Around two years ago I wrote new classes for Halflings on DCCRPG. The reason for that was the same one for when I created new types of dwarves (in the olde days of ye blogue, when my English was a lot worse). In both stances, I was motivated by the fact that I had more than one of my players using Dwarves and Halflings in our DCC RPG campaign and I wanted to provide some variety. Fast-forward to the present, I was talking with my gaming table, and the topic of Halflings came back… and I realized I still haven’t made my “Gollum” class (OK, at the time it was a joke but…. Why not?).
A Gollum class you ask? Since when the Gollum became a gollum? Well, technically since the first edition of D&D was released in 74. Since Monsters & Treasure we had pegasuses, medusas, minotaurs etc. All plurals, not unique monster (in fact, it is funny how later, in the AD&D 2nd historical “green sourcebooks”, those monsters became unique again). The thing is: there is precedent for my madness!
The Gollum class represents ideally a corrupted or evil form of Halfling, but it could also represent some form of goblin, gully/degenerated dwarf, demodand, ratfolk, mutant, or even one of Dunsany’s gnoles (basically, just remove swimming and/or change it to something that fits your concept better).
The Gollum Class
Start with the Halfling class, but remove Good Luck Charm, Slow, Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Training. Keep Small.
Your Hit Dice is a d8 (Gollums are tiny but tough).
Your Weapon Training include just clubs, knives, stones, and other primitive stuff. Armors are useless as they will hinder all your abilities.
Infravision: Gollums can see in the dark up to 60’.
Bestial: Gollums fight more like animals than humanoids. They have an extra Action Die (AD) which is -1 Die Step lower than their main one. This extra AD can be used only to grapple, bite, choke, or escape (see Slippery for the last one).
Grapple: Gollums grappling double their basic Attack modifier. They still follow all the grapple rules normally (DCCRPG p. 96), except that size modifiers are not used. Instead of that, if a creature is bigger than the gollum, a successful grapple check means that the gollum can climb it and cling to it. While clinging to a bigger target, the Gollum gains an AC bonus equal to its level against any physical attack (including from the grappled creature). The gollum can use their extra AD to automatically bite the target (roll just to check for a Critical Hit or Fumble) for 1d4 damage (if a critical is rolled, treat the gollum as a monster of same level and roll on table M at p. 392). The gollum can also use their extra AD to choke the target (if they can grapple its neck, what usually limits this to human-sized or smaller foes). Each round of choking forces the target to make a Fort save DC 10 or suffer a cumulative -1 Die step penalty on all actions. The DC increases by 1d4 per continuous round and 3 failures drop the target uncounscious.
Corrupted: Gollums see everything inverted. Ugliness is beauty and anything beautiful is ugly. There are very few things more horrendous to gollums than elves and fey. The judge is free to use this as a descriptive device when telling what gollums see. Civilization for them is horrible and barbary is great. Weirdly, for gollums a comfy bed is a nightmare, and a bare rock is luxury. In mechanical terms, the judge is free to “invert DCs”. For example, resting in an inn would require perhaps a Stamina, Intelligence, or anything like a “survival” check for gollums (probably with a DC around 10-15). Meanwhile, they could sleep in a bare cave or hot desert like they are at home. Gollums require 3x less food than humans (and yes, the more raw and disgusting the food the better). They are immune to diseases and can choose to lose 1d6 points of Luck to avoid any Corruption (if they don’t have enough Luck points, they suffer the Corruption normally).
Crawling Critters: Gollums can use the Halfling’s Sneak & Hide bonus to backstab, climb sheer surfaces, sneak silently, hide in shadows, and swim like a fish! The last one is a new skill check that allows gollums to swim really well (automatic for easy currents and lakes, DC 5 for most rivers and seas, DC 10 for heavy currents and stormy seas, DC 20 for impossible stuff live maelstroms and waterfalls) and hold their breaths (as a bonus to Stamina checks, the DCC RPG p. 412 on water elementals).
Miserable: Gollums are cursed and corrupt creatures, at the best pitiable and most of the time just hated. This is represented by “inverted Luck”. Roll Luck normally, however, invert the modifier’ signal. Example: a gollum with Luck 7 has a +1 modifier actually and one with Luck 18 suffers a -3 modifier. Therefore, the unluckier the gollum the more tenacious they are (this is usually represented by their Birth Augur bonus). Luck points remain the same. Like Halflings, Gollums recover each night a number of Luck points equal to their level. Finally, gollums are immune to curses (they are already cursed but see Precious Trinket).
Precious Trinket: Gollums are savage creatures that don’t pay attention to mundane stuff. They can only carry 1 item + an extra item per level. However, they can carry one additional item if they declare it as their “Precious Trinket”. As long as they have their Precious Trinket, 1 Luck point spent gives them a +3 bonus. When they lose their trinket, they can choose to go into a murderous rage or they MUST use all actions to recover it. If a trinket is broken or definitely lost, the gollum loses all Luck points until the end of the adventure (when, if they want, they can declare a new trinket). Gollums under a murderous rage must attack all enemies on sight and never retreat, but they gain a Mighty Deed of Arms die like a Warrior of the same level.
Slippery: Gollums can use their extra AD to escape without suffering an attack (see Withdrawal on p. 95).
