| Tactical specialties | - | Strategic specialties | - | Rules and restrictions |
| Dragon | - | Classes | - | Dragon #164 |
In real-world China, from antiquity
through the 19th century, the vast distances that merchants and officials
had to
cross required the existence of professional caravan guards who were
martial
artists worthy of comparison with any
Shaolin priest. Such a guard was called a
piao shih, which meant literally ?dartmaster? for these escort
warriors tended
to be experts in throwing heavy darts at
bandits. Many Chinese-language adventure
movies have been made about piao shih.
The inclusion of piao shih in an AD&D®
Oriental Adventures game
can serve several purposes. First, travel scenarios may
be enlivened for the players if there is a
new character type to be encountered
specifically in connection with the journey.
Second, the very existence of highway
escorts, implying the whole situation of a
hard-to-police expanse of territory, will
remind those concerned of how big Kara-Tur
is supposed to be. Third, if characters
of non-Oriental classes are visiting Kara-Tur
or any equivalent thereof, the DM can
provide the visitors with a hireling or ally
qualified to shepherd the uninitiated.
Only humans and spirit folk can become
piao shih, each with unlimited advance
ment. The piao shih is a mixture of bushi
and monk, with a dash of ranger mixed in.
He cannot have any ability score lower
than 12, and he must have at least one
score of 15 or better in strength or dexterity, plus at least one score
of 15 or better
in wisdom or charisma. No bonus in
earned experience is gained. Most piao
shih are lawful neutral, but they may be
of any lawful or good alignment. Lawfulevil piao shih exist only under
an evil
government; piao shih can never be chaotic (except chaotic good), because
a tendency to betray or abuse clients would
ruin their reputations, turn away future
business, and prevent them from advancing further in this profession.
Piao shih have eight-sided hit dice. They
can use any sort of armor or shield but
generally choose leather, studded leather,
or padded armor. Piao shih use the combat
and saving-throw tables of fighters, making as many attacks per round
as bushi.
Each starts with four character proficiencies, gaining one every two
levels thereafter and applying a nonproficiency
penalty of -2 to weapons used. Proficiencies may be chosen from the
artisan, barbarian, common, and court tables. Any
sort of magical items permitted to all
classes and those permitted to fighter
types may be used by them, as well as any
magical weapons or armor. Oil may be
used in combat, but only lawful-evil piao
shih use poison. Piao shih start with a base
honor of 20 and have 1-4 ch?ien and 1-10
tael (ch?ao). Treat piao shih as bushi for
determining their birth rank and family
status. Henchmen and hirelings are permitted, and additional followers
will be
gained as the piao shih rises in level (as
explained later).
Every piao shih possesses the following
special abilities:
?A +1 bonus on attack and damage
rolls (cumulative with any strength and
dexterity bonuses) when hurling the darts
that are the trademark of this class (these
are the thrown darts described in Oriental
Adventures) <Oriental and Occidental darts are statistically
the same>
?The tracking ability of
a ranger, as per
Unearthed Arcana.
?The ability to fight bare handed as a
monk of equal level (using the martial art
kung-fu, with level-based martial-arts
attacks/round and damage from Table
21,
page 18, Oriental Adventures), as long as
they wear no armor heavier than leather,
studded leather, or padded.
?The ability to climb walls as an Oriental Adventures
monk of equal level
(Thieves Table II, page 22, from Unearthed
Arcana, is applied to their ability to climb
walls when wearing armor).
<Armor & Thief skills: this
link is to an official expansion, from Dragon #103>
?The ability to discern if a person is
wearing a nonmagical disguise.
The base
chance of successful detection is 15%, plus
5% for every experience level the piao
shih has above the first. This is rolled
upon the first meeting with a disguised
person; if immediate detection fails, the
piao shih still has a normal chance of
seeing through the disguise later, as per
the rules covering disguised assassins
(page 29, 1st Edition PHB)
?The capacity to learn twice as many
spoken (but not written) languages as
would normally be ruled possible on the
basis of the individual?s intelligence score.
Advancing rank brings other benefits,
some fixed in nature and others involving
choices between special interest areas.
The following benefits are the same for
every piao shih:
?On reaching 4th level, a piao shih gains
a marked ability to negotiate with robbers
or intelligent monsters whose total hit dice
and/or levels is no more than twice and no
less than half the hit dice/level total for the
piao shih?s party. Treat such negotiations
as per the AD&D 1st Edition Dungeon
Masters Guide, page 63 (?Encounter
Reactions?); however, for every point of combined wisdom and charisma
possessed by
the piao shih, grant a 1% greater chance
of an outcome favorable to the piao shih
and his clients (though this may involve
paying a modest tribute to the other side).
At repeated encounters with any potential
enemy with whom a piao shih has successfully bargained for safe passage
before,
there is a further 5% chance for a peaceful settlement?provided that,
in the time
since their last meeting, nothing has happened to cause irreconcilable
enmity between them. (This, more than competition
with other piao shih, is why a piao shih
team stakes out one route or territory for
its business and sticks to that.) Of course,
the higher a piao shih rises in rank and
the more colleagues he accumulates, the
less any bandit dares to demand from him.
?At 5th level, the piao shih?s superiors
consider him competent to recruit and
train one zero-level youth to be a piao
shih. If the 5th-level piao shih ever rises
high enough to start his own organization,
this first pupil will be allowed to come
along as second in command of the new
group (though stealing large numbers of
personnel from the parent group would
be dishonorable). Also, at this level, a piao
shih is usually allowed, by his organization
and by escorted clients, to assume more
authority over the party he guards than is
the case for lower-level piao shih. The piao
shih is considered to be equal to the highest social class present
in the party, with
regards to decisions that affect the course
of the journey.
?At 9th level, a piao shih has the right,
when assuming responsibility for any sort
of caravan, to exercise complete control
over any ?servant? non-piao shih in the
party (e.g., a bushi who is the long-time
bodyguard of a nobleman being escorted
by the piao shih, or even a monk who has
been teaching martial arts to the noble-man?s son). It is also usually
at this rank
that the piao shih can gain a permanently
organized troop of piao shih under his
command. (This troop typically contains
two lieutenants of 4th-6th level, and 10-12
more piao shih of 1st or 2nd level.)
? At 10th level, the piao shih is allowed
to command a force of three or more piao
shih (and these may even be from different organizations, if the organizations
are
friendly), so as to protect major caravans
several miles in length. Also, at this level,
he acquires an ability to sense approaching danger once per day, as
if he had the
psionic talent of precognition
(page 113,
1st Edition PHB). This ability is unconscious, allowing
the piao shih to sense
danger when normal methods (scouting,
etc.) fail. Also, this ability functions only in
wilderness areas the piao shih travels
regularly.
?At 11th level, Master of Escorts, the
piao shih is entitled to found an independent escort business, provided
he can find
a reasonably open territory or can take
the leadership, if vacant, of his present
organization. The new organization will
usually attract 4-16 zero-level men-at-arms
of compatible alignment. Half of these will
be qualified to become true piao shih; the
rest will be retained to guard the new
organization?s headquarters. The new
Master of Escorts should promptly have a
banner designed for his group, usually
bearing some slogan like ?Our darts bring
lightning from the clouds,? or ?All serpents
are crushed beneath our horses? hooves.?
?If a piao shih makes it to 15th level
without having suffered a humiliating
defeat (in the DM?s judgment), his banner
becomes an object of profound respect.
Any hostile beings (short of outer-planes
beings) who see and recognize that banner, so long as it is borne by
some person
or group that looks capable of defending
itself, must check morale before coming
within 100 yards of the bearer. Members
of the Master?s own piao shih organization, or of any piao shih friendly
to that
Master, gain +10% on morale when seeing that banner in friendly hands.
If the
banner is visible to a person attempting a
psychic duel with the piao shih, this antagonist is treated as being
two levels lower
than his actual experience level.
?Any piao shih of 17th level or above
can be sure of carrying at least as much
weight as a minor nobleman in his national government?s decisions affecting
travel and commerce. He essentially enters
nobility at this point
In addition to the above talents, each
piao shih, in the course of his career, can
select four specialties?two tactical and
two strategic?as indicated in the leveladvancement chart. Improvements
in
these specialties are counted from the
time of acquisition, rather than by the
character?s current experience level. Thus,
if a 3rd-level piao shih takes up the
Ground Fighting specialty, while another
character adopts this specialty for the first
time at 7th-level, both use this specialty
skill at the same level of expertise.
T a c t i c a l s p e c i a l t i e s
| Base Defense | Combat Horsemanship | Ground Fighting | Scaling | Water Skill |
| Weapon Mastery | - | - | - | ^^ |
The specialty works as follows: Before
any threat arises, the piao shih must study
the location to be guarded, much as a
blind person learns to ?navigate? at
home?getting a feel for such details as the
positions of furniture, the distance across
a room, and the width of doorways. If
combat occurs in the memorized area, the
piao shih gains a +2 defensive bonus to
armor class and saving throws against any
form of attack that can be hindered by
material barriers, for he is prepared to
dive behind furniture, duck around corners, etc., more quickly and
skillfully than
would normally be possible. He also gains
a +1 bonus to his to-hit rolls against the
enemy by keeping them off balance with
such moves as yanking rugs out from
under their feet or slamming doors in
their faces. These benefits are doubled if
the area is in total darkness, unless the
attackers are able to offset the darkness
by infravision or similar powers. At the
DM?s discretion, this talent should lessen
the chances of the piao shih hitting any of
his own allies while fighting in the dark by
a to-hit modifier of -2.
Upon first taking up this specialty, a piao
shih must spend at least 24 hours in a
dwelling or other base (more for larger
places?e.g., complete castles) before being
able to enjoy the above advantages. Only
one location can be so used at a time;
settling into a new base drives out the
tactical memories of the place previously
defended. When the piao shih has gained a
level after acquiring this specialty, the
area-memorizing time is cut in half; when
a second subsequent level has been
gained, the piao shih need only spent 1-4
hours in a place in order to have the layout sufficiently memorized.
At the third
subsequent level, he can keep two area
layouts freshly in mind at once (one will
usually be his permanent headquarters).
At the fourth subsequent level, if the
character has an intelligence of 16 or
better, he can add another simultaneous
?base memory? for each point of his intelligence above 16. This could
be used to
create a string of emergency refuges along
the piao shih?s customary route?though
the bandits might get wise and burn the
places down in the character?s absence!
If the piao shih having this specialty also
has the Trap Construction specialty, combining the two skills in defense
of the
same spot will have this result: Thieves,
assassins, or hostile monks entering the
d e f e n d e d a r e a w i l l
h a v e a - 3 5 m o d i f i e r
t o
their chances of detecting the traps the
piao shih has placed inside the area, while
they are engaged in melee combat. This
occurs because the piao shih is often able
to maneuver his opponents into triggering
the devices upon themselves. Whenever
succeeding in this, the piao shih gets to
make an extra melee attack upon his unf o r t u n a t e
e n e m y a t a + 1 b o
n u s t o h i s
attack roll.
C o m b a t H o r s e m a n s h
i p : All piao shih
are assumed to be able to travel and fight
on horseback. But with this specialty, the
character can coax a +1 bonus in movement speed out of any horse
he rides
without causing an increase in fatigue.
Moreover, when the piao shih has gained a
level of experience after acquiring this
specialty, he can prevent a mount from
panicking at any ordinary cause of fear
(and the animal saves at a +2 against all
magical fear effects). When the piao shih
has gained two levels after acquiring this
specialty, the character gains a +1 bonus
on his armor class when fighting from
horseback, due to an ability to hang alongside the horse or make other
evasive
changes of position. When the piao shih
has gained three levels after acquiring this
specialty, he gains a +2 bonus on armor
class from horseback. (The DM can treat
this bonus as cumulative with regular
dexterity bonuses to defense, but it will
not add to die rolls for monkish missiledodging.)
Ground Fighting: This specialty allows
the piao shih to fight efficiently while
crouching, prone, or otherwise low to the
ground. This amounts to an advantage in
all situations where combatants have
difficulty standing upright (e.g., in caves,
on ice, or at night on ground covered with
obstacles). When fighting in such conditions against foes lacking this
ability, the
piao shih gains a +1 on armor class. He
never takes more than half-damage from
being tossed or thrown down, and for
every level gained after this specialty is
acquired, he gains a 5% chance to escape
all trampling damage in situations like
being caught in a stampede of horses.
When gaining two levels after acquiring
this proficiency, the character gains a +1
defense bonus against the first attack by
any flying creature diving from above
(unless there was complete surprise).
Scaling: While a piao shih can climb
sheer cliffs and walls as a monk of equivalent level, this specialty
enables him to
help other characters make such climbs.
The piao shih must have climbing equipment to lend to the person or
persons he
helps; having this, he can get one client to
the top with the same chance of success
that the piao shih enjoys. When the piao
shih has gained a level after the one at
which this specialty was gained, the piao
shih can help two clients scale at the piao
shih's odds for success. When three additional levels are gained, the
piao shih can
efficiently help one client scale even when
no special gear is used by either of them.
For the piao shih's own benefit, if he has a
constitution of 14 or better and has been
active in high-altitude regions, he can
function normally at altitudes where others faint from lack of oxygen.
Water Skill:
Choice of this specialty
means that the character initially gains
these benefits: the ability to swim 50%
faster than would otherwise be possible;
the ability to hold his breath underwater
50% longer than would otherwise be
possible; and the ability to handle any
small boat of a type to be found in the
character?s home region. At the level following the one at which this
specialty was
gained, he adds the ability to fight on a
wildly swaying ship?s deck without losing
his footing. At the next additional level, if
he falls into water while wearing a normally fatal weight of armor
or similar
encumbrance, he can (unless unconscious)
get free of the encumbrance in time to
escape drowning. At the third additional
level, he can perform expertly all the tasks
of crewing a large seagoing vessel (if possessing intelligence of 14
or better, he can
also become a navigator). At the fourth
additional level, he can swim or paddle a
boat in perfect silence, enhancing odds of
surprising enemies.
W e a p o n M a s t e r y :
This specialty gives
the piao shih superior skill with one
weapon (not counting darts, with which all
piao shih already have an edge). To have
this specialty, the piao shih must be
trained either by a senior piao shih specializing in the same weapon,
or by a
kensai who uses that weapon. No
attack
bonus is gained, but the piao shih enjoys a
+1 bonus on his armor class against opponents using the same weapon
type. And,
for every level the piao shih gains after
acquiring this specialty, the character has
a 1% chance of instantly killing any mansize or smaller foe he strikes
with his
specialty weapon, up to a maximum
chance of 10%. No instant kills are possible against giant-class beings
anyway.
Weapon types should be narrowly defined
for purposes of this specialty, but more
narrowly for purposes of the offensive
b e n e f i t t h a n f o r t h
e d e f e n s i v e b e n e f i t .
F o r
instance, a one piao shih chooses to specialize in the great bow (daikyu).
This bow
is drawn with the thumb in a fashion very
different from Western long bows; consequently, he would not gain the
instant-kill
chance if he used an unfamiliar Western
bow. But he would enjoy his armor-class
bonus equally against all arrows fired at
him. If the specialty weapon is of the blunt
sort (staff, mace, etc.), the piao shih can
change the instant kill to nonlethal subdual if desired. A piao shih
with a dexteri t y o f 1 6 o r
b e t t e r c a n m a k e b o t h
o f h i s
tactical specialties Weapon Mastery, thus
enjoying advantages with two weapons in
addition to his darts.
S t r a t e g i c
s p e c i a l t i e s
| Crowd Control | Environment Augury | Graphology | Pass Without Trace | Poison Warding |
| Recruitment | S e n s i t i v i t y t o S c r u t i n y | Trap Construction | - | ^^ |
This specialty is not magical; thus, any
characters being protected by the piao
shih retain their free will regardless of this
persuasion. (By the same token, if PCs
voluntarily obey their piao shih, their
cooperation is treated as an addition to the
piao shih?s extent of influence as described
above.) If two or more piao shih having
this specialty work together, their influence will be cumulative as
to number of
persons ?controlled,? provided that they
give no contradictory orders. At the DM?s
discretion, actions done in obedience to a
piao shih for the safety of the caravan can
be exempt from loss of honor they could
otherwise entail.
E n v i r o n m e n t A u g
u r y : This skill is
like the druidic spell predict
weather, only
it includes an ability to predict earthquakes and avalanches. The base
chance
for success is 30%, adding 5% for every
level gained after acquiring this specialty.
G r a p h o l o g y : In
real-world China,
martial artists of any sort (unless they
were also priests) were never highly regarded socially, even if the
nation benefitted by their deeds; accordingly, they often
lacked opportunities for nonmartial education. To reflect this, every
piao shih below
Master's rank should be considered to be
illiterate, unless he has a 16 or better
intelligence or has had some special stroke
of luck (e.g., the piao shih saves a scribe's
life, getting reading and writing lessons as
a reward). If a piao shih is literate, he can
choose Graphology as a specialty. This
allows him to comprehend unfamiliar
written languages at a success probability
of 1% per point of intelligence, adding 2%
at every subsequent proficiency level.
Also, if there is any person whose handwriting the piao shih frequently
sees (merchant, official, etc.), he will be able to spot
forgeries of that person?s writing. At the
level after the one at which this specialty
was obtained, the character has a 5%
chance (adding 5% at each subsequent
level) to detect invisible ink or other hidden forms of writing. Four
levels after
gaining this specialty, he becomes able to
create a limited private vocabulary of
marks and symbols that he can teach to
colleagues for secret-message purposes.
P a s
s W i t h o u t T r a c e :
This ability
works like the druidic spell of the same
name. The character has a 90% success
probability if traveling on foot, or 60% if
riding a horse or similar-size mount; this
assumes that the piao shih is not under
direct observation at the start of using this
specialty. Success indicates that normal
beings will not be able to follow the piao
shih?s trail; rangers and others with special
tracking skills treat the use of this talent as
if they were tracking the piao shih
through the next-worst terrain type (as
per the appropriate terrain modifiers
tables). Piao shih are also able to cover the
tracks of others accompanying them.
Every person on foot accompanying the
piao shih (unless also having this skill)
subtracts 2% from the chance for successful trail concealment; each
horse or similar animal subtracts 6%; and wagons, or
very large animals, make things hopeless
unless the caravan is crossing terrain that
makes trail erasing easy, such as open
fields covered with snow.
Four levels after gaining this specialty,
the piao shih can boost the success probability by taking one movement
turn to
plant a false trail for pursuers. For every
level gained from this point on, this maneuver adds 5% to the chance
of disguis
ing the party?s true direction; at any level,
the chance of deceiving a tracker is enhanced another 10% if an animal
from the
caravan is sent running in the false trails
direction. (Note, however, that magical
methods of tracking can still defeat all
these tricks.)
P o i s o n W a r d i n g :
To acquire this specialty, a piao shih must have access to an
alchemist or other character who knows
and will teach the piao shih how to detect
and remedy poisons. For every level
gained after taking this specialty, the character has a 6% chance to
detect the presence of poison in food and drink, on
weapons, etc. (reduce the chance to 3%
per level if the poison is of the sophisticated ?split components?
variety? e.g., one
component in the wine, another in the
meat). Also, from the start, the character
learns to concoct preventive medicines
that cure 2 hp of poisoning damage, with
an additional 2 hp damage cured per level
after that at which this specialty was
gained. Each antidote must be specific to a
particular poison (an antidote good against
scorpion stings is useless against snake
venom or poisonous mushrooms).
R e c r u i t m e n t :
This specialty helps a
piao shih in two noncombatant activities:
recruiting low-level persons as piao shih
trainees, and persuading merchants, officials,
and others to do business with the
piao shih?s organization. For these purposes, the piao shih?s charisma
is treated
as three points higher than normal, even if
this means going above 18. (If the piao
shih uses his superior persuasiveness to
defraud people in any way, he may become a target for revenge, both
by the
victims and by scandalized piao shih.)
If new piao shih are trained by a character who has gained two or more
levels
after gaining this specialty, they will enjoy
a 10% bonus on earned experience
throughout their careers, provided that
their choices of tactical and strategic specialties do not greatly
differ from those of
the character who trained them. Finally, at
whatever time a piao shih having this
talent first begins his own organization,
8-32 new recruits will be attracted, plus
any compatibly aligned piao shih whose
own original captains have been slain.
S e n s i t i v i t y t o
S c r u t i n y : This specialty
cannot be acquired unless the character
has a 15 or better in wisdom and has had
some contact with beings possessing some
type of psionic or magical means of information gathering. Such a character
has a
bonus of +20% to his chances to detect
magical scrying, using
the information in
the 1st Edition Dungeon Masters Guide,
page 141. The piao shih?s base chance to
detect scrying is 4%, so a piao shih just
gaining this specialty has a 24% chance to
detect scrying, with bonus points for his
intelligence and level of experience.
T r a p C o n s t r u c t i o n :
This specialty
allows the piao shih to install traps around
a campsite, at the entrance of rooms his
party may use at an inn, and on chests or
o t h e r p o r t a b l e c o n t a i n e r
s . E a c h c h a r a c t e r
having this specialty will develop a specific
repertoire of traps from among the many
possible types (snares, pitfalls, poisoned
needles, fixed crossbows, etc.); certain
traps may become ?signatures? for a particular piao shih organization.
The number
o f t r a p t y p e s t h a t
a c h a r a c t e r c a n p r o d u
c e
(not counting the rudimentary covered pit
trap that anybody ought to be able to
make!) equals the number of points of
intelligence he has above 10, plus one for
each level gained after this specialty is
acquired. The character is not allowed to
use poison or acid in a trap unless he is
evil. Four levels after acquiring this specialty, the piao shih will
have become so
expert at trap-setting as to increase the
difficulty in disarming them; for every
level gained afterward, a thief has a 5%
penalty on the chance to disarm this character?s traps.
R u l e s a n d r e s
t r i c t i o n s
The piao shih class may seem powerful
and complex. The complexity, however, is
chiefly felt by the DM; the players? experience of piao shih skills
should be easy
enough to take in, while providing a feel
for the kind of talents Oriental characters
possess. As for being powerful, the piao
shih operate under balancing restrictions,
much as paladins do.
Piao shih gain their experience points
primarily by the safe delivery of the people, merchandise, and treasure
they undertake to protect; this is calculated on the
same basis as experience credit for any
o t h e r s o r t o f c h a r a
c t e r s i f t h e y w e r e
t o k i l l
or capture the people and goods being
convoyed (subject to a DM?s adjustments).
If a piao shih team does not have to cope
with any kind of danger, its members gain
only one-quarter experience credit for the
people and goods delivered. The safety of
the caravan counts more than killing enemies; thus, piao shih get experience
for
enemies killed or captured only if such
actions are directly in the line of duty.
Otherwise, only half the usual experience
points are gained. For every person under
their care who dies or is lost or kidnapped, all piao shih above 1st
level in the
party involved lose experience points
equal to the experience-point value of the
casualty, and the leading piao shih loses
double that amount. This loss never causes
a piao shih to lose a level, but it can certainly delay his attainment
of the next
level. Loss of extremely valuable items
belonging to clients is treated similarly,
unless it was necessary to sacrifice the
t r e a s u r e t o e n s u r e
t h e s a f e t y o f t h e
c l i e n t s
themselves. (Only non-good piao shih ever
value cargo above lives.)
The abilities of the piao shih put very
little emphasis on secrecy and stealth, as
opposed to spotting the tricks of others.
Piao shih, while not soldiers in the usual
sense, identify with the established order
in their land and operate mostly in an
aboveboard way. All piao shih are forbidden to tell lies or do anything
deceitful,
u n l e s s t h i s i s n e c e
s s a r y f o r t h e s a f e t y
o f
fellow piao shih, clients, or the piao shih?s
own loved ones, in that order of priority
(piao shih organizations of non-good alignment make no allowance for
loved ones).
Piao shih can be expelled from their organization for getting drunk
on duty, as well
as for mistreating clients or for disobeying
superior piao shih. Any piao shih who
willingly helps bandits or actually joins
them is subject to a death sentence accompanied by the most frightful
available
tortures; he also gains no further experience points.
Negotiating with bandits and monsters
for a caravan?s safe passage is not counted
as treachery (unless the piao shih is
secretly enriching himself by ?kickback?
deals that cost the client excessive
amounts of treasure). Similarly, under
some circumstances it may be permissible
for piao shih (whose element is the open
road) to exchange information and favors
with yakuza (whose element is city). Piao
shih do not consider it their duty to rid
their world of criminals altogether; they
only protect, by realistic and pragmatic
means, the people under their guidance.
In certain cases of strong provocation, the
piao shih will take aggressive measures
against bandits or monsters. If assassins
try to kill a piao shih Master, and the Mast e r l e a
r n s t h a t t h e y w e r e
h i r e d b y a r o b ber chieftain
with whom he had always
negotiated in good faith, the Master can
rally not only his own organization but all
compatibly aligned piao shih organizations
with which he has any contact, for an
expedition to slay the offending chieftain.
This potential for intergroup cooperation is dependent on piao shih
groups
respecting each other?s rights. As a general
rule, a new escort organization is forbidden to work on a trade route
already
handled by another organization, unless
the entrenched organization gives its
consent. This rule will be enforced not
only by the piao shih subculture but by
local governments, merchants? organization, and possibly even by thieves?
guilds
that fear increased trouble from the newcomers. A formal duel between
escort
captains might settle a dispute over territorial rights. Any piao shih
leader who
uses treachery to take over another?s
route is liable to the same penalty as one
who turns to banditry (and, unless he is an
evil-aligned character displacing a goodaligned one, may be deserted
by his own
followers as an expression of their disgust
at their unworthy leader)
Piao Shih Level Advancement Table
| Level | Level title | 8-sided dice for accum. hit points | Additional abilities | Experience points |
| 1 | Lookout | 1 | - | 0 - 2,000 |
| 2 | Sentry | 2 | - | 2,001 - 4,000 |
| 3 | Outrider | 3 | First tactical specialty | 4,001 - 8,000 |
| 4 | Escort | 4 | Special negotiating ability | 8,001 -16,000 |
| 5 | Senior Escort | 5 | First strategic specialty | 16,001 - 32,000 |
| 6 | Thiefstopper | 6 | - | 32,001 - 64,000 |
| 7 | Banditslayer | 7 | Second tactical specialty | 64,001 - 128,000 |
| 8 | Wayclearer | 8 | - | 128,001 - 250,000 |
| 9 | Troopleader | 9 | Second strategic specialty | 250,001 - 500,000 |
| 10 | Marchleader | 10 | Precognition of damger | 500,001 - 750,000 |
| 11 | Captain of Escorts | 11 | Create own organization | 750,001 - 1,000,000 |
| 12 | Master of Escorts | 11+2 | - | 1,000,000 - 1,250,001 |
| 13 | Master of Escorts | 11+4 | - | 1,250,001 - 1,500,000 |
| 14 | Master of Escorts | 11+6 | - | 1,500,001 -
1,750,000 |
| 15 | Master of Escorts | 11+13<x> | Banner morale effects | 1,750,001 - 2,000,000 |
| 16 | Master of Escorts | 11+10<x> | - | 2,000,001 -
2,250,000 |
| 17 | Master of Escorts | 11+12<x> | Acceptance into aristocracy | 2,250.001 - 2,500,000 |
250,000 XP are required for each level beyond 17th. Piao shih gain 2
hp per level beyond 17th. A piao shih with a dexterity of 18
can acquire tactical specialties one level sooner than indicated in
this chart; one with a wisdom of 18 can acquire strategic specialties one
level sooner.
1. SUBCLASS = n/a
2. SOCIAL CLASS MINIMUM =
3. ABILITY SCORE MINIMUMS
STRENGTH =
INTELLIGENCE =
WISDOM =
DEXTERITY =
CONSTITUTION =
CHARISMA =
COMELINESS =
4. POSSIBLE RACES & MAX. LEVEL ATTAINABLE =
5. MULTI-CLASS POSSIBILITIES =
6. HIT DIE TYPE =
7. MAXIMUM NUMBER OF HIT DICE =
8. SPELL ABILITY =
9. ARMOR PERMITTED =
10. SHIELD PERMITTED =
11. WEAPONS PERMITTED =
12. OIL PERMITTED =
13. POISON PERMITTED =
14. ALIGNMENT =
15. STARTING MONEY =
16. WEAPON PROFICIENCIES =
17. NON-PROFICIENCY PENALTY =
18. NON-WEAPON PROFICIENCIES =
19. STARTING AGE =
20. COMBAT =
21. SAVING THROWS =
22. MAGIC ITEMS =