Fater: A New Character Class for the DCC RPG

Faters are hermits, thinkers, skeptics and philosophers. They value knowledge, logic and reason above all things. Unbeholden to gods, they reject the idea of the spiritual and supernatural, believing instead there is nothing beyond the world of Áereth. To the Fater, magic and the forces of darkness are susceptible to discoverable laws, and the explanations for the mysteries of the universe are ultimately knowable. Although most men are inevitably doomed to their fate and destiny, the Fater has sought self-mastery through the forging of his intellect, discovered patterns in the chaos of life, and has risen to understand his role and potential in the greater drama. Through his focused mind, the world can bend to ways that give the Fater premonitions about the path he must take, of whether a future action will be a bane or boon. To reward the Fater’s reverence of nature, she has granted him the secrets of healing with plant extracts. For any healing using Lay on Hands performed on a Fater by the Cleric, they are treated as opposite alignment. In addition, the Cleric receives 1 disapproval when successfully healing a Fater. It is viewed as a great sin by the Cleric’s deity to mend such an adamant unbeliever!

Background option: A Judge may decide to introduce the Three Fates patrons (Chapter 7: Judges Rules of the DCC RPG corebook) into their campaign when using the Fater class, for interesting storytelling possibilities. Perhaps Faters are fallen subjects of these patrons, outcast through renunciation, corruption or taints. 

Hit points: A Fater gains 1d6 hit points per level.

Languages: At 1st level, a Fater automatically knows Common, and 3 other determined languages. They know one additional language for every point of Intelligence modifier, as described in Appendix L of the DCC RPG corebook.

Weapons training: Faters train to use their bodies as a weapon. They can use small melee or ranged weapons, but prefer to fight unarmed with bare hands, and receive a Deed die bonus when doing so. 

Alignment: Faters are generally neutral. They are impartial to law, chaos and judgment.

Armor Bonus: Faters rarely choose to wear armor. Calculate Armor Class: 10 +Agility modifier +Character level. However, if the Fater chooses to wear armor, they do not receive the Agility modifier or Character level bonus. 

Attack Modifier: Unlike other classes, Faters do not receive a fixed attack modifier, they instead receive a Deed die bonus. This is not used to perform Mighty Deeds, but rather an attack and damage modifier only given if they attack with bare hands in close melee combat. 

Special abilities

Polymath: 

When not adventuring, Faters have an unquenchable curiosity about the world around them. They wander throughout the land like vagabonds, seeking information (for which they are prepared to pay handsomely!) from rare books in fantastic libraries, common peasants in a fishing village, the tavern owner, thieves in the night, and other journeymen they meet through travel. Faters can have detailed knowledge in the following areas. Roll d20 at 1st level to acquire 3 different skills, then roll for 1 skill per level thereafter to acquire a new area of expertise (re-roll if a skill has been previously acquired): 

(1) weapons, (2) architecture, (3) physiology, (4) seafaring, (5) botany, (6) mathematics, (7) history, (8) art, (9) weather, (10) maps, (11) astronomy, (12) the supernatural, (13) agriculture, (14) lore & legend, (15) genealogy, (16) magical inscriptions, (17) languages, (18) masonry, (19) traps, (20) chemistry. 

If asked to make a DC check which requires a field of knowledge which the Fater is proficient, roll d20 + Intelligence modifier +Deed die.

Thief skills: 

Faters have the following abilities, as per Thief skills described in Chapter 1: Characters in the DCC Core Rulebook: Read Languages, Forge Document and Handle Poison. When attempting these skills, the Fater rolls d20 and applies their Deed die to the DC check.

Strength of Mind: 

The Fater adds their Deed die to any Will save against mind-influencing spells, in addition to any attribute modifiers. 

Wild Healing: 

Faters are skilled in the wild healing arts. Through their reverence and love of nature, they are able to perform healing upon other creatures with ointments, balms, salves, and extracts derived from plants, fungi, molds, and herbs. Faters carry remedies which can restore hit points, the effectiveness and frequency of which it can be used each day are given on the Wild Healing column of the table below. They may heal any living creature, as well as themselves. The Fater must physically touch the wounds and work for 1 round. When using Wild Healing, roll d20 +Deed die. A result of 12 or greater means Wild Healing has been successful. A result from 2-11 means the healing attempt has failed and the extract has been lost. A roll of a natural 1 means the extract has actually caused damage, equal to the amount of potential healing (so a roll of a natural 1 by a 3rd lever Fater causes 1d5 damage to a victim, instead of 1d5 healing). Due to the Faters’ specialized knowledge of the methods by which their extracts are made and applied, other characters are unable to use their concoctions to perform healing. 

The Hand of Fate: 

The Fater is not simply a powerless pawn in the game. Through years of mindfulness, he has developed insight into the most effective manner to complete any action and the consequences this will bring. By understanding cause and effect upon the loom of time, the Fater is able to weave the strands of fate and destiny. Beginning at 1st level, the Fater rolls their Deed die every morning to determine how many re-rolls they can make that day. This resets overnight. They may spend this to re-roll any single attack roll, damage roll, saving throw, luck check, Wild Healing roll and DC check. The roll can be something they attempt, and also something that directly affects them. For example, the Fater can re-roll a failed attack roll they make, or if an opponent has successfully hit them with an attack, they could force the foe to re-roll the attack or damage result. Regardless, if they choose to re-roll, the results of the second roll must be kept. Fate can rub off on those around him, and like the Halfling, the Fater can aid his allies. The Fater can spend d3 re-rolls for an ally to make 1 re-roll. The ally in question must be nearby and visible to the Fater. The ally can re-roll attack rolls, damage rolls, saves, spell checks, DC checks, thief skills, and so on. The ally can also force a foe to re-roll an attack or damage result. Luck can be added to any re-roll. Critical hits, or a roll of a natural 1 however, cannot be re-rolled by a Fater, his ally or foe...such is the hand of Fate, as some things are just meant to be.

The Will to Live:

The Fater does not believe in an afterlife, and therefore has no fear of meeting Lord Death. The universe is without meaning, there is nothing beyond his glorious life on Áereth, judgement by his maker is not forthcoming, so he has nothing to lose when he passes. He will simply turn to dust and cease to exist. If a Fater dies (and after attempting to heal or rolling the body) he is permitted a DC 16 Will to Live save (with no attribute modifiers permitted) on a d20, to reflect his resolve and attachment to this mortal coil. On a successful save, he is granted a reprieve from Death and miraculously survives with 1hp, but suffers 1d3 points of permanent Strength, Agility or Stamina damage (Judge decides, the loss can be distributed amongst stats). This can be attempted once per day. The Hand of Fate re-roll or Luck may not be spent on this save. 

Titles (all alignments):

1. The Skeptic

2. The Theorist

3. The Logician

4. The Thinker

5. The Enlightened

6. The Philosopher

7. The Seer

8. The Wise

9. The Knower

10. The Prophet

Level	Deed Die†	Crit Die/Table	Action Die	Ref	Fort	Will	Unarmed Damage*	Wild Healing (per day)
1	d3	1d8/III	1d20	+1	+0	+1	d4	1d3 (x2)
2	d3+1	1d8/III	1d20	+2	+1	+2	d6	1d4 (x3)
3	d4	1d10/III	1d20	+2	+1	+2	d6	1d5 (x4)
4	d5	1d12/III	1d20	+3	+2	+2	d8	1d6 (x5)
5	d6	1d12/III	1d20	+3	+2	+3	d10	1d8 (x6)
6	d8	1d14/III	1d20+1d14	+4	+2	+3	d12	1d10 (x7)
7	d8+2	1d14/III	1d20+1d14	+4	+3	+3	d12+2	1d12 (x8)
8	d10	1d16/III	1d20+1d16	+5	+3	+3	d14	1d14 (x9)
9	d10+2	1d16/III	1d20+1d20	+5	+4	+4	d14+2	1d16 (x10)
10	d12	1d20/III	1d20+1d20	+6	+5	+5	d16	1d16 (x12)

* add Strength modifier +Deed die

† Applies to Polymath knowledge checks, Thief skill checks, Wild Healing checks, attack and damage rolls using bare hands. Does not apply to attack or damage rolls using weapons.

Illustration by Shawn Brewer. This class appears in the 2019 Gongfarmer's Almanac.

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