordon Fucking Liu |
HD: d8
Save: as Fighter
Attack: as Fighter
Advance: as Cleric
Requirements: Dexterity 9, Wisdom9
Prime Requisite: Strength; Pacifists with a Strength of 13 or better earn 5% bonus xp.
- Pacifists may use any weapon against unliving or undead targets but if they kill a living person or creature with it, even accidentally, they must surrender that weapon and give up the use of weapons of that type forever.
- A Pacifist may wear any armor, and may use a shield with any armor except plate. A Pacifist uses the higher value of her Strength, Constitution, or Dexterity to determine any Dexterity bonus to AC (but not to missiles or initiative).
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| art by Cliff Chiang et al, from DC's New 52 Wonder Woman #10 |
Pacifists may intentionally "take" a hit. Those doing so may deal 1d12 unblockable unlethal damage to their attacker.
Pacifists know a form of pidgin Spiritus and, all else being equal, are preferred over normal Fighters in some temples.