* This version is not available to player characters in Living Death

Description: The criminal kit represents all manner of people who make their living through illegal activities, from the low-life mugger skulking in the dark alleys of New York City, to the high-life/high-society professional jewel thief of Paris. This kit can serve any person who lives outside the law, making their living by using their skills to profit off of their fellow man. This kit is the antithesis of the detective kit.

Role-Playing: Criminals are a secretive lot by nature. Should their true occupations become discovered, they can expect an abrupt "life-change" in the form of extended incarceration in the local jail. Some criminals are driven to their crimes by the desire for wealth, others do it just for the thrill of the danger involved in breaking the law. Others feel that they have no choice but to turn to a life of crime because their background and upbringing did not give them the chance for success that others in society may have had. All criminals feel that members of the law enforcement community are the "enemy".

Special Benefits: All criminals have an area of expertise that they use to pursue their crimes. As such, a criminal gets one free bonus proficiency listed above depending on what type of criminal they are. Criminals may have contacts in the criminal underworld, in his "hometown" . Once per adventure the criminal may attempt to gather information on a specific subject dealing with current local events from his contacts in the underworld, however this only is of use in his town . Because of the paranoid nature of the criminals world if he attempts this in an area in which he is not known (but still within the same country) there is a percentage chance that he will turn up with a knife in his back. This percentage starts at 80% and decreases 5% per level never to go below 30%. This attempt takes 2d6 hours of hitting the streets and gathering information and requires a charisma check. If successful, the criminal gains some useful information on the subject that would be known to the criminal population of the area. The specifics of this information are fully up to the discretion of the DM.

Special Hindrances: All criminals have a reputation and their criminal activities may be suspected by members of the law-enforcement community (subject to DM's discretion). As such, they may occasionally be hounded by law officers watching their movements, or questioning them about recent crimes they are investigating. They are also not likely to get any cooperation from law officers who suspect their illegal activities. Criminals must take extreme care to cover up their illegal activities and not leave incriminating evidence that could convict them of their crimes. Should a criminal be blatant about criminal activities, they could be arrested, convicted, and incarcerated for extended periods of time. In addition, due to their blatant disrespect for the law, criminals cannot be of any lawful alignment. They also must make powers checks for illegal activity. Powers checks are made at double the normal percentage chance for that act.

Special considerations for Living Death characters: Due to the nature of the LD campaign setting, all criminals must abide by the alignment restrictions of the campaign and be of good alignment. Thus all criminals should be of the type that have some sense of morals and honor (even if somewhat twisted to suit their own ends), perhaps only stealing from those who can afford to lose it (the robin hood approach), or only taking what they believe they rightfully deserve (justified in their own minds of course). The characters background and method of criminal activities should account for the conflict between his good alignment and pattern of illegal activities (it is generally not considered "good" by most societies to harm or steal from others). If their background and activities do not match up with their declared "good" alignment, the player may be subject to the penalties of an alignment shift to neutral or evil alignments (see LD character generation guidelines and judge guidelines). LD criminals will have to be very careful when they find themselves adventuring with Detective player characters because the Detective may feel it is necessary to turn in the law-breaker (be on your best behavior). Hearsay may make the Detectives suspicious, as will the use of any obvious thief type skills.

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This page last updated 10/13/98.  For problems/questions/comments regarding the pages contact the webmaster.