ALIGNMENT: Chaotic good
HIT POINTS: 70
ARMOR CLASS: 7
NO. OF ATTACKS: 2/1
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-8 (+1)
HIT BONUS: Special
MOVE: 12”
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
STRENGTH: 16
INTELLIGENCE: 17
WISDOM: 14
DEXTERITY: 18
CONSTITUTION: 16
CHARISMA: 17

When pressed for information about
his background, Robin will only joke that
he was in trouble with the law — or the
law with him — at a very young age. One
may assume he was born into a respectable
farming or craftsman’s household.
His great skill with weapons implies that
at some time he served (or at least
trained) as a yeoman archer with the
King’s armies. Some folk say that he returned
home to find his family victims of
the Sheriff’s grasping violence. Others
say that he was goaded into killing one of
the King’s deer on a wager and then out-
lawed. Whatever the reason, he has lived
in the forest for the past five years, since
the age of twenty, with the price of two
hundred gold pieces on his head.

Robin is tall, slender and good-looking,
with dark, untidy hair and an engaging
smile. His usual clothing is a faded green
tunic over torn hose, a studded leather
doublet for armor, and leather boots. He
wears a broadsword with a dagger at his
belt, has a quiver of arrows slung over his
back, and carries a yew longbow. He
moves quickly and restlessly, rarely still
for a minute unless lying in ambush. He
talks fast, too, sometimes in a compulsive
string of jokes or idle chatter which
lasts until one of the band makes him
hold his tongue.

There are two main motivations in
Robin’s life: his love of total freedom and
his hatred of injustice. Both combine to
drive him to his rebel’s life of robbing the
rich to give to the poor. Like most chaotics,
however, he cares little for any abstract
principle of justice or equality. He
centers his hatred on the person and
specific unjust acts of the Sheriff of
Nottingham.

He gives his stolen gold to whatever
poor person happens to need it at the
moment. Fomenting a social rebellion
would be the last thing he’d think of. He
will lend his aid and his men to a good
cause, but only if it is glamorous or directly
aimed at the Sheriff. Once Robin
has given someone his friendship, he is
very loyal, willing to risk his life to save a
friend from harm. He is not, however,
above pulling low practical jokes on the
same friend.

Robin robs strangers first and makes
friends later. Since he has scouts placed
at the edge of the forest, a party characters
using the road through it is certain to
be ambushed by Robin, Little John, Will
Scarlet, and 4-24 (4d6) of the Merry Men.
The band is so practiced at forest
movement that there is only a 15% chance
(25% for elves) of a party member hearing
them in time to be warned. If unwarned,
the party will suddenly find itself
surrounded on all sides by men with
drawn bows.

Robin will step out into the road and demand the party’s surrender.
He will promise that they’ll come to no
bodily harm if they simply turn over their
gold and jewels. If a player character
asks his name, Robin will answer readily
and add that he should go straight to the
Sheriff to report this outrage. At that, his
men will all laugh raucously.

If the PCs recognize his
name and express admiration or interest,
or if they merely submit to being
robbed without a fight, Robin will turn
affable and begin asking them questions
about themselves and their travels while
two of the men are stripping the party of
their valuables. Once the party is robbed
and disarmed, Robin will play one of his
standard jokes. He will tell the party that
since they’re paying for the feast tonight,
they should share it. Party members
have no choice in this matter—the men
will surround the party and march them
off to the forest hideout. If Robin likes
the party, or if he feels that they are engaged
in some good cause, he will return
their valuables in the morning. (The DM
will have to role-play Robin here; dice
rolls aren’t adequate for this decision.)
If Robin dislikes the party, he will have
them escorted back to the road after
dinner — a good bit poorer for the experience.
If the party attempts to find him
for revenge, they have a 5% chance, cumulative
per consecutive day of searching,
of finding the hideout again.

Robin will never knowingly befriend
an evil character. He has a base chance
of 60% of guessing evil alignment, and
the DM should increase this chance if
the character in question is acting in an
outwardly evil manner or has some obviously
evil symbol about his or her
person.

Unless his life is in danger, Robin will
neva kill an evil character (or anyone <alt>
else, for that matter) in cold blood. He
will simply do his utmost to humiliate
that person, leaving him or her alive for a
fair fight later. For instance, he’s been
known to make a fierce warrior put on a
woman’s dress and walk into town so
attired. He’s tied the sheriff’s men upsidedown
to trees and left them there for
their boss to find; he’s stripped pompous
clerics down to their underwear for the
walk into town. (DMs, please note: If you
have one of those obnoxious players in
your group, Robin’s pranks offer a satisfying
way of teaching him or her a
lesson.)

Although Robin is normally proficient
with a sword, his weapon of choice is the
longbow. His uncanny talent has been
so refined by years of practice that he
has an extra “to hit” bonus as well as his
adjustment for high dexterity. The DM
should allow Robin +1 to hit on moving
targets and +2 to hit on stationary ones.
Though all his men are proficient with a
bow, no one else has his skill.
With, hand weapons or in weaponless
combat, Robin is far from the best fighter
in the band. His intelligence, high spirits,
and eloquence have won him his place
as leader — not his fists.
At all times, Robin carries a horn at his
belt; three blasts on it will summon the
Merry Men as fast as they can possibly
reach him.

<(By the way, Errol Flynn’s Robin Hood was an Archer Grandmaster
and not a Thief of any type. Consider Flynn’s statistics as
follows: S 16, I 17, W 15, O 18, C 18, Ch 17, 14th-level Archer
Grandmaster, Leather +2 for AC: 6/2, HP: 110, Long Sword +2,
Long Bow +3.) [1]>
 
 

The Merry Men

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Dragon