| Notes |
Malkur is a "pariah" goblin, one of the tribeless goblins who camp in the village common land outside the caverns. Unknown to Shardakh or Mardrash, Malkur is one of the chief assassins among the goblins who serve an unknown master.
He is in the village merely to check up on Mardrash. He has found no reason to distrust any of the goblins or priests and will soon move on. To the adventurer, however, he presents a danger. As an assassin, he has acquired refined thieving and fighting skills. Even though he carries no weapon as part of his assumed identity, he is a formidable adversary, adept at stealth and practiced in unarmed combat and has Unarmed Prowess: treat Unarmed blocks and parries as ‘Medium’ sized, enabling them to better defend themselves from armed opponents.
Malkur is the antithesis of Shardakh in most ways. He carries no weapon — as part of his guise — and must rely on subtlety and cunning in unarmed combat. If confronted, Malkur will attempt to slip away and circle behind the party for an easier kill. If he has no escape, Malkur will use his facile wit to talk himself out of a scrape.
Malkur is one of the few goblins with a proficiency in mannish tongues; he will use this talent to tell convincing but utterly fabricated stories of himself, the village, the Chief's lair or the Temple. Since he has never been in the Chief's lair or the Temple his stories should fall apart quickly on close examination.
Artful Dodger: The Artful Dodger talent requires you to be Unburdened (ENC less than STRx2), and wearing nothing more restrictive than light armour. You possess fast reflexes and gain 1 extra Action Point, which may only be used to Parry or Evade. In addition, you may use the Evade skill to dodge a melee attack without falling prone. Against a ranged attack, you only end up prone if you fail the roll.
Backstab: Backstab allows a melee attacker to attempt to neutralize a victim from an advantageous position. Contrary to its name, the weapon does not have to be impaling, but only Small and Medium melee weapons can be used. Ranged attacks do not benefit from backstab. Because the attacker is typically able to strike without hindrance, like Surprise, the first attack on the target gains a bonus Special Effect if successful. In addition, the thief can shift their Damage Modifier by one step for every two Ranks they have in Thief or Thief-Acrobat. Therefore, a halfling thief with a -1d2 damage penalty will have no penalty at Rank 1, gain a +1d2 bonus at Rank 3, and gain a +1d4 at Rank 5. It is not necessary for the thief to gain surprise on her victim, however the attack must be made from outside the victim’s field of vision. Therefore, many thieves will wait for an opponent to become engaged with an ally, then take advantage of the distraction to strike from behind.
Agile: The thief gains superb reflexes. When calculating Initiative the character adds one tenth of his or her Athletics skill to the Initiative 1d10 roll. For example, a thief with Athletics 60% would calculate Initiative on her Initiative base, +1d10+6.
Quick: The thief can add 2m (5 ft.) to her base movement rate. The metre/foot conversion is not exact, being simplified to better work with existing movement modifiers and battle grids.
Climb Walls: You are very good at climbing anything up to and including sheer surfaces. As long as you are Unburdened (ENC less than STRx2) and wearing nothing more restrictive than light armour, you may ignore 1 grade of difficulty to your Athletics roll when performing any attempt at climbing. In addition the Armour Penalty to Base Movement when climbing may be ignored. Hide in Shadows: You are a master of stealth and have perfected the art of hiding in shadows. As long as you can position yourself in an area enshrouded in shadow, all Perception rolls to spot you are 1 difficulty grade harder.
Read Languages: Thieves that attain Rank 2 may spend 2 Experience Rolls and 1 month of training to learn to read any language, even those they don’t even know. This isn’t a complete understanding of all languages, but the chance to pick up a word here or a phrase there and piece it together. The main use of this skill is the understanding of notes, instructions, and treasure maps, but can be used to attempt to decipher any otherwise unknown language. Read Languages is a Professional Skill and starts at base level of INTx2. The Games Master should roll this skill check, keeping the results secret, as you shouldn’t know if you have succeeded or not, and just think you did. A success will reveal a number of useful pieces of information equal to your INT/4, while a critical success will reveal a number of pieces of information equal to your INT/2. On a failure, you learn no information whatsoever. Finally, on a fumble, you only believe that you know the subject matter correct and the Games Master can feed you false information.
Crude lead ring +1 STR added |
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