Tombpunk is my lo-fi, lightweight, fantasy roleplaying game, published under license by Outland Entertainment. You can find it here on DriveThruRPG.
Tombpunk: Arcana is a series of articles written by me expanding content for the game with “playtest” material (I don’t think I can call it homebrew if I’m the official writer/creator!). This is the second article in the series.
While the three professions in Tombpunk cover the “trifecta” of classic fantasy roleplaying archetypes, there’s a lot of room for growth and excitement with other professions.
Today I present one of my favorite classical classes, the thief-like charlatan, con-artist and part-time magician: the Mountebank.
The Mountebank
Mountebanks are rare in the world of Tombpunk. Grifters, con-artists, lesser magicians, they are often considered soft and unsuited for the harsh realities of dungeon crawling economics.
However, to assume such is a mistake for Mountebanks are social assassins, wielding language as precise as the sharpest knife. Coupled with their limited magical training, a Mountebank can be an invaluable member of a team.
Mountebanks start with Lifeblood equal to their Might+6, Courage 2, Coin 4, Will 3, and the special abilities: Con Artist, Distracting Patter, and Trick Casting.
Damage: 1d6+Will
Con Artist: A Mountebank gains Advantage on any attempts made to deceive, trick, pick-pocket, or flim-flam a target who is unaware of their reputation.
Distracting Patter: A Mountebank may spend their action talking, insulting or verbally assaulting a foe, forcing that foe’s next test to suffer Disadvantage. However, if the foes next action is an attack, they will attempt to strike the Mountebank.
Trick Casting: A Mountebank has limited magical abilities. They can attempt to create mystical effects of a limited nature. As an action, they must make a Grit check and then choose one of the below options when they cast a spell:
- Fool’s Gold: 2d3 golden coins appears. These coins will last for 24 hours before it vanishes. They count as an equivalent amount of Coin. Using them will invariably incur the wrath of the duped party (the side-effect of the magic is that they know they were duped by the Mountebank) and it’s advised the Mountebank skip town before they vanish.
- Insulting Gesture: The Mountebank flashes a terribly rude and vile hand signal at a foe. This signals automatically understood, regardless of language barriers. The foe targeted must make all effort to attack, harm or ruin the Mountebank, gaining Advantage on all checks related to this terrible pursuit. This effect lasts for 1d3+Will actions.
- Vanish: In a puff of smoke and sparks, the Mountebank vanishes, reappearing a short distance away. Their reappearance is accompanied by the same smoke and sparks, automatically alerting their foe to their new location.
Tombpunk and the text above © 2021 Alan Bahr. Tombpunk is a trademark of Alan Bahr.
Alan Bahr 