TSR-East Classes: Xia

The xia is the class I most want to try out (if I were a player) in this rule set. I mean, I want to try them all. I'd love to have someone else DM with these rules. And I'd probably be playing one PC for a bit, then getting them killed or retiring them so I could try another class and work through them all. But this would be my first choice.

The xia can be simply stated as: All of Flying Swordsmen boiled down to one character class.

Based on wuxia movie heroes and villains like FSRPG and Dragon Fist before it, this is the class to play if you want to be like Jet Li's Swordsman or anyone in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, or...you know the rest. I based them on the Elf class in BX/BECMI, since they're a little bit fighter, a little bit magic-user. I did make a few changes. First of all, the spell list is very limited. There are only four levels, and six spells per level. The spells I picked were (taking the idea from my player Nate's idea for a muscle-wizard) ones that either boost melee ability (offense or defense) or provide mobility (for those jumps and fighting on bamboo branches and flips and whatnot). There are only two or three other types of spells, and all ones that seem appropriate (Remove Fear, and the reverse Cause Fear, for example).

I also plan to include a sidebar encouraging players and DMs to customize a Xia's spell list. For example, switch out some spells of your choice with the needle spells from Flying Swordsmen for a needle-themed xia. Or if you wanted to emulate the ninja powers of the Eight Demons of Kimon from Ninja Scroll, switch out some spells to give them those themes.

Besides spells, the Elf powers (find secret doors, immunity to ghoul paralysis, infravision) are out. Unarmed martial arts damage is in. They're also limited to light armor only. And they've got that expensive level advancement of the Elf class, too. But they're not limited to level 10.

I may still make a few modifications. I might go ahead and give them 5th level spells, since the Elf gets them. I'd need to decide what 5th level spells are appropriate to the theme, though. It gets harder as you go up in level. I might up the hit dice to compensate for the reduced armor. Just ideas right now, I'm actually pretty happy with how this class looks on paper.

So here's the class:

Xiá (Gallant) Yusha, Yongbyeong

Requirement: Int 9

Prime Requisite: Str and Int [13 +5%, 16 +10%]

Hit Die: d6 to 9^th level, +2/level after

Arms: all weapons, light armor

Special Abilities: spells, unarmed damage, multiple attacks

Xia Advancement
Level	XP	BAB	Abilities	1	2	3	4
1	0	+1	Unarmed d6	1	–	–	–
2	4000	+1		2	–	–	–
3	8000	+1		2	1	–	–
4	16,000	+3		2	2	–	–
5	32,000	+3	Unarmed d8	2	2	1	–
6	64,000	+3		3	2	2	–
7	120,000	+5		3	3	2	1
8	240,000	+5	2 Attacks	3	3	3	2
9	360,000	+5		4	4	3	2
10	480,000	+7	Unarmed d10	4	4	3	3
11	600,000	+7		4	4	4	3
12	720,000	+7	3 Attacks	5	5	4	3
13	840,000	+9		5	5	5	3
14	960,000	+9		6	5	5	3
15	1,080,000	+9	Unarmed d12	6	5	5	4

Spells: A xia can cast a number of spells of the levels shown on the Xia Advancement chart each day. The xia must prepare their spells in advance, but may select from any spells of appropriate level from the xia spell list.

Unarmed Damage: A xia fighting with their unarmed strikes or with improvised weapons deals 1d6 damage with the attack. The damage increases at 5^th, 10^th, and 15^th levels as shown on the Xia Advancement chart.

Multiple Attacks: A xia may attack twice per round at 8^th level, and three times per round at 12^th level. 

	Xia
Save Level:	1-3	4-6	7-9	10-12	13-15
Death Ray/Poison	12	10	8	6	4
Magic Wand	14	12	10	8	6
Paralysis/Turn to Stone	14	12	10	8	6
Dragon Breath	15	13	11	9	7
Rod/Staff/Spell	15	12	11	9	7

Xia Spells

 

Level 1

1. Protection from Evil

2. Quinggong

3. Remove Fear

4. Restore Ki

5. Shield

6. Strength

Level 2

1. Bless*

2. Detect Invisible

3. Kusanagi

4. Levitate

5. Mirror Image

6. Resist Fire

Level 3

1. Dispel Magic

2. Elemental Ward

3. Fly

4. Haste*

5. Striking

6. Wind Dragon

Level 4

1. Demon Weapon

2. Dimension Door

3. Elemental Form

4. Fury of Battle

5. Polymorph Self

6. Protection from Magic

Mentzer Basic Cover to Cover: The Elf

The Elf character class only takes up one page in the book, although it does take up the full page.  The picture of an Elf, together with a Halfling, is on the facing page describing the Halfling class. 

What do we learn about elves as a D&D trope first of all?  The description draws heavily on both the elves of Tolkien and those of Poul Anderson (and possibly others), rather than directly from mythological or folklore sources.  Not having been exposed to either Tolkien or Anderson but having been exposed to plenty of myths, legends and fairy tales as a child, when I first read that "elf" was a class in the game, I thought of tiny fairy/pixie type creatures, or Keebler elves baking cookies in a tree/making toys for Santa at the North Pole.  Boy, was I happy to find out I was wrong!

We're told that Elves like to spend time frolicking in nature, love magic and artistically crafted items, and tend to avoid humans.  They're just a tad shorter than human normal, thin, and graceful.

As a D&D class, they are part Fighter (but not as tough) and part Magic-User.  It's not obviously stated, but the price you pay for versatility like this is advancement at half the rate of a Fighter. 

Elves get several special abilities.  I discussed infravision last post, with the Dwarf entry.  The text is just copy/pasted here. 

The languages an elf begins play knowing are Common, Elf, Gnoll, Hobgoblin, and Orc.  It can help to have an Elf and/or Dwarf in the party to be able to converse with many monsters.  This also gives Elves a slight leg-up with Charm Person spells as they are more likely to be able to communicate with charmed minions.  Elves need Strength and Intelligence for a Prime Requisite XP bonus, and to get the +10%, Int is favored, so they are just as likely as Magic-Users to have bonus languages from Int on top of the racial languages.

Elves have twice the chance to detect secret doors as other races, 2 in 6.  Of course, this is only half of the stated chance from OD&D, where Elves had a 4 in 6 chance and everyone else had the 2 in 6.  I don't know exactly why this change was put in.  Was it too easy to find secret doors?  Any more, I think it's better (more fun for the players, more fun for the DM) if the players DO find secret doors often.  I'm still using the by the book numbers in my infrequent megadungeon games, but I may adjust this in my house rules document. 

Elves are immune to ghoul paralysis.  This is one of the things that got me back into old school D&D gaming (thanks again, to Superhero Necromancer).  No explanation is given for this, although I now know that it comes from Chainmail, where the elf troops were not held paralyzed by undead troops if they came into contact.

Finally, as we all know, Elves can cast spells just like a Magic-User.  We're advised to read those pages (having previously been advised to read the Fighter section to get tips on playing a warrior-type PC).  What we're not told again is that advancement is slow.  I remember introducing several friends to the game, and almost always they'd want to play an Elf to get the "best of both worlds" effect.  Of course, since most of them never played more than once or twice with me during recess at school, it didn't matter that they had no chance to get to level 2.