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- Description: The Acrobat has decided to forego normal thievery in favor of specializing in skills which allow him to roam the roof tops of cities where he may enter the homes and businesses of his victims through often unguarded portals high above the city streets. The Acrobat devotes himself to a regimen of physical exercise in order to build coordination, muscle tone and balance in preference to building his manual dexterity skills. This program of gymnastics precludes progress in several traditional thief skills.
- Requirements: The physical demands of their vocation require Acrobats to have minimum scores of 15 in Strength and 16 in Dexterity.
- Role: Similar to bards, Acrobats ostensibly earn a living by entertaining others. Some would say they do this to avoid “real” work. And both characters are wont to support themselves by unorthodox means when there’s a slump in their “regular” business.
- Society rarely looks upon Acrobats favorably, even those not inclined to larcenous behavior. They typically come from the lower classes and many have become Acrobats not out of choice, but out of necessity.
- An Acrobat seldom remains in one local for long, frequently traveling with a circus or other entertaining troupe as a cover for his illegal enterprises. Typically, traveling troupes of entertainers encounter little scrutiny from local officials as they travel from city to city. They present their performances and as the populace grows weary of the entertainment provided by the band, it moves on quickly with little notice, often carting away a stash of treasure concealed within its wagons, stolen from wealthy patrons.
- Weapon Proficiencies: In most cases Acrobats may only use small or medium size weapons normally available to thieves which may be wielded in one hand. However, because of their training on high wires and climbing, they may also chose to take proficiency in the staff or lasso. Acrobats cannot use most bows and are limited to the light crossbow or hand crossbow. Typical weapons include: short sword, dagger, knife, rapier, maine gauche, dart, staff, lasso, light crossbow, hand crossbow, hand axe and throwing axe.
- Nonweapon Skills: Bonus: Tightrope Walking, Tumbling, Jumping. Recommended: Acting, Alertness, Athletics (cost is only 20 physical points), Blindfighting, Dancing, Danger Sense, Disguise, Fine Balance, Juggling, Local History, Reading Lips, Rope Use, Sign Language.
- Skill Progression: Among the basic thieves’ skills, climbing walls proves most applicable to the Acrobat’s overt profession. Their lightness of step leads to excellence in moving silently, so this skill also is likely to improve rapidly. While opening locks and finding and removing traps sometimes become necessary in his work, he often circumvents these obstacles by traversing unlikely routes to his quarry. Finally, Acrobats seldom devote much energy to learning how to hide in shadows, instead relying on their concealment among the rooftops to hide their activities.
- The Acrobat devotes so much of his time to the thief skills suited to his particular style of thieving that he is unable to learn the Pick Pockets or Read Languages ability. In addition his Open Locks, Find/Remove Traps (large and small) and Set Traps (large and small) skills are penalized by -5% at first level. His Hide in Shadows ability is decreased by -10%. However, the acrobats Climbing Walls skill is increased by +10% at first level.
- Equipment: Acrobats favor the least and lightest equipment possible. Acrobats who are more than lightly encumbered may not use any of the Special Benefits listed below. They may encumber themselves temporarily to carry away a large treasure or a fallen comrade, but they will divest themselves of the excess weight at the first opportunity.
- Skill Bonuses: An Acrobat receives ten skill points to divide among his Tightrope Walking, Jumping and Tumbling nonweapon skills every time he advances a level. The points may be divided as the character sees fit and are in addition to all other skill points received for advancing a level. These points may not be used to increase any other thief or nonweapon skill. However, if the thief has a skill score of 90% or higher in Jumping, he may allocate the bonus skill points to Salmon Leap Jumping.
- Extended Skills: An Acrobat gains a +10% bonus to his Jumping, Tightrope Walking and Tumbling skills when not wearing armor. In addition, due to his incredible skill and years of training, the Acrobat gains special advantages when using his bonus skills:
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- Jumping:
- The Acrobat doubles his level for all Jumping calculations.
- The character can use poles up to 20 feet longer than himself.
- Vaults can be made with a 15-foot run. The pole need not be dropped if a second skill check is successful.
- Tightrope Walking:
- All penalties are halved, dropping fractions (i.e., -25% for one-inch surfaces, -10% for two- to six-inch surfaces and -2 attack roll penalty).
- Use of a balancing rod provides a +20% bonus.
- Tumbling:
- The +4 Armor Class bonus applies during any round in which initiative is won, even if the Acrobat opts to attack later that round.
- No skill check is required to reduce falling damage. However, a successful skill check doubles the falling distances (i.e., no damage up to 20 feet and only half damage up to 120 feet).
- Dodge: Acrobats move with amazing agility and exhibit very quick reflexes. This enables them to jump free of many potentially harmful situations if a successful saving throw vs. Paralyzation is rolled. The only bonus allowed to the save is the defensive bonus for high Dexterity.
- If the attempted dodge fails, the Acrobat suffers the full effects of the danger. No other saving throw can be rolled to avoid the threat, as the dodge takes the place of all other saving throws. The benefit of dodging is that all harm is completely avoided, whereas many successful saving throws result in half damage. Of course, the Acrobat player can opt to skip the dodge attempt in favor of any normally allowed saving throws.
- Dodging does not affect missile weapons or hurled weapons, personal spells (those that affect only one person) directed specifically at the Acrobat or spells that have no physical effect to dodge (such as hold person).
- Situations that can be avoided include falls (into pits, through illusionary floors, down sliding stairway traps, etc.), being struck from above (by ceiling blocks, rocks, piercers, collapses, etc.), area-effect spells that can be dodged (lighting bolt, web, fireball, etc.), and any other situation the Dungeon Master feels could be avoided by a sudden agile leap (including most breath weapons). Of course, if a jump to safety is impossible, the Acrobat cannot attempt a dodge. Note that the Acrobat may also climb walls and might avoid certain situations by clinging to a wall.
- In addition, the acrobat receives a +4 bonus to his saving throw vs. paralyzation to avoid an opponent's successful knockdown roll in combat.
- Combat Bonuses: The Acrobat’s incredible agility allows him to gain a +2 bonus to his AC when not wearing armor. His strength with his hands and coordination also make him a good hand-to-hand fighter, therefore he receives a +1 bonus in unarmed combat for every four levels he has obtained. The bonus does not give the Acrobat specialization in an unarmed combat style, but he may spend weapon proficiency slots to specialize.
- Reduced Thieving Skills: See Skill Progression above.
- Access to Thieves’ Guild Limited: The nature of his trade takes the Acrobat from town to town on a regular basis. While he may belong to a guild in his hometown, guilds outside his home may not be willing to give him assistance when needed or might even consider him a renegade and take action against him. In general, Acrobats receive a -3 reaction adjustment when dealing with guild thieves outside their hometown or base of operation. A negative reaction from a guild means it will not aid the thief.
 
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