Yay, I don't seem to have any penalties! I can increase any skill I want!
This is indeed the case. Your basic bonuses are not as high as that of an Andabata (which has an insanely beastly defense) or a Cestus (Which are lightning fucking fast, I'm hoping they'll get like 2-3 attacks for everyone else's 1.) but you have no real negatives. Don't expect many opponents to be actually dumb enough to slam a Andabata or strike at a Thraex's legs though.
Basically, I tried to keep some vague semblance of balance for the classes while still making them powerful in their own rights. We'll see how well I did. If any one class seems to be too powerful, I may alter your bonuses a bit to keep it fair to everyone else.
Everyone please post a turn after this, I'll give you all about 2-3 days to get a post out, but anyone that has lost interest and doesn't post a turn by then will be assumed to forfeit their place in game and the next person on the waitlist will be up. Please do not get upset with me, also, if your character dies in a battle and the next person in line gets a chance to play.
That's the nature of the game. As for death mechanics, we'll be using DnD 3.5 style HP rules. At 0HP, you are unconscious but stable. At -1HP, you are bleeding to death, and require a bonusless roll to stabilize (Must roll a 5 or 6). Stabilizing with the assistance of another person let's both of you roll, with a +1 bonus on each roll. In the case of Kora, she will automatically recieve a +1 bonus to stabilize, and a +2 when trying to stabilize someone else. At -10HP, you are dead forever.
As the gladiators trained below his balcony, the Magister was counting down the days until the next Games. With so short a time, he hoped that his Doctore had taught the new gladiators well. They would soon be pitted against other gladiators in deadly games, not simple training exercises. He knew some of them would more than likely die, but he was willing to take the risk. Owning gladiators was like the greatest form of gambling there was. Either you lost thousands of denari, or you had a glorious warrior worth thousands more than the initial investment to parade about all of Rome. The Magister was not worried about losing money. He was already independantly wealthy in his own right, a high ranking noble in the complex hierarchy of Roman culture.
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Doctore, sweat streaming down his face, called a halt to the sparring for the day. He spat out a curt order to eat and bed down for the night, then returned to his own quarters. The new gladiators had mixed in well with the veterans, who were slowly becoming more accepting and open, relatively speaking. Decimus was a jovial enough sort, always ready with a quip. The two brothers kept mostly to themselves, but they had on a few occasions displayed that they could speak Latin as well as their strange language. What little could be gathered from them was that they came from the far Northwest, far from the Mediterranean.
The quiet gladiator had also kept mostly to himself, only rarely speaking, and on those few occasions, speaking mostly with scorn for the skills of the new gladiators. What little could be gathered about him from Decimus indicated he was once the son of a prominent Roman of some sort, who had committed an unknown crime and been sentenced to
damnatii gladiatorum for his crime. In training, he fought fiercer and better than all the others, and thus was rarely called upon to spar the newer fighters. The two swarthy brothers had once said they thought his father had been a general, but this was merely hearsay.
As the new gladiators came into the dining room, they all stood for a moment conversing amongst themselves, before splitting to go about their business.
(There is a cook, two guards, the other gladiators, a couple slave girls serving food, and the Magister, who is talking with a Roman Centurion about something. You may talk to any of them, but as common sense might dictate in this situation, do not insult the guards, and do not act disrespectfully to the Magister. You may choose to not talk to anyone and just eat/go to sleep, or you may choose to not eat and go outside where you might find something interesting do to in your small amount of downtime.)