Gnomish Elocutionist

Advanced Gnome class — see Classes for the full list.

Prime Requisite:	INT, CHA
Requirements:	CON 9
Hit Dice:	1d6
Maximum Level:	13

The Dragon House of Sivis, known for its notaries and orators, scriveners and attorneys, claims ancient heritage. Its members were said to have once born the Mark of Scribing, and their talent for wordsmithing both written and spoken is still renowned throughout Sair.

Gnomish Elocutionist Level Progression

XP	Title	Level	Hit Dice	Rhetoric	Loremastery
0	Gnomish Pleader	1	1d6	11+	18+
1,600	Gnomish Advocate	2	2d6	10+	17+
3,200	Gnomish Solicitor	3	3d6	9+	16+
6,400	Gnomish Barrister	4	4d6	8+	15+
12,800	Gnomish Procurator	5	5d6	7+	14+
25,600	Gnomish Counsellor	6	6d6	6+	13+
50,000	Gnomish Legist	7	7d6	5+	12+
100,000	Gnomish Jurist	8	8d6	3+	11+
235,000	Gnomish Judge	9	9d6	2+	10+
370,000	Gnomish Judge, 10th level	10	9d6 + 2*	2+	9+
505,000	Gnomish Judge, 11th level	11	9d6 + 4*	1+	8+
640,000	Gnomish Judge, 12th level	12	9d6 + 6*	0+	7+
775,000	Gnomish Judge, 13th level	13	9d6 + 8*	-1+	6+

Elocutionist Saving Throws and Attack Bonus

Level	Paralysis	Death	Blast	Implement	Spells	Attack Bonus
1-2	13+	13+	13+	14+	15+	+0
3-4	12+	12+	12+	13+	14+	+1
5-6	11+	11+	11+	12+	13+	+2
7-8	10+	10+	10+	11+	12+	+3
9-10	9+	9+	9+	10+	11+	+4
11-12	8+	8+	8+	9+	10+	+5
13	7+	7+	7+	8+	9+	+6

Combat Characteristics

While they prefer to avoid combat, elocutionists know that their words will sometimes provoke a confrontation, and as such they are sure to be prepared.

Combat Proficiencies: Due to their short stature, gnomes cannot wield large-sized weapons such as arbalests, great axes, morning stars, lances, long bows, polearms, or two-handed swords, and must use two hands when wielding medium-sized weapons such as battle axes, maces, staffs, and swords. Elocutionists have weapon proficiency with all missile weapons and with all tiny, small, and medium melee weapons. They have armor proficiency with light and very light armor. They have fighting style proficiency with the two-handed weapon and weapon and shield styles.

Combat Progression: Precisionists advance in attack throws and saving throws as thieves. They can cleave after felling a foe up to once per round per two class levels (rounded down).

Starting Class Powers

Exegesis: Gnomish elocutionists have spent decades learning to read, parse, and understand scholarly texts. An elocutionist can read and reference books in half the usual time required; he requires just 3 days of dedicated activity to read a treatise and 3 turns to reference it. (The amount of time required to actually train proficiencies using treatises is not reduced, however.) When he has access to a library, he can expend an ancillary activity to add its gp value to his current XP for purposes of calculating his class level on a Loremastery proficiency throw. The elocutionist must decide what he is attempting to discern before undertaking the activity and makes the throw as soon as he completes the ancillary activity.

Linguist: The elocutionist’s love of language extends to ancient or foreign tongues. Their study grants them three bonus languages. The elocutionist can select some or all of these languages immediately from among those in common use in the campaign’s starting region or select them later from among those he encounters in play.

Loremastery: Every elocutionist is a voracious reader. At 1^st level, the character can make a proficiency throw of 18+ to decipher occult runes, remember ancient history, or identify a historic artifact or special monster part. The proficiency throw required reduces by 1 per level. The character can identify magic items as if he were a 5^th level mage. If the character can already identify magic items, he can do so with a +2 bonus to his magic research throw and +10% bonus to his research rate.

Professional Wordsmith: The elocutionist are trained linguists. Each elocutionist begins play with one rank each of Art (calligraphy), Performance (oratory), and their choice of Profession (scribe) or Profession (attorney).

Rhetoric: The elocutionist’s speeches can be used to cast certain rhetorical effects (spells) on his listeners. The elocutionist begins play knowing two rhetorical effects, each of which is the equivalent to a 1st level enchantment spell. The available rhetorical effects are:

• Anaphora: By repeating the same word at the beginning of successive sentences, by repeating the same idea at the beginning of successive arguments, by repeating the same argument at the beginning of successive speeches, the elocutionist casts hypnotism on an audience of one creature.

• Derision: By ridiculing a specific argument, belief, culture, or character, the elocutionist casts infuriate person on an audience of one self-evidently worthless creature that should never have been born.

• Epizeuxis: By endlessly repeating the same word without interruption in a terribly terribly terribly terribly boring manner, the elocutionist casts slumber on an audience of one or more creatures.

• Innuendo: By implying, without explicitly stating, certain facts that if known would have terrible import, the elocutionist casts incite madness on an audience of one creature.

• Pleonasm: By using an inordinate number of words, far more than are really necessary to strictly explain a particular idea or thought, the elocutionist casts ensorcellment on an audience of one creature.

• Procatalepsis: By anticipating and answering every possible objection to his points – for instance, noting that while Rhetoric seems powerful, it is basically just a re-skin of the Magical Music proficiency from ACKS – the elocutionist casts beguile humanoid on an audience of one creature.

To use Rhetoric, the elocutionist must select a rhetorical effect for his speech, decide the audience (i.e. target creatures) that his speech addresses based on the chosen effect, and start giving the speech. He then makes a Rhetoric throw against the target values listed on the Elocutionist Level progression table. Audience members are selected with eye contact, hand gesture, and other flourishes, and know they are the targets of the elocutionist’s speech. The audience members must be within earshot and line of sight of the elocutionist, able to understand the elocutionist’s language, and not already in combat. If the proficiency throw is successful, the rhetorical effect begins immediately and lasts until the elocutionist ends his speech. If the elocutionist talks for a full turn (10 minutes), the effect lasts until the elocutionist ends his speech and then for the duration of the spell thereafter. If the proficiency throw fails, the Rhetoric has no effect and cannot be tried again on the same audience(s) that turn.

Additional Class Powers

Deciphering (4^th): The elocutionist gains the ability to decipher text (including ciphers, treasure maps, and dead languages, but not magical writings). Deciphering a page of text requires one turn (10 minutes) and a successful proficiency throw of 4+ on 1d20. If the roll does not succeed, the elocutionist cannot try to decipher that particular page of text until he reaches a higher level of experience.

Sivis Signature (6^th): The elocutionist gains the ability to create a unique and unforgeable runic signature that can be automatically recognized by other elocutionists. Applying this signature to a document takes 1 turn. The character can sustain a number of signatures equal to his class level.

Binding Contract (8^th): The elocutionist gains the ability to mutually bind two willing parties to a verbal or written agreement. Using the ability takes one full turn (or potentially longer, for particularly long agreements), and the parties must understand that they are being magically bound and must either verbally assent to the agreement as spoken by the elocutionist or sign the paper on which the elocutionist has written the terms.

A creature sealed to a binding contract is not compelled to uphold its terms, but if it intentionally or negligently fails to do so, it becomes cursed. While cursed, it suffers a -2 to all saving throws due to ill luck and a -2 penalty to all reaction rolls due to unfortunate skin rashes, bad breath, and other odious afflictions. The curse lasts until the creature resumes upholding the terms (making restitution for any damage caused by the breach, if necessary), the compact is formally dissolved by the character who bound it, or the curse is successfully lifted by a remove curse at a caster level equal to or higher than the elocutionist’s class level. Lifting the curse does not terminate the compact, and subsequent or chronic breaches can result in another curse.

The elocutionist can seal up to one binding contract per month. A binding contract is a perpetual effect that must be maintained by the elocutionist. An elocutionist can maintain a number of active compacts equal to one-half his class level, rounded up. The duration of the compact can be restricted to a defined term or can be left to endure for the life of the bound creatures. A binding compact can even bind a titled character by his position (“the king of Corth”) and specify that it applies to his heirs or successors, and thus outlast the life of the contracting creature. A character can voluntarily dissolve a compact he is maintaining at any time.

Particularly important treaties in have sometimes involved layers of binding compacts with elocutionists binding other elocutionists not to dissolve compacts. However, all of an elocutionist’s compacts are irrevocably dissolved upon his death (unless affixed by a Seal of Accord, discussed below). A miracle or wish can also instantly and harmlessly dissolve a compact on all parties.

Gnomish Vault (9^th): A gnome who achieves enough fame and fortune from his adventures may build a gnomish vault when he reaches 9th level. Gnomes usually live in clans, so gnomes of the character’s clan will be the first to live under his roof, but gnomes from other clans will also come and live nearby to be ruled by the character. A total of 3d6x10 1st level NPCs of the same race will move in to help maintain and defend the vault at no cost to the character. A gnome is expected to employ only soldiers of gnomish descent but may hire members of other races for other tasks.

Seal of Accord (10^th): The elocutionist can turn a small object, such as seal, signet ring, torque, or similar object, into a token of an active binding contract. It takes the character at least 1 turn to turn an object into a token, during which time the character must hold the object in his hands while speaking the name of the parties and the terms of their compact. Most commonly, the elocutionist will make the physical document containing the terms into the seal, but this is not required. The token serves as tangible proof of good faith and makes the binding contract harder to dissolve. When viewed by discern magic, the token has a golden glow while the contract is being upheld but begins to smolder crimson when it is breached. The elocutionist cannot dissolve the contract without first destroying the token. If the elocutionist dies, the contract is not necessarily dissolved; it remains in effect as long as the token remains intact in the possession of any of the bound creatures or another character with the Binding Contract ability.

Racial Traits

Gnomish Awaregness: Gnomes gain a +1 bonus to surprise rolls in urban settlements. When using the Adventuring proficiency to search or listen, they succeed on a proficiency throw of 14+ (instead of the usual 18+). If separately proficient in Searching they gain a +2 bonus to their throw instead. If separately proficient in Listening, they gain a +4 bonus to their throw instead.

Gnose for Potions: The physiology of gnomes grants them a natural talent for identifying alchemical substances by smell. As such they are all trained from a young age to develop this talent for Alchemy, granting them one free rank of that proficiency.

Multilingual: Gnomes are raised to be multilingual, able to converse in Gnome, Goblin, Kobold, and able to speak with all normal burrowing mammals.

Short-Statured: Due to their short stature, gnomes have a speed of 90’ when unencumbered. They can never wield large-sized weapons such as arbalests, great axes, morning stars, lances, long bows, polearms, or two-handed swords, and must use two hands when wielding medium-sized weapons such as battle axes, maces, staffs, and swords.

Underfoot: Because of their small size, gnomes can more easily avoid attacks by big, clumsy creatures. Monsters of larger than man-sized suffer a -2 penalty to their attack throws against halflings.

Class Proficiencies

Proficiency Progression: At 1^st level, elocutionists gain one class proficiency from their class proficiency list and one general proficiency from the general proficiency list (as indicated by the template rolled). They select an additional class proficiency at 4^th, 8^th, and 12^th level. They select an additional general proficiency at 5^th, 9^th, and 13^th level.

Elocutionist Proficiency List: Art, Bargaining, Bribery, Combat Reflexes, Combat Trickery (force back, knock down, incapacitate), Command, Diplomacy, Eavesdropping, Illusion Resistance, Knowledge, Language, Leadership, Lip Reading, Magical Engineering, Martial Training, Mimicry, Military Strategy, Mystic Aura, Performance, Precise Shooting, Romance, Running, Sensing Power, Signaling, Streetwise, Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus

Elocutionist Templates

3d6	Template	Proficiencies	Starting Equipment
3 – 4	Processor	Running Signaling Derision Pleonasm	Hand axe, hide armor, craftborn tunic and pants, leather belt, well-used high boots, rucksack, manacles, battered journal, quill & ink, tinderbox, 6 torches, 1 week’s iron rations, waterskin (enc 4 1/6 st)
5 – 6	Marshal	Combat Reflexes Manual of Arms Derision Epizeuxis	Battle axe, shield, leather armor, craftborn tunic and pants, leather belt, high boots, backpack, tinderbox, 6 torches, 1 week’s iron rations, waterskin, 12gp (enc 5 4/6 st)
7 – 8	Transcriber	Eavesdropping Lip Reading Anaphora Pleonasm	Battle axe, leather armor, craftborn tunic and pants, leather belt, high boots, backpack, court transcriber’s journal, quill & ink, tinderbox, 12 torches, 1 week’s iron rations, waterskin, 24gp (enc 6 st)
9 – 10	Plea Bargainer	Bribery Bargaining Epizeuxis Procatalepsis	War hammer, shield, leather armor, craftborn tunic and pants, leather belt, high boots, backpack, attorney’s journal, quill & ink, tinderbox, 12 torches, 1 week’s iron rations, 1 waterskin, 36gp (for bribes) (enc 7 st)
11 – 12	Prosecutor	Sensing Evil Intimidation Derision Innuendo	Crossbow, case with 20 bolts, war hammer, shield, leather armor, craftborn tunic and pants, leather belt, high boots, backpack, attorney’s journal, quill & ink, tinderbox, 12 torches, 1 week’s iron rations, 1 waterskin, 24gp (enc 7 2/6 st)
13 – 14	Conciliator	Mystic Aura Diplomacy Anaphora Procatalepsis	Arbalest, case with 20 bolts, war hammer, shield, leather armor, craftborn tunic and pants, leather belt, high boots, backpack, attorney’s journal, quill & ink, tinderbox, 6 torches, 1 week’s iron rations, 1 waterskin, 24gp (enc 7 1/6 st)
15 – 16	Assessor	Magical Engineering Alchemy Epizeuxis Pleonasm	Arbalest, case with 20 bolts, war hammer, shield, leather armor, craftborn tunic and pants, leather belt, high boots, backpack, attorney’s journal, quill & ink, 1 week’s iron rations, 1 waterskin, 45gp (enc 6 1/6 st)
17 – 18	Magistrate	Command Leadership Anaphora Procatalepsis	Crossbow, case with 20 bolts, war hammer, shield, leather armor, craftborn tunic and pants, leather belt, high boots, backpack, attorney’s journal, quill & ink, tinderbox, 6 torches, 1 week’s iron rations, 1 waterskin, mule, riding saddle, saddle & tack, 43gp (enc 5 2/6 st with rations on mule)

Notes: The rhetorical effects that each template begins with are noted in italics.

Prime Requisite:	INT
Requirements:	Con 9
Hit Dice:	1d4
Maximum Level:	12