The following is a home-made profession for Warhammer Quest created by myself to satisfy a local Skaven fanatic. This is of course not official by any means, and I have not had the opportunity to fully playtest it through all possible situations. However, I have run it through a few "dummy runs" at this writing, and I am confident that while this character yields some rather wild results at times, it is not on the whole imbalancing.
In case that I should ever introduce some other professions for
Skaven (I should probably at the least have a "generic fighter type") I have
written up a
separate article that covers details that are common to Skaven as a race, and not
necessarily specific to the Gutter Runner profession.
In summary, the Gutter Runner is a small furry rodent ninja. 'Nuff said. My reasoning for even introducing this is that, hey, if there can be a Chaos Warrior, why not a Skaven character? GMs should be forewarned, though -- I have written up several other home-made professions, and have made a conscious attempt to make sure that they are for the most part just as good as any of the other professions. However, this character heads off in several new directions, as I haven't just selected attributes from other professions and re-combined them into a new one, as I did for the most part with my previous creations. The Gutter Runner has the potential for being very effective in combat, but the down-side is that he is simultaneously very vulnerable. As a "ninja" type, one would think that he could do well as a "solo" type, but in truth he will be very dependent upon a Wizard in the party, and the other Warriors as well. It only seems to follow, as Skaven are typically only brave (and powerful) in numbers.
Also, the statistics for various points in the Gutter Runner's development were pulled from profiles for the Gutter Runner, Assassin and Deathmaster in the Roleplay Book "Bestiary". As one may notice, there is a very marked jump in power from Assassin to Deathmaster. At very high levels, the Gutter-Runner- turned-Deathmaster could be particularly potent. However, my hope is that should players reach that sort of level of power, EVERYBODY will be formidable anyway, and that such details will be minimized.
THE GUTTER RUNNER
Sometimes magical storms in the blasted regions of the north spew forth chunks of
solidified, corrupting magic known as Warpstone. In ages past, rats gnawed upon this
material, and were mutated by its power. Those who survived grew in size and
intelligence, becoming the vile children of Chaos known as the Skaven.
The Skaven live in a vast network of tunnels under the earth, some of them reaching far into the eastern lands of Cathay. Clan Eshin, one of the great clans that dominates Skaven society, resides here. Among its number are feared black-clad assassins who have trained from birth in the use of poisons, garrotes, throwing stars and all manner of exotic weaponry. The lowest of their number are the Gutter Runners, but even these are feared and respected by other Skaven.
It is highly unlikely that a Skaven might ever fight on the side of good, but this particular Skaven has for whatever reason taken up arms with the Warriors. Perhaps he has some redeeming qualities. Perhaps he merely has ulterior motives. In any case, his skills can be of great value to the Warriors, even though they may be ill at ease in his presence.
GUTTER RUNNER STATISTICS
| Wounds | 1D6+3 |
| Move | 6 |
| Weapon Skill | 4 |
| Ballistic Skill | 3+ |
| Strength | 4 |
| Toughness | 3 |
| Initiative | 5 |
| Attacks | 1 |
Equipment: Warpstone Amulet.
Weapon: Sword, causing 1D6+4 Wounds
Armour: None.
Pinning: The Gutter Runner cannot be pinned.
Special Rules
Any time a Monster Event is encountered (in a new room or when the Wizard
rolls a 1), roll 1D6. On a 5+, the Gutter Runner may ambush the Monsters.
Remove his model from the board. After all Monster models are placed, he may be
placed anywhere in the room (or adjacent room, if there is no space) and may immediately
get a free turn before anyone else may act.
| ENEMY'S WS | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| TO HIT FOE | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 |
GUTTER RUNNER ADVANCED PROFILES
| Battle Level | Wounds | Wpn | Bal | Str | Tgh | Init | Att | Skills | Ambush | Pinning |
| 2 | 1D6+3 | 4 | 3+ | 4 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 4+ | A |
| 3 | 1D6+3 | 4 | 3+ | 4 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3+ | A |
| 4 | 2D6+3 | 4 | 3+ | 4 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2+ | A |
| 5 | 2D6+3 | 5 | 3+ | 4 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 3 | A | A |
| 6 | 3D6+3 | 5 | 2+ | 4 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 3 | A | A |
| 7 | 4d6+3 | 6 | 2+ | 4 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 4 | A | A |
| 8 | 5D6+3 | 4 | 2+ | 4 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 4 | A | A |
| 9 | 6D6+3 | 7 | 1+ | 4 | 4 | 9 | 4 | 5 | A | A |
| 10 | 7D6+3 | 8 | 1+ | 4 | 4 | 10 | 5 | 6 | A | A |
GUTTER RUNNER'S SKILLS
The Gutter Runner has the following skills available to him as he goes up his
Battle-Levels. To determine which specific skill he learns when given the
opportunity roll 2D6.
| Roll | Skill | Description | ||||||||||||
| 2 | ASSASSINATE | "With a lightning-fast thrust, you slip your blade past your opponent's armor. He manages only a gurgle and a surprised look before he slumps lifelessly to the ground." Your Warrior is a master at finding chinks in armor and weak points on the body. Your Warrior's hand-to-hand attacks ignore the opponent's armor. At higher Battle-Levels, your Warrior also has a chance to ignore Toughness, depending on the natural roll to hit. At Battle-Level 5, this happens on a roll of 6; at Battle-Level 7, this becomes 5+; at Battle-Level 9 or higher, this becomes 4+. | ||||||||||||
| 3 | MAGIC RESISTANCE | "As the spellcaster chants and makes ominous gestures, you remember the teachings of your sensei, and enter a controlled trance just as the spell is unleashed upon you. The magic dissipates harmlessly. Before the surprised magician can react, you grin, and ready your blade to strike . . ." Whenever your Warrior is targeted by a spell, roll 1D6. On a natural roll of 6, the spell has no effect on him. | ||||||||||||
| 4 | AMBIDEXTERITY | "Brandishing a blade in each claw, you whirl about, becoming a steel cyclone of death!" Your Warrior may use a second hand-to-hand weapon in his second hand, as long as neither weapon is two-handed. Furthermore, his tail is sufficiently dextrous that he can have yet another weapon held by it as well! This gives +1 Attacks per turn for each weapon, up to +2. Neither attack may cause a Killing Blow. No more than one magical weapon may be wielded at a time, unless they have duplicate powers. | ||||||||||||
| 5 | DISGUISE | "Passing in the lands of men isn't as simple as just shambling about in a hooded robe. Men are wise to monsters who might try to walk amongst them. You have to know how to walk, where to walk, what to wear, how to disguise your smell, what gestures to make . . . various ways of making it seem perfectly natural that a hooded stranger is walking by." Your Warrior may enter a Settlement normally, but must pay double living expenses during his stay to avoid attention. Your Warrior may only visit traders _ not any special locations. Do not roll for normal Events; instead, roll 1D6 for each day in the Settlement. On a 1, your ruse is foiled, and your Warrior must flee the Settlement immediately! | ||||||||||||
| 6 | DODGE | "You neatly sidestep the incoming attack, as it whistles harmlessly past your tail." Any time an attack would hit you, roll 1D6. On a natural roll of 6, the attack misses. This ability improves at higher Battle-Levels. At Battle-Level 5, you may dodge on a roll of 5+. At Battle-Level 9, you may dodge on a roll of 4+. | ||||||||||||
| 7 | TUNNEL-MASTER | "The Skaven live in a vast underworld of interconnecting tunnels
which cover more area than the entirety of roads built by mankind. You just happen
to know one of these tunnels that leads directly to the city. . . ." Once
during any journey (usually at the start) to a Settlement, your Warrior may attempt to
find a subterranean shortcut by means of underground passages to shorten the journey of
the entire party. Roll on the following chart:
|
||||||||||||
| 8 | ESCAPE ARTIST | "As soon as you are certain the guards are not watching, you contort your body so you can reach the pin concealed in your fur, grip it with your teeth, and work on picking the lock on the shackles that bind you." In addition to any other chances, your Warrior may automatically escape non-magical bindings (including giant spider webs) if he rolls a 6 on 1D6. This attempt may be made once per turn. This ability may also be used for the Interrogation or Slaver s! Events in the Skaven Undercity, rolling once each day (in addition to any other rolls) to see if you automatically escape. At the GM's discretion, if Initiative or other tests are being used to determine your chance to escape, this simply offers a chance to re-roll any such attempt once, though the second result must be kept even if worse. | ||||||||||||
| 9 | LEAP | "With a shrill battle-cry, you leap over the heads of your enemies and head straight for their unprotected leader." Once per turn, your Warrior may leap up to 2 spaces in any direction, bypassing any obstacles in the intervening space. This leap counts as 1 space of Movement, and your Warrior may carry out the rest of his move normally. | ||||||||||||
| 10 | ACROBAT | "As the floor gives way underneath you, you slide your claws against the sides of the pit, subtly slowing your descent." Your Warrior can perform daring acrobatic feats. He can re-roll any die rolls that deal with balance, Initiative tests to avoid traps, etc., though he must take the second result even if worse. Also, if he should incur any falling damage from pits or the like, his ability to land softly deducts 1D6 Wounds from the damage he would have otherwise suffered. | ||||||||||||
| 11 | SPY | "Pressing your ear to the door, although you hear no voices, you can easily pick out faint clues as to what creatures might be expected on the other side." If playing a random dungeon, any time that an Event is encountered (due to the Wizard's roll or when entering a new room), roll 1D6. On a 5+, your Warrior may look at the top two Event cards on the Event deck, and choose which one the Warriors will encounter. (If the Event card calls for another Event to be drawn, your Warrior may roll separately to see if he can "spy" on this Event as well, but only after he has made his choice.) In a moderated game, your Warrior is capable of determining the contents of the next room without actually entering it or alerting its occupants. The GM may require a die roll for this ability in special cases where this should not be easily determined even by the Gutter Runner (such as if the next room is behind a thick door, if the occupants are forewarned of the Warriors' presence, if the occupants are a bunch of Gutter Runners, etc.) | ||||||||||||
| 12 | SNEAKY MANEUVER | "You dive between the two Orcs, who swing at you . . . but only manage to cleave each other in half in the process!" You have a knack for using your opponents' strengths against themselves. Once per turn, you may attempt to use this ability against an incoming attack, before your opponent's attack is actually rolled. Roll 1D6 and add this score to your Initiative . Roll another 1D6 and add this score to your opponent's WS. If your score is higher than your opponent's total, and if there is another opponent who is adjacent both to you and to your enemy, your enemy attacks the other opponent instead. Roll normally to hit. If, however, you fail this test, then the opponent need not roll to hit. He automatically hits, as if he had rolled a natural 6. This skill cannot be used unless there is another valid target to be hit instead. |
GUTTER RUNNER TITLES
The Gutter Runner is known by various titles as he progresses in Battle-Levels, as
follows:
| Battle Level | Title |
| 1 | Novice |
| 2 | Gutter Runner |
| 5 | Assassin |
| 9 | Deathmaster |
ADDITIONAL RULES
The Gutter Runner has several special rules which apply to him, as he is by no means a
usual Warrior.
Enhanced Senses
Skaven are used to very faint lighting in which a normal man could see
nothing. They can still see in areas not lit by the lantern. (The only
exception would be a room that is completely physically sealed off from any possible
sources of ambient light.)
Skaven and Disease
Skaven are inured to the corrupting powers of Warpstone and of normal
diseases in general. They are not harmed by physical contact with Warpstone, and are
largely unaffected by normal diseases. (For example, the Skaven need not roll to see
if he catches the Plague if the Warriors come across a plague- ridden village Hazard.)
The Skaven is, however, affected by magic spells or special attacks by Monsters which have a disease-like nature, such as Tomb Rot, Plague, or Plague Censer Bearers.
Skaven are also natural scavengers. They need not pay living expenses while waiting outside of Settlements, and may use Provisions that have spoiled.
Gutter Runner Equipment
Skaven are a bit shorter that humans and Elves, and their feet are bigger,
with nasty claws. Therefore, while they might wear such items as robes or cloaks
normally tailored for humanoids, they may not wear footwear (such as Boots of Swiftness)
or items of armor fitted for other races.
This is a moot point for Gutter Runners, as they do not wear any sort of armor (aside from perhaps a protective cloak or thick furs), nor do they use shields. Other than that, they may use any sort of weapon that the Barbarian or Dwarf would be able to use. They do not suffer the normal -1 penalty to hit when utilizing Throwing Stars.
Horses and mules are particularly bothered by Skaven, so the Gutter Runner may not have such mounts to carry him or his equipment. He may ride along with the Warriors in a cart, though they may not enjoy such close company with a Skaven.
Social Standing
A Skaven who has joined the Warriors has no place to be truly welcome in. He may not enter
Settlements (except if he acquires the Disguise skill later on), and encountered Skaven
aren't likely to do him any favors for being a traitor to their kind. If you are
playing a moderated game, the Gutter Runner might be of some use as a scout to infiltrate
enemy ranks (particularly if he has the Disguise skill), but the forces of Chaos aren't
even very friendly to their own kind, particularly strangers , so such excursions are
bound to be very risky.
Catastrophic Events
The Catastrophic Events rolled up by the Warriors should they tarry too long in a
Settlement affect a Skaven differently. The following results should be interpreted
specially for the Skaven:
| Roll | Result | Description |
| 2 | Settle down | If the Skaven character gets the lowest score, he will only "settle down" if he is in a Skaven Undercity at the time. Otherwise, the Skaven character is simply sick of being among humans, and must leave the Settlement immediately. |
| 3 | Flood | No difference in effect. |
| 4 | Attack | If there is an Undercity, the Skaven may simply hide out there, and meet up with the Warriors as soon as the battle is over. Otherwise, roll normally. |
| 5 | Hardship | No difference in effect. |
| 6-9 | No Event | No difference in effect. |
| 10 | Disease | The Skaven character has no fear of falling victim to this disease. |
| 11 | Fire | No difference in effect. |
| 12 | Plague | If the Skaven character is the one who is to catch the plague, there is no effect. |
The Undercity
Skaven build their own settlements under those of mankind, and there is a chance that for
any City, there may be a shadow Settlement of Skaven underneath. If the Warriors
should reach a City, roll 1D6, and consult the following table:
| Roll | Description |
| 1-2 | No Skaven Settlement can be found. |
| 3-4 | A Skaven Village can be found underneath the City. |
| 5 | A Skaven Town can be found underneath the City. |
| 6+ | A Skaven City can be found underneath the City. |
If the Gutter-Runner used his Tunnel-Master skill to cover the last part of the travel to the City, then the presence of a tunnel node directly under the City increases his chances of finding a Skaven Settlement. He may add +1 to his die roll on the preceding chart in this instance.
Visiting the Undercity
A Skaven character may choose to visit a Skaven Undercity instead of
the human Settlement. In fact, it is possible (if the other Warriors are still doing
business here) that he could try to visit first one place, then the other, if he has the
Disguise skill.
A Skaven character in the Undercity must pay daily living expenses just as other Warriors would in a regular Settlement. He need not pay double, as being a Skaven in a Skaven Settlement makes his job of blending in far more easier than in a human Settlement.
He must roll for daily Events in the same way as the other Warriors would in a normal Settlement, but he has a special chart full of results -- many of them quite deadly, as Skaven live by tooth and claw even in their own cities. Skaven equivalents to various places in human Settlements can be found (with odds of availability appropriate to the size of the Skaven Settlement) for the Gambling House, the Armourer, the Weaponsmith, the General Store and the Gunsmith, though all items of clothing and armor are especially geared toward Skaven forms. (Note: The Gutter Runner still cannot wear armor, even of Skaven make. However, these rules might be of interest should there ever be any other Skaven Warrior types.)
The particular Events that may occur in the Undercity are covered in a separate article, "The Skaven Undercity".
REPRESENTING YOUR WARRIOR
Citadel has several figures for Gutter Runners, Assassins, and even Deathmaster Sknitch. So far, I do not know of any "ninja rats" manufactured by alternative miniatures companies. One comparatively cheap method I found to make some "Gutter Runners" was to take some plastic Skaven from the old AHQ set and to use some ribbon epoxy to make "cloaks" for them, then to paint them with a strong emphasis on dark and "cool" colors (such as blue, purple and green, plus a great deal of black, of course).
ROLE-PLAYING TIPS
The Skaven Army Book is the only real source I have for dialog from Skaven characters. Basically, their society is rife with back-stabbing, political maneuvering, treachery, and other such fun. Hopefully a Skaven Warrior will not be employing such tactics on his fellow Warriors, but he should still be a shifty, cautious fellow, and not likely to be bright and cheery all the time. Speaking in a squeaky voice all the time is likely to be more annoying than convincing when it comes to role-playing, so I'm not sure what would be the best method to set oneself apart, though there are certain speech oddities that often come up in dialog in the Skaven Army Book narratives. For instance, there seems to be a lot of redundancy in their speech, using nouns as adjectives. In one spot, a character referred to "gift-giving" an item to someone else. They have a tendency to combine related words into a single new "word", perhaps to give it some sort of stronger emphasis. (As a Skaven Gutter-Runner, you wouldn't just kill someone. You'd slay-kill them and make sure that they're death-dead!)
DISCLAIMERS AND SUCH
Warhammer Quest is a trademark of Games Workshop, and its use here does not constitute a legal challenge to that status. This article may be considered copyrighted by T. Jordan "Greywolf" Peacock (me =) ), though it may be freely distributed so long as no alterations are made and no fees are charged for its use.
If you'd like to contact me for whatever reason, you can write to me at:
| Jordan Peacock 1610 Parker Cedar Falls, IA 50613 -*- HAPPY QUESTING! -*- |
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