Gladiator

Classes Allowed	Fighter
Ability Score Requirements	Strength 9
Prime Requisites	Strength
Races Allowed	Any
Alignments Allowed	Any

The gladiator is a showman-warrior from a society where public combat competitions are a popular sport. The gladiator is a professional warrior in this high-profile arena; for the delight (and bloodlust) of the crowds, for his own personal wealth and aggrandizement (or, if he is a slave, for the profits of his owner), he fights organized matches against human, demihuman, and even monstrous opponents.

Role

For the Gladiator to appear in a campaign, the DM must establish that at least one culture has gladiatorial combats, and the Gladiator character must come from such a culture. (He need not have been born there . . . but he will either have been a slave there or, if he was a freeman, will feel like a naturalized citizen there.) A Gladiator player-character can be an active gladiator in the arena, one who adventures in his free time (or within some other context of the current adventure), or can have formerly been a gladiator now living the life of the adventurer.
In the campaign, the Gladiator is going to be a showy, high-profile warrior. He performs dangerous stunts in combat. He attracts the attention of crowds of admirers. He receives a lot of credit for brave deeds whether he deserves the credit or not. A Gladiator can be a callous brute, a dirty arena fighter with no interests other than killing his enemy as quickly as possible and making off with his prize; or he can be a clean-limbed, heroic figure, a hero who always fights honorably in the arena and never kills when he does not have to.

Advantages

• Gladiators receive a bonus weapon proficiency slot at 1st level. This proficiency slot can only be used to become Skilled in one of the following weapons: cestus, dagger, drusus, lasso, net, scimitar, shortsword, spear, trident, or whip.
• Gladiators are trained to fight in various environments. As such, they do not take penalties for fighting in non-magical difficult terrain such as waist-high water, stone rubble, and tangled plants.
• Gladiators are always ready to please a crowd, and gain a +1 bonus to Initiative when they roll for their side.

Disadvantages

• Gladiators are used to a life in the spot-light, inflicting and taking blows in turn. Far too used to such a life to change, the gladiator suffers a +1 penalty to their AC during the first round of any combat.
• Gladiators are plagued by old wounds from their days in the ring, and as such cannot roll higher than 8 (before Constitution bonuses) on any individual hit die.

Notable Gladiators