OSR: Scabmettler

Scabmettlers by Benjamin Sjberg

I'm not especially fond of Race as Class, I mean if you want to be an elf who has fits of extreme violence or a dwarf who prefers books to gold, then have fun my dude. But this is a race that pretty much defines itself into a class. I guess you could take another race and say they have a rare blood disorder or some such and work them into this class. I also like the concept of Racial Paragon classes, like the Elf Wizard or the Surley Gnome, the elfiest elf and the gnomiest gnome as it were.

Like other front line fighters in the OSR, the Scabmettler is made for combat which is, of course, the fail-state of any situation. Luckily the Scabmettler is pretty much fanatically to the idea of dying in glorious combat!

Class: Scabmettler
Starting Equipment: 1 week dosage of anticoagulant flower, Dagger
Starting Skill: Medicine

Template A must be the character's first template or the Scabmettler class is permanently unavailable for that character. For every template gained in this class, gain +1 Con.

A: Mortu-crutt, Blood Bank
B: Mortu-crutt Apprentice, Iron Rations
C: Mortu-crutt Journeyman, Quick Scab
D: Mortu-crutt Master, Deep Reserves

Blood Bank: The averagehuman has about a gallon and half of blood, however the squat dense Scabmettler body is capable of producing significantly more. The Scabmettler starts each day with a number of Blood Points equal to their HP. Every day that a Scabmettler does not use their anticoagulant, the total number of Blood Points increase by 1. Every day that the Scabmettler's Blood Points are over their HP, they must save against Petrification to avoid a clot-induced heart attack. When the total number of Blood Points is twice the Scabmettler's HP, they must save against Death each hour or all of their blood clots and crystallizes.

Mortu-crutt: The specialized martial art of the Scabmettler that makes use of their unique properties. By spending ten minutes to make tactical cuts across their body, the Scabmettler may create Scab Armor from their own hardened blood. For every two points of Blood invested, the Scabmettler gains +1 Defense. Scab Armor takes up no inventory slots, but effects Stealth and Movement as armor of equal Defense would. A base practitioner may create Scab armor of up to +4 Defense. Scab armor requires thorough scrubbing with water or precise scrapping to remove. a Scabmettler cannot use their Scab Armor related abilities when wearing actual armor.

Iron Rations: When a Scabmettler partakes in Lunch, they may regain a number of Blood Points equal to the Health Points they restore.

Mortu-crutt Apprentice: An apprentice of Mortu-crutt learns to specialize their own methods of utilizing Mortu-crutt. The Apprentice chooses one of three Paths: The Sanguine Fury, The Clot-Knight, or The Red Mendicant. 

• Sanguine Fury: The Sanguine Fury balances offense and defense. While they are unable to create Scab Armor beyond +4, they can create Spiked Scab Armor for 2 Blood Points. Any melee attacker that misses the Sanguine Fury takes 1d4 damage from the spikes.
• Clot-Knight: The Clot-Knight vastly increases the defensive power of their Scab Armor. The Clot-Knight can increase their defense up to +8 with -6 to Stealth and Movement. They can also sacrifice 1 Blood Point to form a Shield in 1 round.
• Red Mendicant: The Red Mendicant sacrifices defense to focus entirely on offense. They can only make +2 Defense Scab Armor, however they are able to create massive Scab Gauntlets over their hands. It costs 2 Blood Points for a single Scab Gauntlet, which acts as a Medium Weapon or 4 Blood Points for twin Scab Gauntlets, which act as a Heavy weapon. Either way the Scab Gauntlet cannot be disarmed from the Scabmettler.

Quick Scab: By sacrificing twice the number of Blood Points, a Scabmettler can use their Mortu-crutt abilities in 1 round instead of 10 minutes.

Mortu-crutt Journeyman:

• Sanguine Fury: The Sanguine Fury uses a needle to create a very small wound. The high blood pressure of the Scabmettler causes a thin rod of blood to be shot from the wound at high speed, acting as a Crossbow and dealing 2d6 damage. Each shot costs 1 Blood Point
• Clot-Knight: The Clotknight's ability to form scabs quickly allows them to create a sort of reactive armor. When a Clot-knight takes HP damage from a single source, their Scab Armor adapts to better resist that damage source. In combat, a single target or group of targets using the same weapon deals less damage to the Clot-knight equal to their level.
• Red Mendicant: By focusing the iron in their body into their Scab Gauntlets, the Red Mendicant may create needles on the knuckles of their Gauntlets for 2 Blood Points per Gauntlet. On a successful strike the needles are broken off and must be reformed. A target struck by the Red Mendicant must save (vs. Con or Poison or something) or be injected with a small portion of the Scabmettler's quick clotting blood. Failure results in a random effect from below. A single target may only be effected once per day.

Roll	Clot Effect
1-2	Clot in Leg- Movement halved
3	Clot in Arm- Attack Halved
4	Clot in Lung- Defense Halved
5	Clot in Heart- Heart Attack: take 2d6 Con damage
6	Clot in Brain-Stroke: Blind, Mute +All previous effects

Deep Reserves: A Mortu-crutt Master knows how to tap into deeper reserves of blood. A Scabmettler of this rank can spend HP as BP.

Mortu-crutt Master:

• Sanguine Fury: Whenever the Sanguine Fury takes damage the can be interpreted as slashing or piercing, they may immediately spend a Blood Point per die of damage received. This causes a dramatic fountain of blood to spray from the Sanguine Fury that crystallizes into sharp shards, dealing d6 damage per invested Blood Point to the attacker as a rebuttal. The shards flake away immediately after. 
• Clot-Knight: The Clot-Knight has no upper limit to their armor capacity, able to form as much Scab Armor as they have BP and HP. Additionally the effects to their Movement and Stealth are halved as they become perfectly comfortable in their Scab Armor.
• Red Mendicant: The Red Mendicant manipulates the iron in their blood to create explosive shrapnel with their Scab Gauntlets. With a single punch, the Red Mendicant may sacrifice any number of Blood Points to deal damage equal to the number of points sacrificed in a 30' Cone. This attack destroys the Scab Gauntlet used and must be reformed. 

Notes on the Scabmettler:

This came to be after a reddit user requested it and I felt the need to please. I've not play tested it and I'm not really certain how closely the idea of a spendable point coincides with B/X and OSr Philosophies, but I feel like it is at least interesting. If you have any thoughts or critiques, I'd heartily appreciate them. I tried to avoid making a blood based Soulknife class, but I guess I'll leave how well I fared at that to you.

Scabmettlers by Omercan Cirit