DCC has a great set of character classes that cover all the basics from the early editions of the original roleplaying game. But sometimes we want a little more variety, and the 3rd-party publishing community has had alternative classes in no short supply! In our 1st issue, we tried a different take on class with our version of the paladin, being a suite of abilities that anyone could take on to be a champion of their faith. But this time around, we stuck to DCC tradition (such as that is), and present to you the Dwarven Jäger, a full 10-level alternate character class for dwarves.
For those of you who have our 1st issue, you’ve actually already had a glimpse of one of these fellows, right there on the cover, rushing headlong into battle against Cthulhu itself!
TO THE DEATH!!!
While the “sword and board” trope for dwarves has a long history in role-playing games—the epitome of which was D&D’s “dwarven defender”—we think that there are just as many evocative alternatives—Gimli cleaving through orcs with his long-handled walking axe, or Warhammer Fantasy’s slayers, from which we drew a fair amount of inspiration.
Membership in the “Hugh the Barbarian Pants Club” optional
(Warhammer Dwarf Dragon Slayer, Games Workshop)
From the article’s introduction:
While the dwarven race can be fiercely traditional and unbending, centuries of tunnel fighting has led to specialization in some of their forces—the dwarven jäger being one such example. Forgoing the typical “sword and board” training of their kinfolk, jäger instead are deadly skirmishers, skilled at fighting with two weapons at once. Those who dual-wield axes are sometimes referred to as “achtjäger”, the axe wardens; those armed instead with two hammers are called “kamtjäger”, or the anvil wardens. Not as common are the “thünjäger”, the thunder wardens, who bear both axe and hammer.
We think fans of DCC should find a lot to like—the Jäger still has many of the things that make DCC dwarves *dwarves*, such as infravision and underground skills (sniffing out gold and gems, etc.), as well as their attack modifier and the ability to perform mighty deeds being unchanged. However, instead of shield bashing, the jäger excels at fighting with two weapons, similar to halflings, and their weapon training reflects weapons that could be employed in tighter quarters. We have given them an ability we call Mighty Defense, whereby they can increase their Armor Class at the expense of their attack modifier. And finally, the craftsmen in the dwarven enclaves have outfitted the jäger with some additional new ranged weapons befitting their style!
Don’t ask him about the eye…
(Dwarven Jäger, illus. Joel Phillips)
The full DCC rules for the Dwarven Jäger can be found in issue #2 of Tales from the Smoking Wyrm, available now from Goodman Games and DriveThruRPG!