Ruffians, thugs, street fighters, and low-quality ‘muscle’ generally fall into this career. Some brawlers light for hard-won purses to a variety of illegal street and station matches, while others might hone their combat skills simply by surviving in the worst ghettoes of overcrowded cities or fortress ships. Brawlers who don't go into the protection or prize—fighting businesses might end up in a military organization—every command has its share of barracks-room brawlers. However, hand-to—hand fighting doesn't offer much opportunity tor long—term success. The best a brawler can hope for is to hire on as muscle or to climb to the top of whatever lighting circle or underworld den in which he happens to land.

In the Verge: The pit-fighters of Penates in the Lucullus system are famous throughout the Verge. These hardened street gladiators regularly fall in with all kinds of shady characters— including free traders in search of muscle, or smugglers looking for extra hands.

No matter how far humanity progresses and develops, it seems an unchanging fact that the drama of violent conflict makes a great spectator sport. Even in the 26th century, there is a place for the gladiator. Some of them are thrown unwilling into fights for their lives, like the slaves and criminals of old, most often in backwaters and on the fringes of galactic civilization. Many more, however, are professionals; trained athletes whose sport is combat. Be they boxers or wrestlers, the champions of martial arts competitions, or the bloody modern inheritors of those ancient heroes of the coliseum, humanity still throngs in its masses to see them fight, bleed, and sometimes die.

The modern gladiator is as much a showman as a warrior, and the best of them not only please the crowds but feed off them, as well. They feed off the adulation of their fans, gaining the power to perform beyond their normal limits from the cheers of the crowd.

Select this advanced class if you want to be a powerful warrior with that extra something that the crowds love. The fastest path to this advanced class is through the Strong hero, but other routes are certainly possible.

To qualify to become a Gladiator, a character must fulfill the following criteria.

Base Attack Bonus: +4

Skills: Perform 4 ranks, Intimidate 4 ranks.

Feats: Any two of the following: Archaic Weapons Proficiency, Exotic Melee Weapon Proficiency, Improved Brawl, Improved Combat Martial Arts, Improved Grapple, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Specialization.

The following information pertains to the Gladiator advanced class.

Hit Die: 1d10

Action Points: 6 + one-half character level, rounded down, every time the Gladiator attains a new level in this class.

The Gladiator’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are:

Bluff (Cha), Gamble (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Tumble (Dex).

Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int. Modifier

The following features pertain to the Gladiator advanced class.

Basic training for gladiators includes tactics for victory by any means. The gladiator’s skill and will to do whatever it takes grants him the Improved Feint feat and a special version of the Low Blow feat, even if he does not meet the prerequisites. This Low Blow ability works exactly like the feat, except that the save DC is equal to 10 + the gladiator’s class level + the gladiator’s Strength modifier.

By 2nd level, the gladiator has survived enough fights that he has learned to change his tactics on the fly to take advantage of his opponent’s weaknesses. He gains the Expert Tactician and Modify Combat Style feats, even if he does not meet the prerequisites.

At 3rd, 6th, and 9th levels, the gladiator gains a bonus feat, which must be chosen from the following list. The gladiator must all prerequisites to select a bonus feat.

Acrobatic, Active Dodge, Advanced Grapple, Advanced Two-Weapon Fighting, Agile Riposte, Arterial Strike, Athletic, Cat Stance, Chokehold, Combat Expertise, Combat Sense, Confident, Counterattack, Death Blow, Diehard, Endurance, Fists of Iron, Frightful Presence, Greater Two-Weapon Fighting, Improved Combat Throw, Improved Disarm, Improved Sunder, Influential, Knock-down, Mighty Hurl, Mobility, Move-By Attack, Parry, Power Lunge, Prone Attack, Quick Draw, Rapid Strike, Reckless Offense, Renown, Second Chance, Shield Proficiency, Snatch Weapon, Spring Attack, Streetfighting, Toughness, Two-Weapon Rend, Unbalance Opponent, Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization, Windfall.

The 4th level gladiator has learned to appeal to spectators with flourishes, trash-talk, and fancy moves. As a move-equivalent action, he can make a perform check (DC 15). If he succeeds, he gains a +1 morale bonus to attack and damage rolls for the duration of the fight. Spectators must be noncombatants, and there must by at least 6 of them for the gladiator to benefit from this ability.

A 5th level opponent has the skill to tire his opponents out quickly. After attacking the same opponent for three consecutive rounds, the gladiator forces his opponent to make a Fortitude check (DC 10). On a failed check, the opponent becomes fatigued or, if already fatigued, exhausted. As long as the gladiator keeps attacking the same opponent every round, the opponent must continue to make saves, and the DC increases by 1 each round. Many gladiators fight defensively while employing this ability, simply wearing their opponents down until they can’t fight any more. If the gladiator fails to attack for a round, the DC returns to 15. Opponents with the Endurance feat add +4 to their Fortitude checks against this ability.

By 8th level, the gladiator has developed his own special maneuver and the crowd loves it.

The gladiator works with the GM to develop the maneuver. It must include at last one attack roll (unarmed or with a weapon) and one skill check (such as Bluff, Intimidate, Jump, or Tumble).

In order to execute the signature move, the gladiator must deal damage to his opponent with the attack, and must succeed at the skill check (which counts as a move action), which is an opposed check (regardless of its normal use),. If the skill’s success or effect is not normally determined by an opposed check, the GM assigns a skill to oppose the gladiator’s check. Both the attack roll and the skill check must succeed, be in succession, and be in the same round.

If the gladiator successfully performs the signature move, he immediately get an extra attack at the same attack bonus as the attack that was part of the signature move. If this attack hits, it automatically deals double damage. If the free attack scores a critical hit, it inflicts the normal critical damage for the weapon with an additional multiplier.

Thus, if Spartacoid, the robot gladiator, successfully hits with his integrated chainsword, then succeeds at the skill check to whirl around his opponent (by rolling a 21 on his Tumble check against his opponent’s Sense Motive check of 14 ), he gets an additional attack with the chainsword. Rolling a natural 20, he threatens a critical, which he then confirms. The chainsword normally does X2 damage on a critical, so in this case, Spartacoid’s chainsword attack inflicts triple damage!

With each blow the 10th level gladiator strikes, the spectators cheer more loudly. Once he successfully engages the crowd with his Roar of the Crowd ability, his first successful blow gains a +2 morale bonus to damage. Each consecutive, successful blow increases the morale bonus by another +2. If the gladiator misses, the bonus “resets” to +2.