Class Archetypes

Following are a number of class archetypes that are fairly common in the Hekaton RPG and which many player characters are members of. In cases where a specific weapon is mentioned, player characters can choose another one instead (although in some cases this might affect the core functions of the archetype). They are divided into four broad types, Martial, Spellcasting, Vocational, and Cultural.

Martial

Most martial archetypes presume training as part of a militia, army, or other military organization, and characters who were never part of such groups are welcome to change their specializations appropriately (e.g., substituting something else for Fighting in Formation).

Archer (Cost 50 XP)

Archers, or Toxotai, are soldiers skilled in the use of bows who are almost always deployed in support of more heavily armed and armored troops, or in defense of castles, towns, and other fortified positions. Archers generally adapt their formations to the prevailing terrain, maintaining close order in open country and spreading out in looser formations in rough, hilly, or wooded areas.

Special Abilities

Precise Shot (Cost 10 XP): Archers can spend spirit to move the hit location of a ranged attack by one.

Rapid Fire (Cost 10 XP): Archers can spend spirit to make additional ranged attacks in the same turn.

Formation Fighting (Cost 10 XP): Archers can spend spirit to increase their hit target number by 10 for each point of spirit spent when attacking the same target as an ally.

Specializations

+10 Bow (Dexterity, Cost 10 XP), +10 Bow (Awareness, Cost 10 XP)

Archer, Mounted (Cost 50 XP)

Mounted archers, or Hippo-Toxotai, are soldiers trained to launch missile attacks from the backs of horses and similar mounts and, while used similarly to unmounted archers on the battlefield, can move into and out of combat much more quickly.

Traits

Precise Shot (Cost 10 XP): Archers can spend spirit to move the hit location of a ranged attack by one.

Rapid Fire (Cost 10 XP): Archers can spend spirit to make additional ranged attacks in the same turn.

Specializations

+10 Bow (Dexterity, Cost 10 XP), +10 Bow (Awareness, Cost 10 XP), +10 Ride (Dexterity, Cost 10 XP)

Artillerist (Cost 50 XP)

Artillerists are soldiers skilled at operating all sorts of siege engines, to include ballistae, catapults, assault towers, trebuchets, and rams, and even more exotic crew-served weapons like cannons, rockets, and Greek fire if they are available.

Special Abilities

Rapid Reload (Cost 10 XP): Artillerists can spend spirit to reduce the time taken to reload devices by one.

Demolish (Cost 10 XP): Artillerists can spend spirit to increase the target number of power rolls by 10 for each point of spirit spent when attacking structures.

Specializations

+10 Craft Siege Engines (Intelligence, Cost 10 XP), +10 Siege Engines (Dexterity, Cost 10 XP), +10 Siege Engines (Awareness, Cost 10 XP)

Barbarian (Cost 50 XP)

Barbarians are fierce, non-Greek characters who originate in lands beyond or on the periphery of the civilized world. They prefer high-damage weapons, using them either two-handed or single-handedly and in conjunction with shields, and light armor that will not slow them down.

Traits

Quick (Bonus Trait): Speed 45 feet

Defect Traits

Illiterate (Grants Bonus Trait): Barbarians are not taught to read or write as members of their societies, but can eventually learn to do so if they desire.

Special Abilities

Berserk (Cost 10 XP): A Barbarian can spend spirit to increase the target number on Resist Impairment skill checks by 10 for each point of spirit spent.

Specializations

+10 Blocking (Awareness, Cost 10 XP) or +10 Dodging (Dexterity, Cost 10 XP), +10 Battleax (Dexterity, Cost 10 XP), +10 Battleax (Strength, Cost 10 XP).

Beast Handler (Cost 50 XP)

Beast handlers are combatants skilled at leading into battle trained warbeasts, such as dogs, wolves, wild pigs, and great cats, simply releasing them into melee in some cases but possibly continuing to direct or even fight alongside them in others.

Special Abilities

Command Beast (Cost 10 XP): Beast Handlers can spend spirit to increase the hit target number by 10 for each point of spirit spent on attacks made by beasts that they command.

Animal Empathy (Cost 10 XP): Beast Handlers can spend spirit to increase the target number by 10 for each point of spirit spent on Social power rolls made against beasts.

Specializations

+10 Handle Beast* (Personality, Cost 10 XP), +10 Train Beast* (Intelligence, Cost 10 XP), +10 Intimidate (Personality, Cost 10 XP)

*Choose a specific type of beast (e.g., Lions, Tigers, Bears).

Hoplite (Cost 50 XP)

Hoplites are heavy infantry soldiers trained to work in conjunction with one another and to employ large shields and heavy armor.

Special Abilities

Formation Fighting (Cost 10 XP): Hoplites can spend spirit to increase their hit target number by 10 for each point of spirit spent when attacking the same target as an ally.

Specializations

+10 Blocking (Awareness, Cost 10 XP), +10 Resist Impairment (Vitality, Cost 10 XP), +10 Spear (Dexterity, Cost 10 XP), +10 Spear (Strength, Cost 10 XP)

Kynigos (Cost 50 XP)

Kynigoi are warriors dedicated to hunting and battling specific kinds of monsters, especially those that prey on humanity in ungoverned areas, and the god Herakles is the model for this archetype.

Special Abilities

Monster Hunter* (10 XP): Kynigoi can spend spirit to increase the success target number by 10 for each point of spirit spent for skills checks made when attacking or tracking their preferred target.

*Choose a specific type of monster (e.g., Dragons, Goblinoids, Undead).

Specializations

+10 Handaxe (Dexterity, Cost 10 XP), +10 Handaxe (Strength, Cost 10 XP), +10 Wilderness Survival (Awareness, Cost 10 XP), +10 Tracking (Awareness, Cost 10 XP)

Peltast (Cost 50 XP)

Peltasts are light infantry soldiers trained to move quickly, engage their enemies primarily with short-range missile weapons and light melee weapons, and to make use of light shields and armor.

Traits

Skirmisher (Cost 10): Weapons hurled by a Peltast don't take range penalties until after 10 squares (50 ft.).

Specializations

+10 Blocking (Dexterity, Cost 10 XP), +10 Javelin (Dexterity, Cost 10 XP), +10 Javelin (Strength, Cost 10 XP), +10 Sprint (Strength, Cost 10 XP)

Pygmachos (Cost 50 XP)

Pygmachoi are unarmed combatants who range from simple boxers or village wrestlers, to practitioners of complex martial arts like pankration that combine punching, kicking, and grappling.

Special Abilities

Trip (Cost 10): A Pygmachos can spend a point of spirit to add Trip to an attack.

Or*

Grapple (Cost 10): A Pygmachos can spend a point of spirit to add Pin to an attack.

Precise Strike (Cost 10): A Pygmachos can spend spirit to move the hit location of a melee attack by one.

Specializations

+10 Dodge, +10 Unarmed Strike (Dexterity, Cost 10 XP), +10 Unarmed Strike (Strength, Cost 10 XP)

*choose one

Watchman (Cost 50 XP)

Watchmen are paramilitary characters who might be tasked with guarding all sorts of areas, including banks, palaces, and warehouses; patrolling the streets and walls of towns and cities; and serving as jailers.

Special Abilities

Alert (Cost 10): A Watchman can spend spirit to increase the success target number by 10 for each point of spirit spent on Awareness skill checks.

Specializations

+10 Listen (Awareness, Cost 10 XP), +10 Spot (Awareness, Cost 10 XP), +10 Endurance (Vitality, Cost 10 XP).

Spellcasting

Acolyte (Cost 50 XP)

Acolytes are followers of various deities or god-like beings who can advance as priests, temple guardians, and in any other roles that might serve the earthly needs of a divine being. Specific ways they are able to use their magical specialization in Thaumaturgy is determined by the domains of the beings they serve. Some ultimately specialize in armor and weapons or other skills if doing so is appropriate to the service of their deities.

Special Abilities

Domain Affinity (Cost 10 XP): An Acolyte can spend spirit to increase the success target number by 10 for each point of spirit spent for skills checks made when using skills tying in with the domains of the divine being that he or she worships (e.g., Swimming for an Acolyte of sea god Poseidon).

Symbol of Faith (Cost 10 XP): An Acolyte can spend spirit to increase the target number on Thaumaturgy power rolls by 10 for each point of spirit spent for skills checks made when casting Thaumaturgy spells if he is able to display a symbol of his deity while doing so.

Specializations

+10 Religion (Intelligence, Cost 10 XP), +10 Thaumaturgy (Intelligence, Cost 10 XP), +10 Thaumaturgy (Personality, Cost 10 XP)

Alchemist (Cost 50 XP)

Alchemists are spellcasting craftsmen who specialize in the creation of various substances, such as liquid fire and powerful solvents, and the transformation of one sort of base material into another (e.g., lead to gold, wood to stone).

Special Abilities

Imbue Alchemical Substance (Cost 10 XP): An alchemist can spend spirit to increase the target number of Power checks by 10 for each point of spirit spent when using Alchemical Substances.

Specializations

+10 Craft Alchemical Substances (Strength, Cost 10 XP), +10 Transmutation (Intelligence, Cost 10 XP), +10 Transmutation (Personality, Cost 10 XP), +10 Smell (Awareness, Cost 10 XP)

Artificer (Cost 50 XP)

Artificers are spellcasting craftsmen adept at making mechanical devices that, depending on their resources, inclinations, and capabilities, might include small toys, massive siege engines, traps, automata, timekeepers, self-propelled vehicles, and just about anything else with moving parts.

Traits

Item Enchanter (Cost 10 XP): Enchantments cast on items by an Artificer cost one less spirit than usual to a minimum of 1.

Special Abilities

Imbue Item (Cost 10 XP): An alchemist can spend spirit to increase the target number of Power checks by 10 for each point of spirit spent when casting spells on items.

Specializations

+10 Craft Mechanical Device (Intelligence, Cost 10 XP), +10 Transmutation (Intelligence, Cost 10 XP), +10 Transmutation (Personality, Cost 10 XP)

Bard (Cost 50 XP)

Bards are worldly spellcasting performers who learn not just how to entertain and inform people but also how to manipulate what their audiences think and feel, thereby making them do things better, worse, or differently than they otherwise might.

Special Abilities

Stirring Sounds (Cost 10 XP): A Bard can spend spirit to increase the target number of ally’s mental resistance checks by 10 for each point of spirit spent by playing or singing a song for them.

Specializations

+10 Instrument* (Personality, Cost 10 XP), +10 Lore (Dexterity, Cost 10 XP), +10 Psychoturgy (Intelligence, Cost 10 XP), +10 Psychoturgy (Personality, Cost 10 XP)

*Choose a specific type of instrument (e.g., Lyre, Lute, Bongo Drums, Pan Pipes).

Druid (Cost 50 XP)

Druids are divine spellcasters who draw power from the natural world and/or the deities associated with it and who are skilled at controlling it. “Druid” applies specifically to Celtic practitioners with an affinity for oak trees and similar characters might be known by different names in other societies or if they are associated with other sorts of plants.

Traits

At Home in the Wild (Cost 10 XP): A Druid regains one extra point of spirit than usual when resting in the wilderness.

Special Abilities

Plant Affinity (Cost 10 XP): A Druid can spend spirit to increase the success target number by 10 for each point of spirit spent when attempting to cast spells on plants.

Outdoor Endurance (Cast 10 XP): A Druid can spend spirit to increase the success target number by 10 for each point of spirit spent on Endurance checks made to ignore the spirit draining effects of the outdoors.

Specializations

+10 Vitaturgy (Intelligence, Cost 10 XP), +10 Vitaturgy (Personality, Cost 10 XP)

Elementalist (Cost 50 XP)

Elementalists are a diverse sort of spellcasters who draw power from the various elements, including air, fire, cold, water, earth, thunder, and lightning. They include pyromancers who hone their craft in volcanic wastelands, frost witches from the northern wastes, Mesopotamian weather wizards, and much more.

Traits

Elemental Affinity (Cost 20 XP): An Elementalist can spend spirit to increase the success or power target number by 10 for each point of spirit spent when attempting to cast spells involving a specific chosen type of element (e.g., air, fire, cold, water, earth, thunder, lightning).

Elemental Resistance (Cost 10 XP): An Elementalist can spend spirit to increase the target number by 10 for each point of spirit spent on Physical Resistance checks made against effects caused by a specific chosen type of element (e.g., air, fire, cold, water, earth, thunder, lightning).

Specializations

+10 Elementurgy (Intelligence, Cost 10 XP), +10 Elementurgy (Personality, Cost 10 XP)

Illusionist (Cost 50 XP)

Illusionist are spellcasters who use malleable components like light, shadow, and sound to alter others’ perceptions of the world, allowing them to accomplish such things as causing people to become invisible, changing the appearance of places, and even creating phantasmal monsters or effects.

Traits

Master of Light and Shadow (Cost 10 XP): An Illusionist is always able make mental resistance checks against Illusion spells.

Special Abilities

Illusory Reality (Cost 10 XP): An Illusionist can spend spirit to increase the power target number by 10 for each point of spirit spent on Social skills made in conjunction with illusions they have created.

Specializations

+10 Illusion (Intelligence, Cost 10 XP), +10 Illusion (Personality, Cost 10 XP), +10 Stealth (Dexterity, Cost 10 XP).

Magissa (Cost 50 XP)

Magissa are village witches who practice their arts primarily through the creation of matzounia, herbal draughts that accomplish a wide variety of things, including treating illnesses, causing sleep, increasing or decreasing fertility, and the like.

Specializations

+10 Craft Matzounia (Intelligence, Cost 10 XP), +10 First Aid (Intelligence, Cost 10 XP), +10 Herbalism (Intelligence, Cost 10 XP), +10 Read Omens (Awareness, Cost 10 XP), +10 Vitaturgy (Intelligence, Cost 10 XP)

Necroturge (Cost 50 XP)

Necroturges are spellcasters who have power over death and who, among other things, are capable of animating corpses, summoning and commanding the spirits of the dead, and inflicting decay on living beings.

Traits

Corpse Animator (Bonus Trait): A Necroturge spends one fewer spirit on Necroturgy spells cast on corpses to a minimum of one.

Defect Traits

Sepulchral Appearance (Grants Bonus Trait): Necroturges have a disturbingly corpselike appearance, making those around them uncomfortable and disinclined to interact with them.

Specializations

+20 Necroturgy (Intelligence, Cost 30 XP), +10 Necroturgy (Personality, Cost 10 XP), Embalming (Intelligence, Cost 10 XP)

Oracle (Cost 50 XP)

Oracles are spellcasters who are skilled at delivering otherworldly knowledge after obtaining it through auguries, dreams, premonitions, and the use of various divinatory techniques.

Special Abilities

Mantic Technique (Cost 20 XP): An Oracle can spend spirit to increase the success or power target number by 10 for each point of spirit spent when attempting to perform divinations while using a specific focus or technique (e.g., reading cards or the entrails of animals, smoking hashish).

Specializations

+10 Divination (Intelligence, Cost 10 XP), +10 Divination (Personality, Cost 10 XP), +10 Performance (Personality, Cost 10 XP)

Sorcerer (Cost 50 XP)

Sorcerers are arcane spellcasters who can produce a number of magical effects, some of the most common being the conjuration of otherworldly creatures or forces to do their bidding and the control of elemental sources like fires or lightning.

Specializations

+10 Arcana (Intelligence, Cost 10 XP), +10 Conjuration (Intelligence, Cost 10 XP), +10 Conjuration (Personality, Cost 10 XP), +10 Elementugy (Intelligence, Cost 10 XP), +10 Elementugy (Personality, Cost 10 XP)

Vocational

Artisan (Cost 50 XP)

Artisans are characters who utilize various crafts to create all sorts of material products, including weapons, armor, tools, clothing, buildings, temples, castles, and ships. They are the backbone of civilization, skilled creators of the many products that individuals would either have to create on their own or make do without, generally comprise a skilled middle class midway in status between commoners and the aristocracy.

Special Abilities

Tools of the Trade (10 XP): An Artisan can spend spirit to increase the success target number by 10 for each point of spirit spent when using items he is trained to create (e.g., a locksmith would receive +10 on attempts to pick locks, a bowyer would receive +10 on attacks with a bow).

Specializations

+20 Crafting* (Intelligence, Cost 30 XP), +10 Endurance (Vitality, Cost 10 XP)

*Choose a specific sort of craft (e.g., Blacksmith, Bowyer, Locksmith, Mason, Shipwright).

Listis (Cost 50 XP)

Listes are criminals that can range from burglars to highwaymen, and which, depending on the natures of the schemes they find most profitable, can ultimately diverge quite a bit in their specializations.

Specializations

+10 Dagger (Dexterity, Cost 10 XP), +10 Dodging (Dexterity, Cost 10 XP), +20 Stealth (Dexterity, Cost 30 XP)

Merchant (Cost 50 XP)

Merchants are characters who make a living buying and selling goods at a profit. Some of the most daring personally transport commodities from one isolated settlement to another or across vast expanses of sea or wilderness, generally in small groups, and are willing to risk the hazards of such a life in exchange for independence, excitement, and material gain.

Specializations

+20 Barter (Intelligence, Cost 30 XP), +10 Barter (Personality, Cost 10 XP), +10 Handle Animal (Personality, Cost 10 XP) or +10 Ride (Dexterity, Cost 10 XP) or +10 Sail (Dexterity, Cost 10 XP)

Peasant (Cost 50 XP)

Peasants are rustic common folk who typically earn their livings as farmers, herders, and the like, whether independently on small leased or privately-owned holdings or as tenants on the grounds of larger plantations.

Specializations

+10 Endurance (Vitality, Cost 10 XP), +20 Farming (Intelligence, Cost 30 XP) or +20 Herding (Awareness, Cost 30 XP), +10 Sickle (Dexterity, Cost 10 XP) or +10 Sling (Dexterity, Cost 10 XP)

Sailor (Cost 50 XP)

Sailors are characters adept at operating all sorts of watercraft, including barges on major rivers, oared galleys along the coasts of inland seas, and sailed ships on the deeps of oceans. Most serve aboard merchant ships and other vessels with mundane missions and do not actively seek adventure but, as characters constantly exposed to the hazards of the sea and its denizens, they are more likely to encounter danger and excitement than most people.

Specializations

+10 Endurance (Vitality, Cost 10 XP), +20 Sail (Dexterity, Cost 30 XP), +10 Sea Lore (Intelligence, Cost 10 XP)

Taverner (Cost 50 XP)

Taverners are individuals who have developed the skills needed to run drinking establishments, including those frequented by soldiers, sailors, merchants, adventurers, and other tough customers.

Specializations

+10 Banter (Intelligence, Cost 10 XP), +10 Banter (Personality, Cost 10 XP), +10 Brewer or Vintner (Intelligence, Cost 10 XP), +10 Barkeeping (Awareness, Cost 10 XP), +10 Local Knowledge (Intelligence, Cost 10 XP)

Thug (Cost 50 XP)

Thugs are petty hoodlums who achieve their ends through intimidation, assault, and murder, either individually, in small bands, or in the service of more powerful criminals. Averse to any sort of honest activity, they earn their daily bread through activities like extortion, theft, and murder-for-hire. This archetype can also be used for pimps, gang members, organized criminals, torturers, bullies, local toughs, prison guards, and the like.

Special Abilities

Enemy Colors (Cost 10 XP): A Thug can spend spirit to increase the success target number by 10 for each point of spirit spent when making attacks against members of opposing organizations (e.g., Thugs who are members of the Blue chariot racing faction would receive this bonus against members of the Green faction, those that are prison guards would receive it against convicts).

Specializations

+10 Club (Dexterity, Cost 10 XP), +10 Club (Strength, Cost 10 XP), +10 Intimidate (Intelligence, Cost 10 XP), +10 Intimidate (Personality, Cost 10 XP)

Woodsman (Cost 50 XP)

Woodsmen are warriors knowledgeable about forest areas and skilled at earning a livelihood from them, typically as lumberjacks, hunters, or underlings of woodwardens, foresters, or other local officials. Such characters will frequently have specialized knowledge about the areas in which they live and work (e.g., sources of fresh water, site of a haunted thicket).

Specializations

+10 Axe (Dexterity, Cost 10 XP) or +10 Bow (Dexterity, Cost 10 XP), +10 Axe (Strength, Cost 10 XP) or +10 Bow (Strength, Cost 10 XP), +10 Forestry (Intelligence, Cost 10 XP), +10 Local Knowledge (Intelligence, Cost 10 XP), +10 Stealth (Dexterity, Cost 10 XP)

Zealot (Cost 50 XP)

Zealots are characters whose lives and actions are driven by fervent belief in a religious, political, or other ideological cause. Individual fanatics might act as commissars or chaplains for non-fanatics, indoctrinating them in proper beliefs and keeping them from straying off of the correct path, while groups of them might serve as bodyguards for a figure like a prophet.

Special Abilities

Outrage (Power 10 + Vitality, Cost 10 XP): A zealot can spend spirit to increase the power target number by 10 for each point of spirit spent on attacks made against those opposed to her faith or ideology.

Specializations

+10 Religion* (Intelligence, Cost 10 XP), +10 whip (Dexterity, Cost 10 XP), +10 whip (Strength, Cost 10 XP), +10 Social Conflict (Intelligence, Cost 10 XP)

*Substitute some other sort of doctrine if appropriate (e.g., Facism, Titanism).

Cultural

Koan (Cost 50 XP)

Koans are citizens of the island-state of Kos. They thrive in dynamic environments and enjoy things like haggling, learning how the world works, and chatting with people from other places about faraway lands, and appreciate the importance of being able to move goods from one place to another. Koans tend to be more cosmopolitan than those of lands visited by fewer foreigners and, as such, are often also more open-minded and tolerant. They often adopt a pretense of gruffness that masks an underlying inclination to be helpful. Most Koans love chariot racing and many are members of either the Blue or Green racing faction.

Traits

Multilingual (Cost 10 XP): A Koan can speak any one other language in addition to Common/Greek.

Special Abilities

Local Familiarity (Cost 10 XP): A Koan can spend spirit to increase the success target number by 10 for each point of spirit spent on skills for which his in-depth knowledge of the island would be relevant, including those pertaining to its communities, history, inhabitants, lore, personages, laws, mores, flora, fauna, and traditions.

Specializations

+10 Appraise (Intelligence, Cost 10 XP), +10 Crafting* (Intelligence, Cost 10 XP) or +10 Navigating (Intelligence, Cost 10 XP), +10 Handle Animal (Personality, Cost 10 XP) or +10 Sail (Dexterity, Cost 10 XP)

*Choose a specific sort of craft (e.g., Blacksmith, Bowyer, Locksmith, Mason, Shipwright).