OSR: 4 GLOG Classes for Loxdon College: Brawler, Duelist, Thief, and Dandy

The working title for the GLOGhack is "Pointy Hatted Rat edition".

While writing and playtesting Magical Industrial Revolution, I worked under the assumption that the PCs were (at least initially) outsiders coming to Endon, and that the book would be used to supplement existing rules sets or games. For this game, the PCs will start as insiders. These classes (and this whole project) are designed for a very specific type of game, and should be viewed accordingly. These aren't the correct or canonical classes to run a GLOG game set in Endon; they're the classes I want to use for a specific project, with players who may or may not have visited Endon already.

Traditional dungeon-crawling combat will probably not dominate this game. It might happen, but most fights will be brief, accidental, or poorly planned. Smash-and-grab jobs gone awry, punches thrown as a distraction, or a last resort when negotiations fail.

I suspect most players will play wizards. It's a game about a magical college, after all. But I don't want to let wizards have all the fun. Students of Law, History, or Medicine should also be supported. Multiclassing into these classes will also give a spellcasting class an interesting twist.

This game shares several considerations with my GLOG pirates hack: low or no armour, firearms (though a less reliable and abundant), and an emphasis on schemes. I could probably port those classes over 1:1, but where's the fun in that?

Students of Law, History, or Medicine will (probably) roll on the Electric Bastionland Failed Career table, with results modified by the GM, just to add an extra touch of weirdness. Or they might not. Testing is ongoing.

Lord Byron's Boxing Screen

Brawler

Starting Equipment: stout walking stick (medium weapon) or fortified handbag (medium weapon).

A: Improvisational Genius
B: Athleticism, Flurry of Blows
C: Catfall, Nah
D: Punch Up The Conk

You gain +1 HP for each Brawler template you possess.

A: Improvisational Genius
In your hands, any item counts as a weapon.

• A mug, stone, or carrot deals damage as a light weapon (1d6+SB / 1d6 30’ range thrown).
• A towel, broom, or candlestick deals damage as a medium weapon (1d8+SB one handed / 1d10+SB two-handed).
• A bench, hatstand, or beef haunch deals damage as a heavy weapon (1d12+SB two-handed).
  

If an improvised weapon deals max damage, it breaks. Improvised weapons only deal lethal damage at the GM’s discretion.

B: Athleticism
In your spare time, you have acquired basic training in all sports. You may still need to roll to perform well.

B: Flurry of Blows
Once per fight, instead of attacking normally, you can make a single melee attack against each adjacent enemy, or make up to 3 ranged attacks with thrown light weapons.

C: Catfall
You treat falls as if they were 20’ shorter. If you are knocked prone, you can Save to immediately spring to your feet.

C: Nah
Once per day, you can declare that something doesn’t affect you. You can do this after an attack’s damage is rolled. Works on anything you could feasibly dodge.

D: Punch Up The Conk
Once per day, you can punch an opponent with total HD no higher than your Level. They are knocked unconscious. No attack roll, no Save. They remain unconscious for 2 hours, until they are vigorously shaken, or until they take 1 or more damage. Killing an opponent you Punched Up The Conk is unsporting.

Mechanical Notes on the Brawler
Anyone can use improvised weapons. They deal 1d4+SB damage (or more if the GM decides it's a good idea). The Improvisational Genius ability allows the Brawler to do some serious harm with improvised weapons. Everyone has a plan until they get hit with a soup tureen. In Endon, weapons are taxed and students are broke. Carrying a traditional murderhobo's loadout will get you some odd looks on campus.

Also, while the default mental image for this class might tend towards Sherlock Holmes or Lord Byron, don't forget Honoria Glossop or graduates of a certain notable boarding school.

Catfall and Nah are from Arnold's Lair of the Lamb Acrobat. Punch Up The Conk works on non-living opponents too. Suplex that train. Creatures that are explicitly immune to Sleep effects might just be stunned for 1d6 rounds. Maybe not though.

Lap Pun Cheung

Duelist

Starting Equipment: leather dueling suit (as leather armor, but unfashionable), rapier or sabre (medium weapon), goggles.

A: Disarm, +1 attack per round
B: Danger Sense, Scars of Worth
C: Envigorated, Impress
D: Flynn

You gain +1 Movement for each Duelist template you possess.

A: Disarm
Once per fight, if you hit with an attack, instead of dealing damage you can instead choose to force your opponent to Save or drop one held item. You can Save to catch the item in a free hand.

B: Danger Sense
If you are surprised, you have a 50% chance to act in the surprise round anyway.

B: Scars of Worth
You gain a +4 bonus to any Saves made as part of a roll on the Death and Dismemberment table (Mangled, Crushed, etc.). For every 3 Interesting Scars gained, you may test to improve 1 Stat, as if you had levelled up.

C: Envigorated
Whenever you attack and deal damage to a worthy opponent, heal 1 HP. This ability cannot heal you if you are at 0 HP or below, and cannot remove Fatal Wounds.

C: Impress
Whenever you win a fight against challenging foes, people who don't like you make a new reaction roll with a +4 bonus. This even works on people you just defeated in combat, unless you caused them undeserved or disproportionate harm. Hirelings get a +2 to Morale or a new Save vs Fear.

D: Flynn
At the start of your the Initiative round, instead of making any attack rolls on your turn, you can select a number of enemies with total HD no higher than your Level that are currently fighting you with melee weapons (claws count, teeth might not count). Until the start of the next Initiative round, the selected enemies cannot deal melee damage to you.

Mechanical Notes on the Duelist
In Endon, duels of honour are still fought, but they are considered rare and scandalous. Students join dueling clubs and merrily slice each other to ribbons. Fatalities are not uncommon, but are usually accidental.

The original version of the Duelist in the Pirate GLOG hack didn't work as well as anticipated. Too much player-driven tracking, too many fatal duels, not enough interesting hooks.

Anyone can attempt a combat manuver to disarm an opponent; a Duelist just does it better, and with less risk. It's not an option PCs frequently take, so putting a reminder right on the character sheet seems sensible. Since Duelists get 2 attacks, they can use the first to Disarm and the second to deal damage.

Technically, as written, you could hit an opponent with a ranged attack, knock something from their hand, have it fly across the room, and catch it. I'd rule on that on a case-by-case basis, and probably impose some penalties to Saves, but it's too fun to patch out. Where's your wand of fireball now, wizard?

I have variable damage for one/two handed medium weapons. In my head, that just means you're using a rapier with one hand and keeping the other one empty (and not holding a lantern, a shield, or a hostage), and can therefore deal more damage on a hit.

Danger Sense could be "always act in surprise rounds", but I've found that PCs with that ability tend to wander into danger without worry, confident in their ability to recover, and that groups with such a PC in them tend to follow. It never ends well. It is originally from Arnold's Goblin Guts Barbarian. Impress is from Arnold's Goblin Guts Fighter.

Scars of Worth is a new ability. I'm not normally a fan of gaining power from injuries (i.e. by failing). A good plan, one that doesn't result in horrible wounds, should be encouraged. Still, it fits the genre and is unlikely to dominate a PC's career. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, but what does kill you makes you dead.

Envigorated is an interesting ability. I don't usually include alternative healing methods. It may need more testing, but the idea of a PC healing through combat seems sensible (and a trap).

Flynn still lets a PC move, try a combat maneuver, or do anything else feasible that isn't an attack roll. It's good classic sword-waving nonsense, but it fits the genre. In testing, I might adjust it to "a number of enemies equal to your HD" if it seems weak. It has to activate at the start of the Initiative round instead of on the PC's turn or enemies could easily slice them to ribbons before they get a chance to act. I'd generously interpret "currently fighting" as well; if a few more low-level enemies wade into the fight, the damage immunity should still protect the PC.

Source Unknown

Thief

Starting Equipment: lockpicks, dagger (light weapon).
Starting Skills: Lockpick, Pickpocket.

A: Always Prepared, Evaluate, Wall Crawler
B: Lucky, Quick Draw
C: Backstab
D: Great Escape, You Mean...This?
You gain +1 Stealth for each Thief template you possess.

A: Always Prepared
You may spend any amount of money to buy an Unlabelled Package. When the package is unwrapped, you declare what it contains, as long as the contents comprise the appropriate number of Inventory Slots, don’t cost more than you originally paid, and could feasibly be purchased. You can put multiple items inside a large Unlabelled Package, including smaller Unlabelled Packages. You can have up to two Unlabelled Packages at a time.

A: Evaluate
You automatically know the worth of mundane items. Unique items may require you to roll under  Intelligence.

A: Wall Crawler
You can climb as well without climbing gear as most people can with climbing gear. Simple climbs do not require a test. You can attempt impossible climbs.  

B: Lucky
You may reroll 1 d20 roll per day.

B: Quick Draw
Gain an additional 3 Quick Draw Slots.

C: Backstab
Whenever you have a situational bonus to an Attack roll, attacks that hit deal +1d6 damage.

D: Great Escape
Once per day,  you can automatically escape from something that is restraining you and that you could plausibly escape from. This includes grapples, lynchings, pit traps, and awkward social situations, but not sealed coffins.

D: You Mean...This?
Once per session, you can remove one non-obvious item from a person that mostly trusts you and has spent at least 5 minutes near you in the past hour. Not their sword or their hat, but a key, a trinket, or a letter, or half the wealth they carry. Before the hour is up, you need to tell them that you've taken it. Basically, you retroactively steal a thing..

Mechanical Notes on the Thief
My standard version of the GLOG thief (via Arnold's), but with the capstone ability from my Smooth Talker class. You're still a backstabbing scoundrel, but you're also the only one who remembered to pack crucial equipment.

I considered adding an "you always have a dagger on your person" ability, but in practice Thieves tend to pick up and conceal spare daggers anyway, and I don't want to include too many metafictional abilities.

Mead Schaeffer

Dandy

Starting Equipment: fine clothing worth 10gp.
Starting Skill: Gambling.

A: Composed
B: Fast Talk, Flighty
C: Prominence, Gambler’s Soul
D: Never Forget A Face
You gain +2 to Save against Fear and Mind-Altering Effects for each Dandy template you possess.

A: Composed
You can spend 6 rounds to become Composed. While Composed, you look as good as it is possible to look under the circumstances. Even dressed in rags and coated in slime, you look as though you are making a daring fashion statement. As long as you are at full HP and are Composed, intelligent creatures must Save to target you.

B: Fast Talk
You are an expert blatherer, liar, and wit. You can persuade any number of people of that whatever you are saying is true for 1d6 minutes, provided it is not obviously untrue. Sober, angry, and intelligent people get a Save to negate. When the effect ends, they realize whatever you've been saying is utter nonsense. Depending on your lies and their consequences, they may be very angry with you and immune to any future use of your Fast Talk ability, or they might treat it as a sublime jest.

B: Flighty
If you choose not to attack in a round, your Defense is 16. This only applies if you can see your enemies.

C: Prominence
Once per round, you can choose to be the most prominent person in a group or the least prominent person in a group (except for the Monarch, MIR pg. 55). This does not give you any bonuses to Stealth.

C: Gambler’s Soul
If you roll a critical failure, you can reroll the result by dropping to 0 HP. If you were at negative HP, you instead heal to 0 HP. This ability cannot remove Fatal Wounds.

D: Never Forget A Face
You have a perfect memory for names and faces. If you meet someone new, you have a 50% chance to know their name. If they are Middle Class or Upper Class, you may also know their profession and details about their family. This applies to named monsters and other implausible situations.


Mechanical Notes on the Dandy
You are the living embodiment of The Correct Thing. Every passion in your life is subsumed to the ideal of Composure. You are not an air-headed fop or twittering socialite, but a collection of careful choices.

A mix of the Smooth Talker and Goliard,  the Dandy is another peculiar class. Weaponized poise and social class, toughness without any significant damage-dealing abilities. I thought about adding some sort of "cutting remark" psychic damage ability, and I might still add it after tests, but it might not be necessary. Sometimes words hurt more than HP loss.

Side Note: many years ago, in a game based on 3.5E (I think), three things were true. First, a PC had a Feat or something that let them roll to "know the name and details of any titled nobility". Second, the true names of creatures held power. And third, the PC had just met a Duke of Hell. "Old friend of the family", they sheepishly said.