Gladiators are warriors who are trained for combat in Avendar's many arenas. Learned in a variety of dirty and showy techniques, they are fierce combatants both against a single opponent or an enemy group. Even when outnumbered, a gladiator is rarely outclassed; his assortment of training, bravado, and weapon techniques make him surprisingly vicious. Gladiators are particularly skilled in the use of exotic weapons, wielding them with more effectively than any other class in Avendar.
Skills
| Level | Skill |
|---|---|
| Level 1: | Axe, Dagger, Dodge, Flail, Mace, Polearm, Spear, Sword, Whip |
| Level 2: | Fast Healing |
| Level 3: | Dual Wield |
| Level 4: | Parry |
| Level 5: | Enhanced Damage |
| Level 6: | Hand to Hand |
| Level 7: | Dirt Kicking |
| Level 8: | Bravado, Showmanship |
| Level 9: | Kick |
| Level 10: | Rescue |
| Level 11: | Grip |
| Level 12: | Second Attack |
| Level 13: | Legsweep |
| Level 14: | Cross |
| Level 15: | Endure |
| Level 16: | Taunt |
| Level 17: | Ensnare |
| Level 18: | Third Attack |
| Level 19: | Hamstring |
| Level 20: | Gouge |
| Level 21: | Knee Shatter |
| Level 22: | Retaliation |
| Level 23: | Batter, Strip |
| Level 24: | Meditation |
| Level 25: | Fourth Attack |
| Level 26: | Cleave |
| Level 27: | Impale |
| Level 28: | Bloodlust |
| Level 29: | Shield Disarm |
| Level 30: | Choke |
| Level 32: | Feint |
| Level 34: | Enthusiasm |
| Level 36: | Decapitate |
| Level 38: | Whip Mastery |
| Level 40: | Corner |
Tips
Gladiators are designed to use a mainhand sword or spear, paired with an offhand flail or whip. Virtually any combination of the two grants certain advantages: the sword allows use of cleave, cross, decapitate; the spear allows use of impale, hamstring, legsweep; the whip allows use of choke, strip, ensnare and the benefits of whip mastery; flail allows use of batter and shield disarm.
They also have many weapon-independent abilities, many of which can be chained together for increased effectiveness. These include corner and feint, corner and taunt, and so on. This also makes use of their bloodlust skill, which should preserve their ability to fight groups by killing or incapacitating members of that group. Additionally, they have two different types of skill-induced blindness, which are situation-dependent (dirt kicking and gouge).
Defensively, gladiators are surprisingly solid, having parry, dodge, showmanship, and whip mastery. Broad weapon selection, and not being bound to using a shield or losing defense when dual wielding, allows them to make good use of what they get. Feint can be effective against opponents with high numbers of attacks as well, allowing a gladiator to have fewer attacks to block. Endure and the high hp dice of the gladiator class also allow them to take substantially more damage than other warriors might without dying.
It should be noted that gladiators now have a far more pronounced charisma component to their class, primarily in the skills bravado, feint, and taunt. This ability score makes these skills substantially better and should be a point of consideration when spending trains.
