by Jon Mattson
(obviously a 98-pound weakling)
| Armor, weapons, magic items | Special abilities | Henchmen, followers, etc. | Magic items made for jocks | - |
| Dragon | - | Classes | - | Dragon #72 |
The Jock is a subclass of fighter
with limited magical ability
and an unlimited number of reasons why no one would want to
be one. Nevertheless, many characters choose to follow this
line of work. I’m sure you know the type:
The principal (often only) attributes of the jock are CON,
which must not be less than 12, and STR, which must
be at least 10. In addition, the jock has max. limits in the
other characteristics: DEX cannot be more than 16, INT
and wisdom not more than 10, and CHA not more
than 8. If a jock has strength and constitution of 15 or more and
wisdom of less than 8, he or she gains the benefit of a 10%
bonus to earned experience points, awarded by the DM, referee,
or publicity agent, as the case may be.
Jocks can be of any alignment, but tend toward chaos and
neutrality (usually Chaotic Brash or Neutral Self-Centered).
Humans and half-orcs have unlimited level advancement in
the class; members of all other races can rise no higher than
eighth level, or sixth level if charisma is higher than 7. Nonhuman
jocks can be multiclassed as thieves or magic-users.
Such figures are commonly known as jocks-of-all-trades.
Jocks can wear three types of armor: jogging shorts and
T-shirt (AC 9), sweatsuit or jogging suit (AC 8), or football
padding (AC 6). For each week the jock goes without washing
his armor, its effective armor class will improve by one place, up
to a maximum AC bonus of four places. The jock can and will
use any type of shield, up to and including other members of
the party.
Jocks can use any sort of weapon, but will always have to
take a non-proficiency penalty when using any weapon but the
following: baseball bat, hockey stick, tennis racket, cleats, or
football. Treat all these weapons as staves, except for cleats (as
daggers, but with 1 extra point of damage for every 50 pounds
of the jock’s weight) and footballs (as sling bullets).
Jocks can employ a limited number of magic items: all
“cursed” items, protection scrolls (if the jock can read), magical
versions of the armor and weaponry they normally use, and any
potions, scrolls, and rings which affect strength, constitution,
athletic ability, and/or health. Jocks are immune to rings of
weakness, but are doubly susceptible to potions
of delusion. In
addition, there are some magic items (described below) usable
primarily by jocks.
JOCKS TABLE 1: Experience points & levels
| Experience points | Level | Dice for accumulated HP | Level title | Move | Sports lore | Ability |
| 0 -- 2,250 | 1 | d12 | Walker | 12" | 10% | A |
| 2,251 -- 4,500 | 2 | +d12 | Jogger | 14" | 20% | B |
| 4,501 -- 10,000 | 3 | +d10 | Runner | 15" | 25% | C&D |
| 10,001 -- 20,000 | 4 | +d10 | Athlete | 15" | 30% | E |
| 20,001 -- 40,000 | 5 | +d8 | Pro | 16" | 35% | F |
| 40,001 -- 80,000 | 6 | +d8 | Hero | 16" | 40% | G |
| 80,001 -- 140,000 | 7 | +d6 | Super Pro | 17" | 45% | H |
| 140,001 -- 250,000 | 8 | +d6 | Super Hero | 17" | 50% | I |
| 250,001 -- 500,000 | 9 | +d4 | Jock | 18" | 55% | J |
| 501,001 -- 750,000 | 10 | +d4 | Super Jock | 18" | 60% | K |
| - | - | - | - | 18" | 65% | — |
| - | - | - | - | 18" | 70% | — |
Note: Sports lore continues to increase by 5% per level,
to a maximum of 90% at 16th level.
Move: A jock’s movement rate increases with experience,
similar to the way a monk gains speed.
Note that this refers to
physical movement only; a jock’s mental processes are seldom
quicker than those of an intelligent dog in any event.
Sports lore: This represents the jock’s ability to come up with
an obscure sports fact or answer a trivial sports-related question.
Successful performance of this ability has the effect of
creating admiration in lower-level jocks (and anyone else with
an intelligence of 8 or less), or boredom in anyone with intelligence
higher than 11.
A — Protection from Junk Food: This ability can
be employed
once a day. It enables the jock to muster up enough will power
to avoid junk food, or neutralize the effects of anything he has
just eaten (including poison, potions,
and corn chips).
B — Health Food Kick: The jock begins carrying
health food
with him and can try to get other people to eat it as many as
three times a day (once per meal). If the jock displays this
nutritious but unappetizing food before eating it himself, it can
cause nausea in all other viewers (as if affected by a stinking
cloud spell).
C- Feign Death:
The jock is able to collapse, comatose, as if
affected by the cleric spell of the same name. The ability can be
used twice a day, and before each use the jock must run at full
speed for a number of minutes equal to twice his constitution
score.
D — Diet: This power, usable once a month, enables
the jock
to lose from 2-20 pounds of weight right away. It’s nice to have
handy when a jock’s protection from junk food ability
has been
used up for the day, and the old armor is getting a little tight.
E— Mind Over
Body: This ability works in a similar fashion to
the psionic power of the same name (but without the point
cost.) It enables the jock to ignore such discomforts as hunger,
sore feet, foul tips, and Howard Cosell.
F — At fifth level, the jock gains an automatic +1 on
his
constitution score — which
gives him such a swelled head that
he also takes a -1 penalty to charisma.
The jock is also afflicted
with megalomania at this stage of his development.
G — At sixth level, the jock is able to use the equivalent
of a
strength spell once a day. Employment
of this ability requires
15 minutes of strenuous exercise immediately beforehand and
causes a complete collapse (see ability C) for 1-10 minutes
afterward.
H — Boredom: Upon gaining this ability, the jock
becomes
able to bore people to sleep with his bragging, stories of
“heroic” tales, and his repertoire of trivial sports facts. The
boredom acts as a powerful sleep
spell, which can affect one
creature of more than four HD/levels if the listener fails a saving
throw vs. petrification. Boredom requires one turn to put into
effect and, fortunately for the rest of us, is usable only three
times a day.
I — Friends:
This ability is the equivalent of a friends spell,
usable once per day for each three full points of charisma the
jock possesses. It is particularly useful, since under normal
circumstances a jock doesn’t have friends.
J— Money: A
jock who advances to 9th level is a professional,
and he earns an income to prove it. This financial bonus
comes from such things as doing television commercials, suing
sports reporters, and other activities for which jocks are well
known. It is only paid once, with the amount varying from jock
to jock: Roll d% and add the jock’s charisma score to the result.
An adjusted dice roll of 01-25 means 5-500 gp of income; 26-50
means 10-1,000 gp; 51-75 means 20-2,000 gp; 76-90 means
30-3,000 gp; 91-00 means 50-5,000 gp; and a score of 101 or
more means 100-10,000 gp.
K— Fear: The
effect of this special ability upon onlookers
and listeners is the same as for the magic-user spell of the same
name. The jock can “cast” fear into the hearts of those around
him in one of three ways: by threatening to tell a tale about one
of his heroic deeds, by threatening to open his gym locker, or (if
he has retired or is semi-retired) by threatening to come out of
retirement. If the first of these methods is used and is combined
with ability H (as the jock carries out his threat), victims have a
-4 penalty to their chance of saving vs. boredom.
A jock cannot have any men-at-arms, servants, aides, or
henchmen until eighth level (when
the friends ability is gained).
When a jock attains 10th level, he may opt to establish a
memorial arena or similar structure. When such an establishment
is built, it will attract a body of other jocks (usually numbering
3-18 and being of levels 1-4) and 1-6 men-at-arms (first
or second level fighters with intelligence and wisdom scores of
6 or less and constitution of 12 or more).
Magic items made for jocks
Boots of Jogging: This special
footgear allows the jock to jog
at a steady pace for six hours without needing to rest.
These
boots are also referred to as “sneakers,” probably because they
allow the jock to add +1 to all surprise rolls.
Pennant of Bravery: By waving
this mystical flag and yelling
“Go team, go!” the jock can cause all friendly viewers to fly into
a berserk rage (+20% to morale, -2 to hit but +2 to damage).
Ball of Bowling: This is a +3 weapon
that can knock over any
opponent weighing 500 pounds or less that is hit by it. On a
natural roll of 19 (mystically known as a “split”), up to two other
similar opponents behind the one struck will also be bowled
over. On a natural 20, up to four similar opponents will be so
affected if the jock yells out the magic word “Strike!” when
releasing the ball.
Sweatsuit +5: This magical suit, if
worn constantly for longer
than one day, allows the wearer to cast the equivalent of a
stinking cloud spell up to
three times per day thereafter. A
non-jock who attacks a jock attired in such a magical suit can
choose to try to tear either the shirt or pants from the jock’s
body instead of attempting a normal hit in combat. Once a
sweatsuit +5 has been “activated,” burning it the only way to get
rid of the stinking cloud property of the suit; not even soap of
scrubbing will do any good.
1. SUBCLASS =
2. SOCIAL CLASS MINIMUM =
3. ABILITY SCORE MINIMUMS
STRENGTH =
INTELLIGENCE =
WISDOM =
DEXTERITY =
CONSTITUTION =
CHARISMA =
COMELINESS =
PERCEPTION =
4. XP BONUS =
5. POSSIBLE RACES =
6. MAXIMUM LEVEL ATTAINABLE =
7. HIT DIE TYPE =
8. MAXIMUM NUMBER OF HIT DICE =
9. SPELL ABILITY =
10. ARMOR PERMITTED =
11. SHIELD PERMITTED =
12. WEAPONS PERMITTED =
13. OIL PERMITTED =
14. POISON PERMITTED =
15. ALIGNMENT =
16. STARTING MONEY =
17. WEAPON PROFICIENCIES =
18. NON-PROFICIENCY PENALTY =
19. NON-WEAPON PROFICIENCIES =
20. STARTING AGE =
21. COMBAT =
22. SAVING THROWS =
23. MAGIC ITEMS =
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| XP | Level | Dice for HP | Title | ||||||
ROGUES GALLERY: JOCKS
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