A well-supplied sapper corps will make or break a siege. In nominal peacetime, their particular set of skills lends themselves well to the mines, but mining pays even worse than spoils of war. Fortunately for the enterprising mercenary, there's no shortage of ruins to delve - compared to the battlefield, how dangerous can they really be?
Master the dungeon. Undermine the opposition.
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| from Adrian Smith |
For each template in Sapper, you gain +1 HP and +1 inventory slot.
A: Miner, Improvised Explosives
B: Stonesense, Earthworker
C: Crew Boss
D: There's Gold In Them There Hills
Starting Equipment: Pickaxe (d6+STR damage, +2 to-hit vs. armor), shovel (d6 damage, can fling debris up to 60' for d4 damage), helmet w/ lamp mount, 100' rope, pitons
Miner
Once per day, with an hour's hard labor, you can create a tunnel 30' long and 5' in diameter through any material softer than your tools. The excavated spoil is placed outside the tunnel. Each additional template of Sapper lets you use this ability an additional time per day.
Your movement speed is not reduced by difficult terrain or tight passages.
Improvised Explosives
With ten minutes of prepwork and 3 inventory slots of adventuring gear, you create a bomb with properties similar to the items used. Items spent are consumed. The bomb takes up 1 inventory slot and deals 2d6 damage in a 10' radius; double damage to inanimate objects and terrain. It can be detonated manually (not recommended), and automatically detonates when damaged.
Some item effects:
- Rope: Create a fuse up to one hour in duration, or a tripwire.
- Alcohol or oil: Fire damage; leaves burning puddle.
- Projectiles (arrows, bolts, ball bearings, etc): Shrapnel. +5' radius for each slot.
- Black powder: +1d6 damage.
- Magnesium: Bright flash. Everyone in radius must save vs. blindness.
- Magic item: Discuss with your GM.
Stonesense
By knocking on a wall, you know how far it is to the next open space (if it's less than 30' away), and if there are any hazards behind it (e.g. water, creatures, mechanisms built into the wall).
Earthworker
You may use Miner to construct crude earthworks
with the spoil from other uses of Miner. The total volume of the spoil
in the construction must remain the same.
Crew Boss
Once per day, you may spend four hours directing a team of up to 12 people. During this period, they each have one use of your Miner ability, provided they are all properly equipped. You cannot mine while using this ability.
Gold In Them There Hills
You may expend a use of Miner to search through a pile of spoil you have created. Roll a d66 to see what turns up. You may only search through each pile once.
11. Ancient tablet with a fragment of text.
12. Ancient jewellery, set with gems worth d10 gp.
13. Ancient pottery; contents rancid.
14. Partial ancient tapestry, depicting controverisal mythic scene.
15. Ancient holy text, currently deemed heretical by a major religion.
16. d100 ancient coins marked with the face of an infamous king.
21. Set of scrimshawed knucklebones.
22. A human skull.
23. Internal organ, perfectly preserved in fat. Still throbbing?
24. Skeleton hand. 2-in-6 chance it's animate. Rings?
25. Fossilized bone. Odd shape. Maybe more nearby?
26. d4 wizard's teeth. One powdered tooth can be consumed for one temporary magic die.
31. Dense patch of mycelium. Psychedelic? Toxic?
32. Larval mimic.
33. Clutch of rust monster eggs. Good eating!
34. Extremely minor earth elemental.
35. Dire pillbug.
36. d6 slots of purple worm leavings. Potent fertilizer, or as black powder for a bomb.
41. Small lockbox.
42. Ragged banner of a fallen army.
43. Piece of leather armor, covered in bite marks.
44. Adventurer's pack, all items heavily used.
45. Small, well-carved stone figurine.
46. Torn fragment of a paper map.
51. Iron sword, chipped, rusted, and spattered with dried blood.
52. Shield painted with the crest of a long-dead noble.
53. Helm, rusted. 2-in-6 chance there's still a head inside.
54. Worn pickaxe from previous mining effort.
55. Cannonball, undetonated.
56. Bronze trap mechanisms, disconnected.
61. Lost key, opens something important.
62. Metal flask, full of strong liquor.
63. Thick glass vial, hermetically stopped with wax. Full of something?
64. Large egg, sturdy shell. Inside sloshes.
65. 1-inch-cube, indestructible. Ceaselessly humming.
66. A fist-sized gemstone, finely cut and polished. Something glitters within.
