DCC Lankhmar Class: The Artful Cutter

Lankhmar DCC is a great setting. It's a little rough, but has great breaks with DCC to the point where I'd say it is a kind of DCC 2nd Edition. One of the things that stands out is a lack of demi-human classes. The downside of it is that players don't have much in the way of class variety. So here is a shifty class with some inspiration from DCC hobbits.

BTW, if you choose this class, re-roll any benisons that were designed to make you a dual-wielder.

Advancement and weapons: As per the Thief class.

Abilities: Two weapon fighter. You fight as if you had Agility 16 when wielding two weapons. If your Agility is actually higher than that, use it.

Lucky guy: If you burn Luck, you get a return of two for one for each Luck point you spend. This works if you spend Fleeting Luck on someone's behalf.

Odds in your favor: You may burn a Luck point to grow your action die one size larger before a roll. Extend the weird die chain up to d50-d60-d100-d120 if you spend enough Luck to do so. I should point out the 2 for 1 boon of the previous ability doesn't apply to this one, but you may spend Luck after the roll to modify it as per usual DCC rules and with the Lucky guy boon.

Make my own luck: Note your starting Luck score at character gen. Most characters burn Luck permanently, but you do something different: you may convert any Fleeting Luck on you at the end of a session into permanent Luck up to your normal score.

Magic Dabbler: You may memorize spells you pilfer, but can only keep one in your head per day. It doesn't matter to you what color a spell is to you, black and white are academic. You can read scrolls as a thief would, but are there any of those in Lankhmar?
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The Party, a 1-Page RPG with 1 paragraph of crunch

An RPG that can be recycled to power other RPGs where character gen gets bogged down by people being obsessed with builds and making the most emo twee gnome bard. Just roll your damn character and get back in there!


The Party was inspired by my acquirement of The Clandestinauts. It's well worth a read, and the print version has even more content. Think I read that Holmes ran RPGs with a resolution system kinda like the one outlined in the last paragraph. You can find a version of this RPG in that folder that is linked somewhere to the top left on this blog. Don't forget that PrintFriendly is a thing too.

The Party by Claytonian

If you are the first person to generate a character, you roll a d12 and note what you are. Once your character is decided upon, the GM may change the class of that result and the dependent clause of it too for future rollers. The next person will roll a bigger die size. The die does not reset when characters expire.

My character is a

1. Human warrior who has a hound trained to bite crotches.
2. Human warrior who cuts a scar into their self for each kill.
3. Human warrior who can cast spells by consuming monster hearts.
4. Human warrior who is damned to hell if they can’t amass 1,000,000 gold.
5. Amazonian warrior who is searching for the dragon that razed her village.
6. Dwarven warrior who keeps their enemies alive but insists on crucifying them.
7. Human thief who is unaware that they are royalty.
8. Human thief who is hounded by the furries for stealing the wrong statuette.
9. Human thief who poses as a blind masseuse.
10. Hobbit thief who is addicted to beholder butter.
11. Human wizard who can transfer their mind to any bound humanoid over the course of a day and a night.
12. Human cleric who can smell stolen items.
13. Elvish duelist who is a flawed clone of one of the campaign’s big bad evil guys.
14. Dwarven thief who grows stronger each time their friends die at others’ hands.
15. Dwarven rune-priest who sinks into the earth each time they sleep.
16. Chthonic elf who unflinchingly kills for the slightest offense, should they not be dissuaded by their companions.
17. Automaton warrior who claims to be the finest creation of one of the campaign’s big bad evil guys.
18. Human warlock who promised their soul to the hell-slugs of venus.
19. Slugman warrior who finds rhymes painful to hear.
20. Cambion wizard who wishes to find a way to cheat their self into heaven.
21. Zombie warrior who always regenerates 4 hours after dying.
22. Human door-mage who is queen of the ants.
23. Leprechaun eye-mage who has 3 lives.
24. Crow-man thief who has a musket with a magical bullet that can kill anyone.
25. Catman slaver who has 3 gnomes do everything for them.
26. Mutant barbarian who bathes in blood to survive.
27. Elven vampire who can enter the dreams of others.
28. Reformed mindflayer who only eats the brains of those they have read and deemed to be sinful enough.
29. Demigod javelinist who can ride their own javelins up to 7 leagues.
30. Duo-cynocephaloid monk who can identify whom bodily fluids belong to by smelling both fluid and subject within a fortnight.

To do things, roll a d20 and the GM will roll one too. If it seems to be something you would be better at than other classes would be—exempli gratia, a warrior rolling to hit—you can roll a d30 instead. If you roll higher, you do the thing. If the GM's die rolls close to yours though, maybe you didn’t do the thing so smoothly. If you failed, there is some bad thing that happens now and makes sense for the danger you have blundered your way into.

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You are a herd of...

This article from White Dwarf 17 inspired something in me. Hive-mind PC races!

You are...

...a scatter of psi-rats. Your brains glow in the dark. You can gnaw through walls given time. You can suspend foes in mid air and throw them. You cloud minds.

...a parliament of Death-owls. You gain 1 Wiz per member. You can roll at/under Wis to know a bit about any one subject or person mentioned to the PCs. You can see the unrestful dead,and ask them one question per day.

... a slurry of slimes. You can merge to make a formidable mass for combat. You can slip through any crack. Hits whittle you down. Cold just slows you. You don't die unless fire or magic were used to destroy you.

... a troop of winged monkeys. You get fun hats. You have opposable thumbs. 3 or more of you can enter a barrel and make it roll imposingly about.

... a  writer's block of bouncing Salmon Rushdie heads. You can bounce and knock out foes with your bottom-parts. You have little arms below your ears that are good for little more than writing. You know a language for each head.

... a dash of raptors. You are small and can glide on proto-feathers. You can distract a foe while the rest of you comes in from the side.  You can open doors!

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In a Fevered, Trance-like State, I Fixed the Bard

Bards and skalds can be found in any court. But those that adventure have a certain set of skills. This is pretty generic; I imagine it would be good for most OSRs.

• They can remember things others forget. This is because they use rhyme and verse to memorize epic tales, news, bon mots, and other things that get them fed. If a bard wants to see if they know something about the thing that the party really wants details on, the DM can roll 2d6 and add in the Bard's Int mod as well as a circumstance mod. High rolls give clues.
• They can weave magic into their lyrics. This does not work during a fight.  Singing during a fray takes too long and you will be cut, Jack. It might work during a battle, if the bard is, like, say, playing on a mountaintop while armies clash below. It will work on a captive audience. Literally tied up is best, but the patrons at a quiet pub or a lord's court will do.
• You learn one song each level. It just comes to you.
• They can be blind, yet skillful swordsmen. This is a choice you make at character generation. 
• You can conceal a weapon in your instrument, should you decide to become a wandering assassin bard. This isn't a rules thing; I just wanted to remind you that bards are  a lot cooler when they aren't about singing in a fight. 

Here are the bard songs of power:

1. Ballad of Bravado: give each listener a d30. They can roll this during a fight, provided it happens by the next dawn, and replace any to-hit or stunt roll with it. Then it turns into a d24, and works its way down the die chain.
2. Canticle of Kings: Listeners mighthap kowtow to the regal might of a hero of sufficient character and bloodline.
3. Carol of Cheer: Listener has a chance to shake off any melancholy or insanity.
4. Chant of Chivalry: Induces listeners to take up causes, enforce justice, or go to war for a pretty face.
5. Coronach of Canceled Time: Reduces listeners to a metaphysical melancholy that will ensorcel them into a state of suspended time. Sleeping beauties and such.
6. Dirge of Dancing Dead: Placates mindless undead into a swaying stance-- even if they don't have auditory organs left.
7. Jeremiad of Justice: Listener likely to admit guilt that the bard suspects them of. 
8. Keen of Killers: All listeners are enraged and do an extra die of damage for the next conflict.
9. Modony of Manipulation: Listeners are charmed. +4 to reaction rolls against the bard.
10. Serenade of Seduction: Listener may become ridiculously enamored of the bard.
11. Threnody of Thoughts: Listeners hear the secrets of the dead spirits of this place. Let the players ask a question each. 

I'll think up more someday if this post seems to have garnered interest.


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