Thunderous cheers resounded from the arena, deafening the party as they stepped into the sunbaked sand. They shielded their eyes against the blazing orb, glancing around at the crowd filling the stands. For the first time since they had signed up for the gladiatorial games in hopes of earning some extra coins, the band of adventurers began to question their decision. The barbarian hefted up his axe, setting his visage into a scowl amid the boos and occasional cheers from the spectators. However, as the voice of the announcer, magically amplified, roared over them, they obediently fell silent – though only briefly. As the announcer called forth the next combatant, a fervor seized the watchers. Many erupted from their seats to shout as a lone figure entered the arena opposite them. Lightly armored and bearing nothing but a net and trident, the abundantly muscular warrior raised his weapon to the even louder roar of his fans. He drove the prongs of his weapon into the sand and extended both of his powerful arms, encouraging the frothing madness that seemed to have seized the crowd. Taking up his trident once more with a flourish, he spun before pointing it towards his opponent among a roar that made the heroes feel as though they were fighting the entire crowd.
It's been a minute since I made a menace for Monday, and this was a fun one to put together. The retiarius comes from Roman gladiators who had classes of their own, which determined what weapons and armor they were equipped with. This lightly armored warrior was styled and themed after fishermen, equipped with a trident and net as well as a back-up dagger. They are meant to be more agile combatants, but the trident is not a finesse weapon, so our retiarius is designed with a focus on Strength. It still uses a decent Dexterity and then has a solid Charisma as well since gladiators are performers. Despite being a trained warrior, the Strikes of the retiarius are only at a moderate attack bonus. This is because, largely due to its net and features like Net Mastery, it has a high chance of targeting off-guard enemies. This is one of those facilitating effects that has a lot of impact behind the scenes though its ability to use its net one-handedly should be pretty apparent. In addition to the Grapples and Trips of its net, the retiarius can also attempt to Feint against foes with its Performance thanks to Showman, which might end up being a standard ability among gladiators that I design. It feels appropriate for them as a concept.
The retiarius specifically is going to be armed with Sneak Attack, giving it a morsel of extra damage against these vulnerable targets. Normally, its trident deals moderate damage while its dagger is low, but both of these will be bumped up one step by this effect. Among its activated abilities, the most pertinent is likely Tangling Strike. Either way this goes, this is an action saver. If the retiarius can Grapple or Trip a foe with this, it can then Strike at the off-guard foe at the same MAP, which is a pretty potent effect. However, if it misses, the retiarius just folds up his net as part of this action, which saves it a little bit of time. It can also demonstrate some of its agility with Spear Dance. This is a fighter feat that will let our retiarius dance circles around his enemies, granting some more action compression and just like the feat it’s designed after, it doesn’t have the flourish trait.
Furthering this fighter connection is Reactive Strike, which the retiarius can use to take advantage against enemies trying to stand after he Trips them or when they try to outmaneuver this sly fisher of men. Much more rarely, the retiarius will get the chance to activate Celebrate Victory – something that is likely to be another standard ability for future gladiators I design. This has a little bit of You’re Next DNA in its design, but can also reinforce a retiarius who’s a little bit more injured than they want to be. The fact that this only triggers on a crit – and that the retiarius only has a moderate Strike bonus at baseline – means that it shouldn’t feel oppressive or drag out a fight.
PATHFINDER 2e:
BLUE'S D&D:
ENCOUNTER HOOKS
Fit for the Pit: The party has fallen afoul of a gang – whether hired to wipe them out or captured by them – but have a chance to entreat with them. The leader of the bandits is a former gladiator, a retiarius specifically, and still yearns for the days of glory within the arena. He gladly faces ‘worthy’ opponents in a makeshift arena with his own gang as audience in part to relive those glory days but also to remind his followers why he is the one in charge. Should the heroes defeat him, they have a good chance of scattering the rest of the gang through words.
Gold and Glory: If the heroes are in need of a quick cash injection, giving them the opportunity to indulge in a little bloodsport could be a fun way for them to earn it while also lowering some of the usual danger associated with combat. The retiarius is probably the bottom rung on the ladder, but it could lead to the heroes slowly building up an entire reputation in the arena and facing greater champions of it for greater gains.
This fighting fisherman feuds with foes in fabricated fracases, fouling up fanatics and forcing them to fumble with a fantastic flourish.
This was a lot of fun and I make have to make more classic warriors from history again – certainly more gladiators, but I wouldn’t mind taking a swing at other cultures. Maybe even the samurai, though I might not be able to post that one to the Pathfinder2e subreddit! I'd appreciate it if you could take a look at the YouTube video for this dude - I though it was a fun one. If you're interested in joining the discussion on what creatures/builds I'm working on or just discussing your own homebrew works, check out our Discord! If you want to get some teasers or help us get to our yet unlisted milestones for extra content, check out the Twitter.
Have a monstrous Monday!
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