The Acrobat/Tumbler

Living a life of glamour in the bright, dusty spotlights of the center ring may be an alluring prospect to many. But performance is not a circus acrobat's only gig. An acrobat may perform many roles beyond that of a featured entertainer, but their primary function is to present death-defying acts to adoring crowds, from the very young to the timeless.

The Acrobat/Tumblers are athlete who performs acts requiring skill and agility and coordination. These entertainers perform feats of strength, agility and daring above the ground on the tightrope, trapeze, high wire, and other lowering Structures as well as stunts performed on and above the ground and above ground include handstands, rolls, somersaults, cartwheels, leaps and falls. The acrobat has no fear of heights and possesses superior balance and lightning reflexes.

Here are a few examples of acrobatic acts:

• Floor-based, hand-to-hand partner acrobatics
• Aerial silks
• Tightrope acrobatics
• Martial arts such as WuShu or sword dancing
• Contortion
• Animal acts
• Tumbling and trampoline

A contortionist might hone her hand balancing or aerial skills, while a tumbler might join his act with martial arts to create a spectacular show. Acts of this caliber take great effort to perfect, along with a lot of cooperation from others.

The applications for this character in a more conventional adventure game are fairly obvious. They are perhaps most accurately comparable to our modem day gymnast. Blinding fast combinations of leaps, rolls, cart wheels, back flips and the like are performed with the grace and agility of practiced perfections. Often two , three or four of these characters will perform in unison making for an impressive display of man's (or whatever) physical prowess. The acrobat's abilities can make him the perfect spy or cat bugler able to scale walls, climb rope, walk small ledges, and so on. This character can be the equal in speed and skill to any thief or cut-rate assassin.

ACROBATS/TUMBLERS O.C.C.

Attribute Requirements: P.P. 12 or higher.
Alignment: Any
Gender: Male or Female
Race: Any
O.C.C. Bonuses:The character has a one-time bonus of +2 dodge, +1 on initiative and +3 to pull punch.
O.C.C. Skills:

• Acrobatics
• Tumbling (for tumblers ONLY)
• Rope Works (+15%)
• Athletics (General)
• Concealment (+5%)
• Public Speaking (+5%)
• Languages: Native Tongue at 98%, plus two of choice (+5% each)
• Streetwise (+4%)
• W.P. knife and one of choice.
• Hand to Hand: Basic (Hand to hand: basic can be changed to hand to hand: expert or assassin (if evil) for the cost of two "other" skills or martial arts for the cost of one "other" skill.)

O.C.C. Related Skills: Select six other skills of choice at level one, plus 1 per level starting at level 2. All new skills start at Lvl. one proficiency.

• Communications: Any (+5% each)
• Domestic: Any (+5%)
• Espionage: Any (+10% to escape artist only)
• Horsemanship: General or Exotic Only.
• Labour: Any
• Medical: First Aid only.
• Military: Heraldry and Recognize Weapon Quality (+5%) only.
• Naval Skills: None
• Performing Arts: Any (+10%)
• Physical: Any, except Boxing.
• Rogue: Any (+10%)
• Science: Mathematics skills only.
• Scholar/Noble/Technical: Any (+10% on any language skills)
• Weapon Proficiencies: Any, except siege.
• Wilderness: Any

Secondary Skills: Choose 10 at level 1, plus 1 per level starting at level 2. All new skills start at Lvl. one proficiency. These are additional areas of knowledge that don't get the O.C.C. bonus.

Starting Equipment: The character starts with one suit of plain street clothes. including hat, scarf, shirt, jacket, cloak, pants (or kilt and leggings), leather boots, and belt, plus a suit of "performance" clothing in fancy, bright patterns and colors. One set of cloth leotards or costume, back pack and 100ft of rope, a bedroll, a shoulder bag, 1D4 small sacks, a tinder box, and a water skin.

Armour: The Character can choose to wear any light armour, but is most uncomfortable in anything that restricts full freedom of movement (same penalties as a Men of Arms O.C.C). Armour that hampers and impairs movement can mean suicide for this kind of character. If any heavy armour is worn, the character suffers a 1/2 speed reduction, and will be at -15% on most skills. with a -1 to strike, parry and dodge. Regular chain mail is a little less restrictive, only reducing skills by 10%, and with no penalty to strike, parry, or dodge, and a 1/3 speed reduction. The character starts out with a full suit of soft leather armour (10 A.R. and 20 S.D.C.).

Weapons: The character starts out with a high-quality Knife. Also, one weapon to fit the character's chosen W.P. (decent quality, but nothing special).

Money: The character starts with 140 in gold, which can be used immediately to purchase more equipment or saved. Additional money will come from payment for jobs and/or booty.