The Rabble - LotFP Custom Class

The Rabble

          Anything that has ever been accomplished in the world has the hands of dozens, hundreds, thousands of people upon it. Great men & women can accomplish much upon the strength of their wills, but cities aren't built by will alone. Any one who wants to build anything to last needs help. Sometimes lots of help. The Rabble are the help in more ways than one and they come in droves. Bands of ne'er do wells, toughs, mercenaries and flunkies, they're the ones who are willing to do the hard back-breaking work that turns battles or win wars. The rabble can be motivated by a myriad number of factors: faith, greed, vengeance, obligation or simply blood-lust. Unsung individually, they must work as a unit to accomplish anything, and it is their trust in one another and their comrades that sees them though. Though some may die, the unit will endure and the work will continue.

          The Rabble are unlike any other class that I have presented so far. Instead of controlling a singular character, the player controls a similarly themed mob of relatively unskilled characters at the same time. This of course necessitates some special rules, not only so the class doesn't smash the action economy of the game into bits, but for the sake of the other players as well. I have done my best to think of many of the circumstances which I feel could be stumbling blocks, but I surely missed some. Referees are encouraged to consider at length whether or not they should allow a Rabble to be played in their game. I also wanted to take a moment to thank both Skerples over at Coins and Scrolls for their 'Many Goblins' and Joseph Manola of Against the Wicked City's 'The Extras' classes which inspired this post.

Level	XP	HP	Paralyze	Poison	Breath	Device	Magic
1	0	1d12	13	13	16	13	14
2	2,250	1d12	13	13	16	13	14
3	4,500	1d12	13	13	16	13	14
4	9,000	1d12	13	13	16	13	14
5	18,000	1d12	13	13	16	13	14
6	36,000	1d12	11	11	14	11	12
7	72,000	1d12	11	11	14	11	12
8	144,000	1d12	11	11	14	11	12
9	288,000	1d12	11	11	14	11	12
10	432,000	+2*	11	11	14	11	12
11	576,000	+2*	9	9	12	9	8
12	720,000	+2*	9	9	12	9	8
13+	+144,000/lvl	+2*	9	9	12	9	8

B/X & OSE Rules

Requirements	Minimum 9 CON
Prime Requisite	CON
Hit Dice	d12
Thac0 Table	As Cleric
Maximum Level	13
Armor	Any, no shields
Weapons	Any
Languages	Alignment, Common

          The number of rabble is largely abstracted, since the point of the class is to represent a sort of formless and evershifting number of minions, but if necessary a good guideline would be 2-3 members per HD. Effects that affect one target only (such as most poisons) only affect a single member of the Rabble, but they count as one character for the purposes of spells which target HD such as Charm Person or Command, and thus they are all affected. In spite of being separate creatures they are always treated as one creature for the purposes of area of effect spells or breath weapons. HP damage is assumed to apply equally to each member of the rabble, the unit continuing to fight as ferociously as ever, even as their toughness is whittled away.

          Healing for the rabble functions largely the same as other characters, with some notable exceptions; unlike other classes the rabble's HD can possibly shift downwards through failed morale checks, if that happens the rabble cannot restore the lost HD until they are able to visit a town or another appropriate area and recruit to restore their lost numbers. Rabble have the option of spending wealth to restore lost HP, HD, level drain, ability drain, lost limbs, etc on a 1:1 basis of SP for HP, or 10sp for any other listed ailments. This can only be done in town or some other area in which there are feasibly enough people to entice into service. Hit dice lost through failed morale checks heal at the same rate as lost hit points.

          For the purpose of space the rabble is assumed to occupy a 30' square whenever possible, though they are capable of squeezing themselves into a line 5' across if need be. The mob has 2 inventory slots per HD it possesses. Rabble are talented at any task which can benefit from the presence of many hands such as digging holes, holding doors shut, tearing a room apart or searching an area, and in the course of such actions they may roll twice and take the better of the two results.

        Due to their dispersed nature and number of hands to go around, if equipment is to be used then it must be distributed equally amongst all members, i.e a level 9 rabble would need to have ~20 weapons or suits of armor of the same kind to gain the benefits of it. The rabble is never completely unarmed, as the members will equip themselves with whatever rough implements they have on hand such as cudgels, rocks and pitchforks and will always deal at least 1d3 damage. The rabble has a single attack against anything that comes within 5' of their mob, or further provided they are all equipped with ranged weapons or weapons with reach. The only exception to the restriction is with items (including magic items) that do not necessarily need to be used en-masse to be helpful, such as ropes, cookware, vehicles, or certain items such as Sending Stones or the like.

          Morale is central to the rabble's use in combat, for they are cowards, and will only grow bold when the tide is breaking in their favor. The player or referee may call for morale checks, on their turn in the player's case, or during an opponent's turn in the case of the referee. The player rolls 3d6, adding any modifiers from the first table below, then resolving it with the effects from the second table. You can only obtain a result per check, per combat, but they do stack with one another. Morale effects and modifiers last until the end of combat. There are no true limits to the number of morale checks that can be made during a combat, but the referee is encouraged to be prudent in calling for them and to refrain from using them in a retaliatory manner, while players should be strategic when they ask for one.

Morale Check Modifiers	Effect
Suffer an ambush.	-1
Lose 50% of their total HP.	-1
Lose 75% of their total HP.	-2
Witness a member of their party fall.	-2
An extremely powerful foe or numerous smaller ones arrive on the scene.	-1
The character's player has called for a morale test during their previous turn.	-1
Someone (including a member of the rabble) gives an inspiring or inflaming speech.	+2
Have some of their HP restored.	+1
Successfully engineer an ambush.	+2
They deal damage for the first time.	+1
The first opponent dies.	+2
An opponent fails a save.	+1

Morale Check Result	Effects
1-3	Lose a HD.
4-6	-1 to all Saves.
7-10	No changes.
11-12	+1 to Attack Bonus.
13-17	+1 Attack/round.
18+	+2 to Attack Bonus, +1 Attack/round.