It’s a strange world out there: a world of giant snails with the heads of bears that can vomit acid on their prey; of mutated plants that can talk and walk and devour a man whole in seconds; where every animal, every creature, every living thing has the potential to think and to kill. And humanity is no exception.
The Trapper is the grizzled survivor and hunter of the Gamma Age, a touch-as-nails outsider who tracks animals and mutant creatures. She may do this for the sake of her community, protecting it by finding and fighting the beasts that threaten its safety. She might do it for her own sake, hunting beasts for food to eat, hides to sell, or young to breed in captivity. A Trapper might live in harmony with nature, or may force her desires on the wilderness with machines and sheer orneriness.
REQUIREMENTS
Base Attack Bonus: +2.
Skills:
Craft {mechanical} 1 rank.
Feats:
Skill Focus (Survival),
Survival Master.
CLASS INFORMATION
Hit Die: d10.
Action Points: 6 + one half character level (rounded down) per level.
Class Skills: Climb (Str), Craft (mechanical) (Int), Disable Device (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Perception (Wis), Navigate (Int), Ride (Dex), Stealth (Dex), Survival (Wis).
Skill Ranks Per Level: 4 + Intelligence modifier.
Table: The Trapper
CLASS FEATURES
Favoured Quarry: At 1st level, the Trapper selects one category of creature that she is particularly familiar with. She can choose one of the following: aberrations, animals, dragons, evolved animals, giants, mutant beasts, mutant humanoids, oozes, plants, or vermin. She gains a +1 bonus on all skill checks made to track, hunt, or observe creatures of that type, whether a Survival check to follow a trail or a Stealth check to escape being observed. She also gains a +1 bonus on attack rolls made against creatures of that type. The bonus increases to +2 at 5th level, and to +3 at 9th level.
Trapmaking: At 2nd level, the Trapper becomes highly skilled at creating traps and snares, whether simple deadfalls or complex electronic devices. She gains a +2 competence bonus on all Craft checks made to build or modify traps. This bonus increases to +4 at 7th level.
Bonus Feats: At 3rd, 6th, and 9th level, the Trapper gets a bonus feat. The bonus feat must be selected from the following list, and the Trapper must meet all the prerequisites of the feat to select it.
Alertness,
Armour Proficiency {Light},
Athletic,
Brawl,
Cautious,
Dead Aim,
Endurance,
Frightful Presence,
Great Fortitude,
Guide,
Lightning Reflexes,
Mutation Resistance,
Scavenger,
Stealthy,
Toughness.
Dependable: At 4th level, the Trapper has honed her skills to dependable edge, allowing her to rely on them even in the chaos of the wilderness. Choose a number of skills from the character’s class list equal to 3 + her Int modifier. When making a check using one of these skills, the Trapper may take 10 no matter what the circumstances.
Second Favoured Quarry: At 5th level, the Trapper chooses a second category of creature to hunt. She gains a +1 bonus on all skill checks made to track, hunt, or observe creatures of this type, and a +1 bonus on attack rolls made against creatures of that type. The bonus increases to +2 at 9th level.
Go Down Fighting: At 7th level, the Trapper becomes increasingly resistant to the attacks and mutations of her favoured quarry, She gains a +4 circumstance bonus on all saving throws made against the special qualities and mutations of her favoured quarry (both types). She also gains a +1 dodge bonus to Defence against attacks by her favoured quarry.
Trailfinder: At 8th level, the Trapper becomes incredibly adroit at finding and following tracks. She may move her normal speed when using Survival to track without penalty, and at up to double her speed with only a -10 penalty. She may also retry a failed Survival check to follow a trail when outdoors after only 30 minutes.
Savagery: At 10th level, the Trapper develops a harsh, primitive fighting style, eschewing the finesse of civilized warfare for the immediacy of tooth and claw (or knife and rifle, anyway). The Trapper may make an additional attack with her first attack action in a round (thus making two attacks with one act) at her highest attack bonus, but all attacks (including the extra attack) suffer an additional -2 penalty. The Trapper’s Defence also suffers a -4 penalty until her next round.
CREATURE TYPES
Every Gamma World campaign is different, and a creature that dominates one campaign might never be seen in another. Players of Trapper characters should discuss their choice of favoured quarry with their GM to make sure the character is neither overpowering nor ineffective.
If the GM plans to use a particular creature type a lot in a campaign, the Trapper’s advantages may cause her to overshadow the other characters. The GM can rule that the Trapper must pick a subtype of that creature type. For instance, the character might only have an advantage when hunting serfs, rather than all mutant humanoids. Another useful subdivision, especially for animals or plants, is by size. A Trapper might only enjoy an advantage against Large animals, for instance, or Medium plants.
If, on the other hand, a GMS wants to ignore or significantly downplay a particular creature type (such as making oozes even rarer in his game), then a Trapper who hunts that type of creature will rarely (if ever) get a chance to show off her skills. The GM may want to rethink his plans and give that creature type a larger role in the campaign. Alternatively, the GM can simply request that the player select a different, more common creature type to hunt.
