Kith

With the judge’s blessing, players can run kith PCs. Kith 0-level characters use the same rules as the core book, but roll on the following Kith Occupations table. Note that each of these occupations is the PC’s secondary role in the warband; all of kith are first and foremost soldiers in service of their divine masters. Kith Originate on the Purple Planet and are not native to other worlds.

You are an ursine giant with deep-seated belief in a supersensible world. The product of centuries of warped breeding and fell experimentation beneath the weirdling sun, you are a nigh-unstoppable engine of destruction. You have no tolerance for cowards, traitors, or weaklings. Cut, bleeding, broken and crushed, you are able draw from inner resources and push on when others surrender. Driven to the wall you are willing to die for your beliefs…but you’d rather kill for them.

All kith long to be with their clan; for adventuring kith, the party of PCs is their clan and warband. Kith society demands absolute loyalty. Kith that have broken free of the shackles of their culture are either driven by a prophetic vision, or are rebels that refused to blindly obey their masters.

The present-day kith are the result of hundreds of generations of selective breeding, manipulation and culture-wide mind-control, the philosophy of total war made manifest in the flesh. Twisted by science, warped by the weirdling sun, and tutored under the uncompromising beliefs of their masters, each kith is an unquestioning, enduring warrior bent on the slaughter of his foes.

As noted by scholars elsewhere, the common kith stands over 6’ in height, with broad shoulders and a round barrel chest. At first glance they appear lumbering and slow – a mistake that an adventurer will make just once.

Their skin is pale, ranging from ash white to a fatty yellow the color of the planet’s soil. Kith take great pride in decorating their skin with elaborate tattoos. The sigils, marks and inked scars record the kith’s triumphs in battle and serve as wards against evil. The tattoos are both a challenge and a warning to any would-be foes, and the skin of a heavily tattooed foeman is a highly sought addition to any kith’s war banner.

Career

Qualifications

Hit Points: A kith gains 1d10 hit points at each level.

Weapon training: A kith is trained in the use of these melee weapons: battleaxe, club, dagger, handaxe, longsword, mace, short sword, spear, two-handed sword, and warhammer. A kith is also trained in the use of the javelin, shortbow, and sling. For armor heavier than hide, a Kith suffers a check penalty of the armor’s AC bonus + 3, so that scale armor incurs a -7 penalty, and full plate a -11.

Alignment: Kith society cultivates absolute, slavish obedience. Kith that choose exile over blind devotion must do so for a good reason. Lawful kith are driven by indisputable mystic visions. Kith of neutral and chaotic alignments are exiles that have rejected a life of blind obedience, preferring to determine their own fate.

Wilderness Survivor: Every kith that survives to adolescence has learned skills necessary to wilderness survival. Kith immediately recognize poisonous mushrooms or fouled water. While outdoors, kith receive a bonus equal to their class level when tracking or detecting traps and hidden foes.

Force of Will: Kith triumph where other creatures succumb to fear, exhaustion and pain. The strongest kith are those driven by indomitable will and savage determination.

A kith can gain bonuses when expending Personality, as follows: The kith rolls a burn die when he expends Personality. The burn die is indicated on the kith class table below. For each point of Personality expended, he rolls one die and applies those points to a single roll or check. For example, a 2nd-level kith who burns 2 points of Personality receives +2d3 to add to a single roll. These points may be used for to hit or damage rolls, Strength checks, or Fortitude saves. Additionally, wounded kith may use burned Personality to recover lost hit points. The kith’s Personality score is restored each night by a number of points equal to his level. This cannot take his Personality score past its natural maximum. For example, a 1st-level kith with starting Personality score of 11 burns 3 points of Personality to add 3d2 to a damage roll, killing his foe. His Personality is now 8.

Because the kith is 1st level, his Personality score will be restored by 1 point on the following morning, bringing it up to 9. Then, 1 additional point will be restored on the following morning, bringing it back to 10. The kith’s Personality score cannot increase past his natural maximum of 11.

Luck: At first level, a kith’s Luck modifier applies to attack rolls with javelins, spears and axes. The modifier remains fixed over time, even if the kith’s Luck score changes.

Languages: At zero level, a kith automatically knows Planetary Common (Kith). A kith can learn one additional language for every point of Intelligence modifier, as described in Appendix L, but may not learn any “off-planet” languages until coming into contact with speakers.

Action dice: A kith receives a second action die at 5th level. Kith always use their action dice for attacks.

Career Progression

Level	Attack	Crit Die/ Table	Action Die	Burn Die	Ref	Fort	Will
1	+1	1d10 / III	1d20	d2	+1	+1	+0
2	+2	1d12 / III	1d20	d3	+1	+2	+0
3	+3	1d14 / III	1d20	d4	+1	+2	+1
4	+4	1d16 / IV	1d20	d5	+2	+3	+1
5	+5	1d20 / IV	1d20+1d14	d6	+2	+3	+2
6	+6	1d24 / V	1d20+1d16	d7	+2	+4	+2
7	+7	1d30 / V	1d20+1d20	d8	+3	+4	+3
8	+8	1d30 / V	1d20+1d20	d10	+3	+5	+3
9	+9	2d20 / V	1d20+1d20	d12	+4	+5	+4
10	+10	2d20 / V	1d20+1d20+1d14	d14	+4	+6	+4

Kith Titles

Level	Lawful	Chaotic & Neutral
1	Grub	Banished
2	Long-Marcher	Exile
3	Slayer	Outlaw
4	Champion	Lawless
5	Destroyer	Untouchable

Personality Burn

At first glance, Force of Will might appear prone to abuse. It stands to reason that a kith could burn all his Personality, and then simply opt not to speak in social settings until his stat recovered. After all, if he doesn’t open his mouth, there’s no way to insert his foot, right?

If only this were true.

The designers implore the judge to recall moments in his or her own life, when one’s perverse, moody silence shifted a room’s entire mood, creating awkward moments and elevated emotions without the slightest breath. Indeed, entire wars have been fought due to silence.

A kith’s presence is no different. Companions will find it impossible to ignore the hulking war-machine frame fuming silently in the corner. Diplomats and kings will pause and look askance, merchants will shutter their doors, and mothers will hurry their children off the street, when a kith simply opts “to be silent.”

Whenever a kith with 6 Personality or less is present for a social interaction, call for a Personality test (d20 equal to, or below the Personality). If the kith succeeds, he conceals his feral, violent nature. However if the check fails, the interaction goes horribly awry in whatever devious manner the judge decides.

A kith’s silence cannot protect him. All this, and he stinks of slaughter.