CRIMINALS

Criminals or con men are an unsavory by-product of civilization, an anti-social fringe that prefer to murder, smuggle, cheat or swindle rather than work.    Usually dishonest and unreliable, the wealth that criminals acquire is often squandered on drinking, gambling or carousing.  This assures that even the most accomplished criminal is willing to partake in reckless and/or dangerous adventures.  

            Assassination is common upon Barsoom and deeply ingrained with the social and political life of the Red Planet.  So prevalent is the fear of assassination in red Martian nations that private residences or sleeping quarters are raised upon high metal columns four to six ads into the night sky.  Palaces of nobility and hotels will have numerous armed guards whose sole purpose is to eliminate these stealthy killers.  Although, most criminals are held in low order, a perverse mystique surrounds the exploits of the more successful assassins, who prefer daggers to swords and prefer poison to pistols. 

Criminal                     NPC                       Skill         Hit

Level     ATTK         Title              Save   Rank       Dice

 

  1)             +1          punk              +0        +1         1d6
  2)             +1          outlaw           +1        +1         2d6
  3)             +2          renegade       +2        +2         3d6
  4)             +3          enforcer        +2        +2         4d6
  5)             +3          assassin         +3        +3         5d6
  6)             +4         assassin         +4        +3         6d6
  7)             +5         boss               +4        +4         7d6
  8)             +5          boss              +5        +4         8d6
  9)             +6         master           +6        +5         9d6
10)             +7          master          +6        +5       10d6

                    und so weiter

            “Upon Barsoom, no man lies; if he does not wish to speak the truth, he is silent.” (PM, XI)  Criminals are unusual in that their word is seldom binding and they are likely to abandon their friends and associates at times of trouble; however, only the most degenerate male criminal would harm or kill a woman.  Occasionally, members of the nobility have been corrupted by criminals and will plunge their kingdoms or nations into disarray or chaos.    

            In hand-to-hand combat, criminals are adept at the sneak-attack or back stab.  When they attack from behind, hiding or with surprise; the 1^st round, they gain +4 ‘to-hit’ and will add their level to weapon damage (i.e., fourth level criminal with superior  strength does d8 + 4 -2 damage when using a dagger). 

Primary ability for criminal  is dexterity.

This is the preferred class for therns.

Illustration is Mike Hoffman's