The Rules of Gladius: Playable Races and Classes

The following tables include all playable races. The first table lists all races that can be entered at no credit cost. By default, all characters start at ECL 3. You may at a higher league (that is, with an ECL greater than 3) by paying five credits for every extra ECL. For example, if you wish to start at ECL 7, you must pay 20 credits. Note: Some of the level adjustments come from sources other than the Monster Manual; they are legal choices in the CoCo despite this.

The following table lists all "Exotic Races". These races must start at a higher ECL because of their Level Adjustment and/or racial HD. The ECL listed in the table is the minimum ECL that race can have, with the corresponding credit cost. As with the races listed above, you may start at a higher ECL than the minimum by paying additional credits. No matter what race you choose or how advanced the character is, the cost to create a character is 5 credits per ECL over 3.

For most races, you may choose character’s alignment freely. However, if your race’s listed alignment is always, you are that alignment by default. For example, demons are listed as always chaotic evil; if you play a demon, your character is chaotic evil. The Monster Manual, however, says that even in this case, exceptions are possible, although they are very rare. In order to reflect this here, you have to pay 5 credits per step the alignment is away from the one listed as 'always'. Thus, a lawful good pixie ("always neutral good") costs 5 credits while a fallen chaotic evil hound archon ("always lawful good") costs 20 credits.

The following templates can be added to any of the above races. Each has a corresponding level adjustment, which modifies your character’s ECL and credit cost, as normal.

Acquired Templates - unless taken at character creation - require a roleplaying component to be fulfilled. This is always a Standard 3-week Quest (not a miniquest) of an EL at least equal to the character's ECL, and the template is the Quest Reward. The character must complete the Quest to get the desired template. The player also has to pay the appropriate credit cost for the increased ECL, which is 5° per extra level adjustment gained from the template. We assume that those who can spend 10 or more credits on a template can afford a Quest as well. See it as an additional cost for the template.


After completion, his ECL increases depending on the template. He instantly jumps to the necessary ECL (that is, his old level with which he began the quest plus the template level adjustment). He checks the table 3-2 (PHB p.22) on how many xp his new ECL gets, then adds the xp he gained during his quest. For gold, he adds the difference between his old ECL and the new ECL based on the table 5-1 (DMG p.135, also copied below), and adds that amount to his stash, then adds the gold and items he found in the Quest.

Example: Anna the halfling (ECL 3; 3500 XP, 3700 gp) had lead a happy life until her evil player (let's call him The Jindler :D) wants her to die and rise as a ghost. So Anna embarks on a Quest with the Quest Goal: Ghost Template. She faces three encounters, and although she has to die in the end to become a ghost, she must complete the quest successfully first - i.e. survive all encounters; her transformation into a ghost is a roleplaying component at the end of the Quest. She completes the quest and gains 4000 XP and 4000 gp.


With the new template her ECL rises to 8. According to the table below, an ECL 8 character gets 29,000 XP which is where she instantly jumps to. Then she adds the 4000 XP that she gained by completing her Quest. For her gold, she checks the table 5-1 in the DMG (again, copied below), and calculates the difference between ECL 3 and 8 - which is 24,300 gp. She also gets the 4000 gp from her quest for a total gold reward of 28,300 which is added to her existing wealth (3700, s.a.).


Anna ends up with 33,000 XP and 32,000 gold. She spent 28 credits; 3 for the Quest and 25 for increasing her ECL by 5.

Lycanthrope is a template that can be added to any humanoid or giant (referred to hereafter as the base creature). The lycanthrope template can be inherited (for natural lycanthropes, LA+3) or acquired (for afflicted lycanthropes, LA+2). Becoming a lycanthrope is very much like multiclassing as an animal and gaining the appropriate Hit Dice.


Lycanthrope Level Adjustment: Same as the base creature (Base Animal) + Base Race (+0 unless a LA race) +2 (afflicted) or +3 (natural); a lycanthrope’s ECL is calculated: Base Animal HD + Lycanthrope (afflicted or natural) + Class Levels. Example: Natural Human Werewolf Fighter 2 = (Human +0) + (Lycanthrope +3 Inherited) + (Wolf +1) (Fighter +2) = ECL 6

The ghost, vampire, and lich templates, which require the character to die, do not incur a level loss! They are gained as a quest reward at the end of a Quest.

Playable Base Classes are the following:
Barbarian, Bard, Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Monk, Paladin, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer, Wizard, Psion, Psychic Warrior, Soulknife, Wilder, Adept, Aristocrat, Commoner, Expert, and Warrior.


The playable Prestige Classes:
Arcane Archer, Arcane Trickster, Archmage, Assassin, Blackguard, Dragon Disciple, Duelist, Dwarven Defender, Eldritch Knight, Hierophant, Horizon Walker, Loremaster, Mystic Theurge, Red Wizard (DMG, page 193), Shadow Dancer, Thaumaturgist, Cerebremancer, Elocater, Psionic Fist, Slayer, Metamind, Psion Uncarnate, Pyrokineticist, Thrallherd, and War Mind.

Most newly created characters will begin with ECL 3. However, some might want to pay credits to play an exotic race that has to enter at a higher ECL because of its racial HD or its LA. Alternatively, you can pay credits to buy additional class levels for your newly created character. Once the character is up on the roster, you cannot buy additional levels by paying credits but must level normally. The table below shows the starting XP and gold for each ECL. Entering a character at a higher level costs 5 credits per level beyond ECL 3.

Please notify the Pitlords Board Avatar if you want to enter a creature higher than ECL 3!

Under normal D&D rules, if a player character crafts a magic item or buries his familiar, he loses Experience Points. In the Core Coliseum, we have mostly removed voluntary and involuntary XP losses to simplify things. If your character crafts a magic item, you only need to pay the price in gold; forget about the XP cost. Likewise, you lose no XP if your familiar dies.


There is one exception to this rule: spells and powers. If a spell or power has an XP cost associated with casting it, you do pay this XP cost. In addition, you also lose a certain amount of gold, depending on your ECL and how much XP you spent. Find your ECL on the table below and multiply the XP cost by the given ratio; that is how much gold you lose. For example, if you are ECL 10 and cast a spell with an XP Cost of 100 XP, then you also lose 193 GP (100*1.93). This exception includes creating items that use such spells (e.g. a ring of three wishes).

Sometimes, characters won't work as well as you might have initially thought, and it is of course within your rights to retire this character (and build a new one, if desired). Just write a PM to the Pitlords GM Avatar and tell him that you want to retire the character. The only thing we are asking you is that you do not delete the character. Leave him as he is. Although the character might not be on the Roster anymore, we still have backups of all character links, but they only work if there is still a character in there.


If your character was at least in the level 7 League, he has earned a place of honor on the Gladius Graveyard, whih can be found in the Characters thread.