Rolemaster Revisited: The Saboteur Build for the Delver

The Delver might just possibly be one of the more excoriated RM professions, so I, of course, always rather liked it. One of the memorable early NPCs in my New Kingdoms campaign was the dreaded Johlard, the "White Rat", a diabolical conniver and chief lieutenant of the Montesist faction in the strife-riven city if Sabahris. When I made him, I wasn't aware of the comparative lack of utility (other similar professions, such as the Nightblade, Montebanc and Sleuth tend to exceed the Delver's capabilities in combat, stealth, trickery and information gathering). I didn't find Johlard particularly underpowered, until I made a Sleuth NPC of similar level: after that, I didn't really use the Delver again. As written, they're slightly worse than the Bard in terms of combat, but the Base Spell Lists are kind of odd, and for the most part very weak in terms of combat (Delvers are very good with regard to mechanical and crafting skills, however). 

It wasn't until the Delver reappeared in the Alchemy Companion that I realised that this was in fact their proper place: they really are focused on the material side of things, with their analytical and crafting spells, and their ability to imbed spells into symbols provides a genuine twist. They're a kind of academic-artisan-thief, which is an odd combination, quite hard to pull off in a roleplaying sense but potentially very rewarding if done right.

As one of the few RM2 professions to survive into the RMC revision the Delver is fair game for my own RM houseruled version, so here it is (similar treatments exist for the Rogue and Ranger elsewhere on this blog), along with the Saboteur build - an elaboration of the Delver that seems to me to be a natural fit with the Delver's existing focus.

 The Delver

Level Bonus/Development Costs: Delver

Spell Lists: Semi-spell user.

Realm: Essence

Delver Background Options (cost is 1 BGO unless specified):

Acute Hearing: as per Character Law (p.64). May be selected with or without the accompanying drawback. Cost (with drawback) 1 BGO (without drawback) 2 BGOs.

Acute Smell: as per Character Law (p.63). May be selected with or without the accompanying drawback. Cost (with drawback) 1 BGO (without drawback) 2 BGOs.

Alchemical Tutelage: nominate one Alchemist Base list. You may learn this list, and the Alchemist Base list Alchemical Preparations as Open lists.* Cost: 2 BGOs. May only be selected once.

Ambidexterity: no penalty for off-hand weapon use*.

Arcane Tutelage: nominate one Closed Essence or Essence Base list. You may learn this list as an Open list of your own realm.* Cost: 1 BGO (Closed List); 2 BGOs (Hybrid or Semi-Essence Base List); 3 BGOs (Illusionist or Magician Base). May only be selected twice.

Assassin Training*, Danger Sense, Equipper, Eye of the Tiger, Immovable Will, Light Sleeper, Lucky*, Mana Sensing*, Martial Arts Training*, Natural Facility with Armor*, Portage Skill, Resistance*, Subtle, Survival Instinct, Trained Regular Footman, Transcendence*: see RMC Companion 1.

Divine Tutelage: nominate one Channeling list. You may learn this list as a Closed list of your own realm.* Cost: 1 BGO (Open Channeling List); 2 BGOs (Closed Channeling List); 3 BGOs (Hybrid or Semi-Channeling Base List); 4 BGOs (Pure Channeling Base List). May only be selected twice.

Evil Delver: you may replace one of your Base lists with an Evil Essence list.* Cost: 2 BGOs (may be selected twice, but second selection costs a further 3 BGOs).

Innate Magician I: You may nominate one spell list in which your ESF modifiers are reduced by 10. May be selected more than once, for a different list each time.  

Lightning Reflexes: as per Character Law (p.64). May be selected with or without the accompanying drawback. Cost (with drawback) 2 BGOs (without drawback) 3 BGOs.

Magic Knack I: One of the following Spell Lists is learned at half cost: Detecting Ways, Elemental Shields, Essence’s Perceptions, Lesser Illusions, Physical Enhancement, Rune Mastery, Spell Wall*. May only be selected twice. 

Magic Knack II: One of the following spell lists is learned at half cost: Living Change, Lofty Mastery, Rapid Ways, Spell Reins* Cost: 2 BGOs. May only be selected once.

Magical Trickster: Reduce ESF modifier for casting spells with no free hand by 2/rank in the Trickery skill, to a minimum of 10*. May only be selected once.

Mental Tutelage: nominate one Mentalism list. You may learn this list as a Closed list of your own realm.* Cost: 1 BGO (Open Mentalism List); 2 BGOs (Closed Mentalism List); 3 BGOs (Hybrid or Semi-Mentalism Base List); 4 BGOs (Pure Mentalism Base List). May only be selected twice.

Nimble: as per Character Law (p.64). May be selected with or without the accompanying drawback. Cost (with drawback) 1 BGO (without drawback) 2 BGOs.

Potent Meditation: you may make a Sheer Folly Meditation roll in order to regain 1 PP/rank in Meditation in 1 minute. Failure on this Meditation roll causes a violent backlash that drains you of all PPs for 1 day per # of PPs you attempted to regain. You also take 3d10 hits of damage and are stunned for 1d10 minutes.  Associated Drawback: Your odd relationship with ambient Essence means that every spell you cast has an ESF modifier of 10 (in addition to any other modifiers), unless you expend double the PP requirement of the spell. Cost (with drawback) 1 BGO (without drawback) 2 BGOs.  

Power I: Up to 5 ranks in any spell list.* Cost is 1+1 BGO/ranks selected. All standard ESF modifiers apply. May only be selected once.

Quick Caster: Reduce ESF mod for casting spells without full preparation to 2/rank in Perception, to a minimum of 10*. May only be selected once.

Skilful: 5 ranks in Acrobatics, Appraisal, Caving, Contortions, Crafting, Lock Lore, Metal Lore, Rope Mastery, Smithing, Spell Lore, Stone-carving, Stone Lore, Streetwise, Symbol Lore, Trading, Trap-building, Trickery or Tumbling*. May be selected multiple times, for a different skill.

Superior Statistic: +15 to one stat bonus* Cost: 2 BGOs (Can be increased to +20/+25 at a cost of 3 or 4 BGOs respectively). These do not stack.

Options marked ‘*’ may only be selected at level 1.

Saboteur

The Saboteur is a Delver specializing in stealth, urban skills and throwing things that explode...They are very capable when creating incendiaries, and have developed techniques to magically charge the explosives they create with spell-like effects.  

Specialisations: Athletic Games (Discus) 2, Channeling 4, Climbing 4, Stalk & Hide 3, Thrown Weapons 2/8.

Inhibited Skills: none.  

Skills (ranks): Athletic Games (Discus) 1, Body Development 1, Chemistry 3, Climbing 1, Crafting (Ceramics) 3, Gimmickry 1, Perception 3, Stalk & Hide 2, Streetwise 1, Trap-building 1, Thrown Weapons (Grenade) 1.

Background Options (cost 1 unless specified): 

Alertness: +10 to Perception.

Demolition Man: +15 to Lore●Technical (Architecture or Engineering) or Stone-carving (Masonry), only when attempting to locate and capitalize on weak points in the construction of large structures. 

Grenadier: +10 to Thrown Grenade

Magic Theoretician: you may develop the Spell Mastery skill in the following spells, even though you may not have the ability to cast them: 

Call of the Wild (Animal Mastery)

Blur Vision, Fear, Stumble, Fumble (Confusing Ways)

Dispel Channeling Sphere I, Dispel Essence Sphere I, Dispel Essence Sphere V, Dispel Mentalism Sphere I (Dispelling Ways)

Vibrations I, Vibrations II, Vibrations III, Vibrations IV (Essence Hand)

Tear Cloud I, Tear Cloud II (Feel-Taste-Smell)

Call Flame (Fire Law)

Call Cold (Ice Law)

Darkness (Light Law)

Sudden Light (Light Molding)

Mind Blank I, Mind Blank III (Mind Death)

Disorientation, Unbalance, Distortion (Mind Destruction)

Minor Poison, Major Poison (Poison Mastery)

Silence I, Silence II, (Sound Molding)

Sleep V, Sleep VII, Confusion (Spirit Mastery)

Fog, Stun Cloud I, Stun Cloud II (Wind Law) 

You may not develop Spell Mastery in any of these spells until you have a number of ranks in the Spell Lore skill equivalent to the level of the spell you wish to study. Cost 3 BGOs.†  

Master Incendiarist: +15 to Chemistry (only to craft explosives)

Skilful: 5 ranks in one of: Appraisal, Athletic Games (Discus), Chemistry, Cookery, Crafting (Ceramics), Gimmickry, Meditation, Poison Lore, Smithing, Spell Lore, Spell Mastery, Streetwise, or Trickery.* May be selected multiple times, for a different skill.

† this background option is primarily to allow access to certain spells that can be used - with difficulty - to empower the Saboteur’s incendiaries with different magical effects. The Saboteur ‘mimics’ the spell effect by developing formulae (using the Gimmickry and Chemistry skills, subject to certain limitations outlined in the appropriate Skill Unlock entry, below). The components for these formulae are usually chemical compounds, but also include herbs, body parts from all manner of creatures, an investment of Power Points, and the inscription of an appropriate glyph on the incendiary device itself.

Skill Unlocks: 

Barefaced (qualifier: Acting 10, Falsification 8, Trickery 8): once per day/PL, you may make an Acting maneuver (Very Hard), using the Moving Maneuver table, and subtract the result from any Perception rolls (by those attempting to discern deception). Each time you use this ability - with regard to the same targets and the same deception - the difficulty reduces in severity by one degree. However, should you fail, further attempts to deceive these targets - on any matter - require a result of over 100 on an Absurd Acting maneuver.

Underworld Brawler (qualifier: Streetwise 10, Perception 8, Contortions or Tumbling 10): years of life in the seedier parts of cities and their subterranean underside have honed your reflexes and alertness. You can, if engaged in unarmed combat in an appropriate site (close quarters, crowded streets, barroom brawls), add your ranks in Streetwise to your OB and your ranks in Contortions or Tumbling (whichever is higher) to your DB. 

        Variable Effects (qualifier: Gimmickry 8, Chemistry 10, Spell Lore 4 ranks (distributed between at least two spells), Channeling 4, Symbol Lore 4): you can create spell-like effects with your explosives, although the procedure to do so is very complicated. as a prerequisite, you must have developed Spell Lore for the individual spell you wish to simulate (see Magical Theoretician, above).

        The procedure is as follows: The Saboteur must make a research roll using their Spell Lore skill in the appropriate spell, rolling on the Medium column of the Moving Manuever Table. The resulting number is then added to a Gimmickry roll on the Extremely Hard column of the MM table. The number generated by this second roll represents the efficacy of the generated formula and is added to all checks hereafter.

        The Saboteur then makes a Chemistry roll with a modifier of -10 per level of the spell simulated on the Static Maneuver table. This (and all subsequent steps) is an all-or-nothing roll: if it fails, the components are destroyed and the quest for a new formula to accurately mimic the spell's effects begins anew (i.e., the process must recommence, and the formula generated by the previous Gimmickry roll has been revealed as flawed).

        Assuming success, the components are then charged with a number of Power Points (equivalent to double the amount to cast the spell in the normal manner), using a standard Channeling roll (all normal Channeling rules apply). Finally, the process is completed by the etching of an appropriate glyph (this is checked using the Symbol Lore skill; if this is unsuccessful, the Power Points invested in the previous stage are lost, and the process returns to that stage).

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Making More of Talents in RMFRP IV

 Today I'm continuing to examine the notion of 'Talent Packs' in RMFRP as ways of rounding out, deepening or broadening character concepts beyond the limits inherent in a Profession. Although there's considerable potential for abuse and power creep in the concept (and its execution), that is limited to a certain extent by the fact that many Talent Packs and Linked Talents are confined to just a few Professions, Lineages or Cultures. In the Talents presented below, the range of possibilities is very narrow indeed: only those who are members of the Urban Labourer culture who are also Channeling users of evil disposition can select them - and in some cases, members of a particular Profession.

BASE TALENTS for any Urban Labourer Channeling (Evil) user (Talent Pack cost: 37)

The cost listed is the slightly discounted cost for purchasing the individual talent. The cost in brackets is the further discounted cost for purchase as part of the entire base Channeling (Evil) user talent pack.

Cost                             Talent

15(14)                          Curse-Monger (Power (Minor) + Innate Magician)

                                    Those who work in the name of evil deities love nothing better than to inflict pain and woe wherever they go. You are one such, and thus gain a special +20 bonus to all Spell Casting static maneuvers pertaining to the Revenging Law spell list, in which you gain 10 ranks.

9(8)                              Hidden Hand (Skilled (Minor))

                                    There are always enemies: Clerics of sickening moral purity, Mythics in search of heretics and wrathful, self-righteous Paladins, to name but a few. It is often best to keep your head down when working your dark dweomer, and so you gain a special +20 bonus to the Spell Trickery skill.

16(15)                          Mask of Respectability (Skilled (Major) x2 + Skilled (Lesser) x2 – Secret Identity)

                                    With the despised Priests of other faiths having much of the working-class in a spiritual lockdown, those who tread the path of Evil must be cautious. You have pursued a mundane career in parallel with your servitude to darkness, and hide your true self behind as if it were a mask. There is some danger, however: it is known that Evil is at work among the labouring classes, and opposing powers have sent enemies to root out those like you. You gain a +20 to Acting and Duping. In addition, you gain a +10 to either: a) two Craft or Craft-related skills, b) Trading and one Craft skill or c) Appraisal and Trading. Craft and Craft-related skills must be selected from the Urban Labourer Standard Hobby ranks list. Suitable combinations might include: Spinning and Weaving, Foundry and Weight-lifting, Barber and Interrogation (Gossip). Weapon skills and Body development are not appropriate.

 

PROFESSION-SPECIFIC TALENTS (may only be purchased if buying at least one of the talents in the Channeling User (Evil) Talent Pack)

CLERIC                 Secret rites in hidden places bind the minds and bodies of the tempted to Evil. The Evil Cleric can garner a rich feast of willing souls – tired of the oppressive weight of the Lawful priesthood – and develop extensive networks of dark influence in working-class districts (and ultimately, beyond).   Urban Labourer Clerics of Evil persuasion may select the following talent:

Cost                 Talent

44                    Blood Liturgy (Racial Training (Familiar) + Power (Minor) + Special Ability)

                        There is great power in blood. Evil Priests are not afraid to shed the blood of others and use it to fuel their powers. You gain +10 to Intimidation, Channeling, Public Speaking, Religion, Seduction and Torture. You also gain 10 ranks in the spell list Ceremonies. In addition, when you remove 1d10 concussion hits of blood from a willing or unwilling victim, you may make a Channeling skill roll. On a result of success or better, you may expend 1d10 Exhaustion Points and gain a number of Power Points equivalent to the hits of blood taken from the victim. These Power Points can only be used to cast spells from the Ceremonies spell list.

 

MYTHIC                Whilst it is uncommon for Mythics to take up the cause of evil, it is not unheard of, and Urban Labourers seem particularly drawn to such a career: perhaps because they seek to avenge themselves on a punitive culture and its most powerful figures, perhaps because Evil and its focus on the power of realising any desire, regardless of the cost seems the antithesis of working-class society in human lands. Evil Mythics from the Urban Labourer culture may select from the following talents:

 

Cost                 Talent

24                    Dark Courtesan (Skilled (Major) + Power (Minor) + Underground Upraising)

                        Where sensuality is so inexorably repressed, there is opportunity for those who use such methods of temptation: there will always be men and women whose desire will lead them astray – and in to the arms of those who work evil. The Dark Courtesan is a specialised type of Mythic who utilises alluring power. They nominate a target – usually a high-ranking cleric or priest who is otherwise too well-guarded to be overtly threatened – and slowly work their way through layers of bureaucracy and bodyguards using seduction and temptation to corrupt the target’s subordinates until the target is finally exposed and ready for destruction. You gain a +30 bonus to Seduction and 10 ranks in the Allurement spell list.

 

40                    Necromorph (Special Ability)                        

                    Some Mythics draw on the power of Death itself to increase their power, usually by taking on aspects of Undead creatures. This grants them the abilities of the creatures whose form they take. You may spend 1d10 Exhaustion Points ( +1d10 per round) to transform into a Lesser Skeleton or a Zombie, 2d10 Exhaustion Points (+1d10 per round) to transform into a Lesser Ghoul or a Minor Skeleton or 3d10 Exhaustion Points (+2d10 per round) to transform into a Phantom or, finally 4d10 Exhaustion Points (+2d10 per round) to transform into a Revenant.

Whilst in Undead form, you gain access to all the abilities of the form you have chosen, but you also take damage from Repel Undead spells: you do not flee and cannot be destroyed, but you can be hindered (-20 to all activities for as number of rounds equal to the spell #: Repel Undead III will give a penalty for 3 rounds) and hurt (take 1d10 hits x spell number: e.g. Repel Undead V will give 5x the value of a single d10 roll).

If you ‘die’ while in Undead form, the transformation ends immediately, you must take an ‘A’ Disruption critical, a ‘B’ Shock critical and a ‘C’ Stress critical. All damage incurred in Undead form is carried over to your natural form at the end of the effect, regardless of circumstances.

In addition, you cannot cast spells – unless the form empowers you to do so – nor can you wield a weapon using your normal OB. However, you may develop a Special Attack skill (Undead Attack) which will grant you a percentage of your regular OB bonus with a specific weapon or attack form (i.e. a bonus of 58 in Undead Attack will grant you 58% of your OB in Undead form. It is possible to exceed your regular OB whilst in Undead form if you develop the skill to a high enough level).

The Exhaustion Points accrued in maintaining the spell do not affect you whilst in undead form, but you incur them immediately when you return to your natural form. In addition, if you exceed your Exhaustion Point total whilst maintaining the effect, it is cancelled immediately and you appear in your own form, at full Exhaustion.

The transformation takes two full rounds, during which time you are treated as stunned, may not cast spells or use any skills (including Stun Removal and other similar skills). You may parry at 50% (less the usual penalty for being stunned). You may not wear armour: the transformation simply does not take effect (although you still lose the Exhaustion Points).

You may develop and use Spell Mastery (Necromorph) to either reduce the transformation time by 50% (i.e. 1 round – a Hard maneuver) or reduce the parry penalty during transformation (to parry at 80% would be a Very Hard maneuver. You cannot use Spell Mastery to lift the prohibition on casting spells, being ‘stunned’ or wearing armour during the transformation.

 

PRIEST OF ORACLES                      Evil has its prophets and diviners too: strange minds that circle the edge of madness and bring back that which they find there. Although some consider them too unworldly to be of much use beyond their cryptic predictions, they can and do master practical skills and talents, particularly that rare working-class individual raised among the noise and smoke of foundry and mill. Evil-aligned Urban Labourer Priests of Oracles may select the following talent:

Cost                 Talent

36                    Obscuring Mist (Special Ability)

                        Evil flourishes best away from the scrutiny of the righteous. Some evil priests of the Oracle Sphere, inspired by the memory of thick steam and smoke, possess the ability to create a normal-seeming fog that is proof against magical scrying. When you expend 3d10 exhaustion points (+ 1d10/extra 10 minutes that the ability is maintained), you create a thick fog in an area 100’ x 100’ x 20’. This fog will last for a base of 10 minutes. This fog, quite apart from impeding normal vision (-30 penalty to sight-based perception, -10 to awareness skills of which vision is a part, such as Observation), also defends against scrying spells. Any spell attempting to scry into the fog must make an RR vs. your level: failure by 1-20 means the spell cannot penetrate the fog (Power Points are spent but the spell has no effect), failure by 21+ means that in addition to losing PPs and failing to cast the spell, the caster also takes an ‘A’ Mental critical and loses 2d10 power points.

Only an Evil-aligned Priest of Oracles can cast scrying/lore/divination spells whilst within the mist, and does so with a +20 to the Spell Casting static maneuver roll.