The Blademaster
The Blademaster is an AD&D 1e Homebrew subclass to the Thief. To be a Blademaster, a character must have a minimum strength of 14, an intelligence of 12, and a dexterity of 16. If a Blademaster has a minimum of 16 in both strength and dexterity, they gain the benefit of adding 10% to experience points awarded.
Blademasters have six-sided (d6) Hit Dice. From the Thief Function Table, they can learn all thieving skills up to level 5. At this point, Pick Pockets, Open Locks, Find/Remove Traps, and Read Languages will no longer advance but remain forever at level 5 efficacy. Move Silently, Hide in Shadows, Hear Noise, and Climb Walls can advance normally. There is no Blademaster Guild.
Profile
Unlike traditional thieves, Blademasters leverage their dexterous nature with a greater focus on direct combat efficacy than subtlety. Hour upon hours of training are invested in bladework, particularly with daggers. Similarly, Blademasters are apt students of various armor types and the human(oid) anatomy, learning strengths and weaknesses, areas of vulnerability and how to exploit them. Such exceptional understanding requires more than a modicum of intelligence. Precision is valued over force. In kind with these values, the Blademaster espouses the credo of “a well placed blade is superior to a powerful swing”.
Blademasters train rigorously to acquire the uncommon stamina required for their perpetual movement fighting style. Blocks, parries, dodges and the like are a mainstay of their defense. They believe that, not unlike a shark, standing still invites death. As such, they eschew spellcasting and the use of magic scrolls. Likewise, they refrain from missile weapons that require planting one’s feet for aiming and shooting.
Their training and fighting style require discipline and well-practiced tactics. They view melee combat in equal measure an art form. Predictability is a hazard that allows an enemy to anticipate. Creativity, innovation, and extemporaneous adjustments are hallmarks of their reputation. It is their belief that emotions and values bleed into how one conducts themselves corporally. One must not adhere unerringly to any fighting system or maneuvers or value set. One must maintain a fluid, delicate balance between Law and Chaos as circumstances dicate. A neutrality. Both in life and in combat.
Race
Humans, Elves, and Half-elves may become Blademasters.
Alignment
All Blademasters are of Neutral alignment in regards to Law and Chaos. They can be Neutral Good, Neutral Evil, or Neutral Neutral.
Armor
Blademasters can wear any armor lighter than 30 encumbrance ( Padded; Leather; Studded Leather; Ring Mail; Chain-Elfin ) but perform thieving skills at a penalty with anything heavier than Leather as per Unearthed Arcana ruleset. They may not use shields.
Weapons
They may not employ two-handed weapons nor any weapon that requires ammunition such as bows, crossbows, or slings. They can use any single-handed or hurled weapons provided they are bladed, though their weapon of choice is the dagger. When employing daggers, they gain +2 on all to-hit rolls. This bonus applies to both hands if two daggers are equipped, thrown daggers, any attack routine including daggers.
They handle Weapon Proficiencies as per Assassins.
Blademasters have the same saving throws and attack on the same attack table as do thieves. Unlike other thieves, Blademasters cannot Backstab.
Benefits of a Blademaster are:
- They can speak the Thieves’ Cant.
- As per the primary thief class, at 4th level Blademasters are able to read 20% of languages, and this ability increases by 5% with each additional level of experience until an 25% probability is attained. However, they lack the ability and inclination to decipher or utilize magic scrolls.
- They can dual-wield with no penalties if both weapons are bladed. They gain their +2 to-hit bonus in either hand or both if daggers are employed.
- Blademasters can engage in one of three modes each round, for the entirety of the round, against a single target: attack with both hands; they can attack with their primary hand and parry with the off-hand(dex-based reaction adjustment subtracted from enemy to-hit roll); or parry with both hands(dex-based reaction adjustment +1 is subtracted from enemy to-hit roll). Note: Pay special attention to the fact that Blademaster parrying is dexterity-based unlike the parrying of other classes that is strength-based.
- At level 3 a Blademaster can parry multiple non-magical missle attacks, causing their dex-based reaction adjustments to be subtracted from enemy to-hit roll. They may still attack or perform melee-parries after parrying missle attacks in the same round.
- At level 7 a Blademaster can perform +1 attack every other round (5/2 rounds).
- At level 13 a Blademaster can perform +1 attack every round (3/1 round).
| Experience Points | XP Level | d6 HP | Level Title | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 – | 1,500 | 1 | 1 | Recruit |
| 1,501 – | 3,000 | 2 | 2 | Trainee |
| 3,001 – | 6,000 | 3 | 3 | Militant |
| 6,001 – | 12,000 | 4 | 4 | Bladesman |
| 12,001 – | 22,500 | 5 | 5 | Fencer |
| 25,001 – | 45,000 | 6 | 6 | Duelist |
| 45,001 – | 85,000 | 7 | 7 | Expert Duelist |
| 85,001 – | 180,000 | 8 | 8 | Braveheart |
| 180,001 – | 260,000 | 9 | 9 | Commando |
| 260,001 – | 320,000 | 10 | 10 | Blademaster |
| 320,001 – | 500,000 | 11 | 10+3 | Blademaster(11th level) |
| 500,001 – | 750,000 | 12 | 10+6 | Blademaster(12th level) |
| 250,000 experience points per level for each additional leve beyond the 12th. | ||||
| Blademasters gain 3HP per level after the 10th. | ||||
2 replies on “The Blademaster”
Looks fine at first glance.
Probably more appeal for NPCs. OL and F/RT skills are usually a big reason for having a PC thief.
Also, when you say “They can learn only Move Silently, Hide in Shadows, Hear Noise, and Climb Walls thieving skills” it’s unclear if the drawback of the blademaster extends to not having other thief skills like backstabbing & reading scrolls, or you mean that only the “table advancement” skills not listed are lost.
You should definitively clarify.
Thanks for taking the time to reply. I added a bit more clarity.