The Tomb Robber, PC/NPC Class for your OSR games
Robbing Tombs and Graves, c'mon your player characters salivate at the idea of afresh unopened tomb while prattling on about being heroes. I ran across a tomb robber class for Labyrinth Lord and quickly modified it slightly for my BX Open Table Game and immediately added it to the list of classes as the Barrowmaze would be one of the Megadungeons in the Duchy of Aerick so it was a perfect fit.
Basically it is a fighter with some handy Thief Skills for the looting of tombs. None of the super sneaky thief abilities mind you because you don't sneak up on those who are laying in the dirt already. You break down the door, check for traps and desecrate the dead to get the goodies. Real heroic stuff...
It had a d8 for Hit Points originally which I thought excessive for BX since the beefiest classes were Dwarf Race as Class and Human Fighter so I made it the mid point between Thief and Fighter a d6 similar to Bandit and Cleric, Especially since I use Class Hit Die as Weapon Damage. As you can see it has a very slight 'sort-of' bardic ability with lore and an ability to decipher dead languages. The universal Thief looking for traps ability and can scale walls efficiently.
The main limitations are on armor and weapons with weapons not being that big of a deal since my house Rules are hit die based and I tend to be very loose on that matter. You cleric of Odin should use a Spear since Odin does, Your Wizard wants to wield a Sword like Gandolf, sure get right up front with your d4 hit points and no armor you suicidal madman. But I digress, it is very well rounded for dungeon exploration and when paired with a higher than normal charisma your not just a regular tomb robber but an archeologist, totally different. Honestly, its not the same thing as tomb robbing if my character has all of his teeth and works for a University or 'special' clients.
The armor being limited to Leather or magical Chain Mail is very bardic to AD&D 1e players and no shield is a real downer for the #OSR but it works. It works very well actually for delving. It has only been a few sessions since I have allowed this into my BX Game and I think it is a nice addition with flavor. The local giant toads of the Barrowmoor think they are delicious.
If you are into the OSR and wish to join other tomb robbers, I mean heroic adventuring types here are some links to aforementioned Roll20 Campaign and our BX Oriented Discord Server below
BX Open Table: https://app.roll20.net/join/2719437/FcUYvg
Discord Server: https://discord.gg/EdACFGu
#OSR #DnD #BX #TombRobber #MindsGaming