Gladiator for Dark Sun 5th Edition (Unearthed Arcana)

Continuing with the Apocalyptic Subclasses published for the Unearthed Arcana, today I’m going to write about the Gladiator. Perhaps the most characteristic class of this world, although curiously it is also the archetype that lends itself to any other campaign settings. But why do I say that it is the most characteristic then? Let’s remember a little about the history of the Gladiator in Dark Sun and check out the new subclass that was playtested for 5th edition. There are some spoilers for Dark Sun Adventures for 2nd edition, you might want to skip the story section if you plan to play those older modules as a player, if you want to play them as a DM then it doesn’t matter.

History of Gladiators in Dark Sun

The gladiators in Dark Sun were not free warriors like Fighters, Rangers, or Paladins, but rather slaves who fought in arenas as entertainment for the city-states of the Sorceror-Kings. These fights were brutal, many times the participants had the objective of getting food, sometimes they fought as punishment for crimes, but sometimes they did it to seek fame. The gladiators in Dark Sun have that strange duality of being slaves and stars at the same time, as was often seen in some dystopian films of the time.

Many of the most notable NPCs in this setting were gladiators, some of them are:

• Rikus, the half-dwarf who appears in much of the promotional material, who becomes Tyr’s hero at the end of the first adventure Freedom! He is perhaps the most well-known character among players.
• Neeva, human, Rikus’s companion in revolution. The woman who appears on the cover of Freedom! and also one of the best-known characters in this setting.
• K’kriq, a gladiator who unlike most was neither human nor mul (half-dwarf) but a Thri-kreen. Players find it in Freedom! as a 3rd level gladiator and in Road to Urik as a 5th level.

As for the mechanics, the gladiator wasn’t just a kit like in other campaign settings. In Dark Sun, the Gladiator was a complete class within the Warrior category, and a very good one at that. It never suffered penalties for not knowing how to use weapons, as it could fight with any weapon or anything that could be used as a weapon. It was especially good in unarmed combat, but could also specialize in multiple weapons. Furthermore, unlike what one might imagine of a gladiator, it was good at using armor, with a bonus of 1 AC point for every 5 class levels when wearing armor.

The Gladiator class had its own handbook, “The Complete Gladiator’s Handbook,” which introduced several kits for it: Beast Trainer, Blind Fighter, Arena Champion, Convict, Professional Gladiator, Jazst, Montare, Reaver, and Gladiatorial Slave. The combat section introduced new weapons, new rules for special attacks, tactics, martial arts, bleeding damage, etc. All of this was intended to make arena battles more entertaining. And speaking of arenas, this same book has diagrams of Tyr’s various arenas, one of which has a shifting floor, another had trees that could damage gladiators, etc.

The level of detail in the campaign settings in previous editions was impressive compared to what we have in 5th edition.

The Gladiator Fighter in 5th Edition Unearthed Arcana

Master Brutality and Blood Sport

Now, let’s take a look at this possible new subclass. The document describes it as follows:

Gladiators are just as many performers as they are warriors. Whether brawling in underground fighting rings or fighting for survival in bloodstained arenas, a Gladiator combines martial skill with theatrics to awe and intimidate their audiences.

The key to this description is in “Performers”, as it turns out that it is a subclass of Fighter based on Charisma.

Level 3: Brutality

Shaped by the intensity of the arena, you’ve learned to execute brutal martial moves. Once per turn, when you hit a creature with an attack roll using a Melee weapon, you can add one of the following Brutality effects of your choice. You can do this a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of once), and you regain all expended uses when you finish a Short or Long Rest.

• Bleed. You can activate the Sap mastery property in addition to a different mastery property you’re using with that weapon, and the target takes extra damage equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of 1 damage). The extra damage’s type is the same type as the weapon’s type.
• Bluff. You can activate the Vex mastery property in addition to a different mastery property you’re using with that weapon, and you have Advantage on the next saving throw you make before the end of your next turn.
• Stumble. You can activate the Topple mastery property in addition to a different mastery property you’re using with that weapon, and on its next turn, the target can take only an action or a Bonus Action, not both.

This feature looks good and it’s the main mechanic of this subclass. Each of the three options activates after the attack is successful, so uses are never wasted, and each one allows you to use a second Weapon mastery in addition to your weapon, plus an extra effect. Being able to limit the opponent’s actions, gain bonuses on Saving throws (any, it doesn’t specify a type of saving throw), or deal extra damage is quite flexible. Maybe this forces you to switch weapons depending on the combat, so that Weapon Mastery isn’t redundant.

My problem with this feature is that you can use it a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier, which is hardly going to be three, maybe two. Additionally, Bleed’s extra damage is also Charisma-based. If you want to take advantage of this ability, I think you will have to use weapons based on Dexterity, because otherwise you would have to fight to have good scores in Strength, Dexterity, and Charisma, and of course also in Constitution, because hit points are always important for a fighter.

Level 3: Combat Theatrics

You’ve honed your combat skills to entertain, devastating opponents and dazzling onlookers. You gain the following benefits.

• Athletic Flair. Whenever you make a Dexterity (Acrobatics) or Strength (Athletics) check, you gain a bonus to the check equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of +1).
• Bonus Proficiency. You gain proficiency in one of these skills of your choice: Acrobatics, Athletics, Deception, Intimidation, or Performance.

Athletic Flair is pretty good if you have very good Strength, Dexterity and Charisma modifiers. Acrobatics and Athletics are two of the most common checks, at least in my games. The proficiency bonus is always welcome, an extra Skill is always good, especially if you can also have a permanent check bonus. For a flavor feature, I think it’s good.

Level 7: Flourish Parry

You’ve learned to stylishly counter blows from your opponents. When an enemy hits you with a melee attack roll, you can take a Reaction to add your Charisma modifier (minimum of +1) to your AC against the attack, potentially causing the attack to miss.

Flourish Counter. If this Reaction causes the attack to miss, you can retaliate with a powerful counterattack as part of the same Reaction. Make an attack roll with a Melee weapon against the triggering creature. If this attack hits, you can use one of your Brutality effects on the target without expending a use of that feature.

Once this counterattack hits, you can’t use this feature to make another counterattack until you finish a Long Rest. You can also restore your use of this counterattack by expending a use of Second Wind (no action required).

The first part of this ability is similar to the Parry ability that some monsters have, but instead of using your Proficiency Bonus it uses your Charisma modifier. The second part, Flourish Counter, allows you to make a counterattack, and add one of the Brutality effects without spending a use. But you can only do this once, and yet it is only spent if the counterattack is successful. I like this tendency to have resources only spent when actions are successful. After that, you can use a Second Wind to use this skill again, which is similar to other subclasses in the 2024 edition. Second Wind is the resource for uses of some of the Fighter’s skills.

For the only 7th level skill it doesn’t impress me much, it’s basically an AC bonus that depends on your Charisma and an extra use of Brutality. However, maybe being able to do those extra attacks like Reactions and being able to use Second Winds to have more of them does make a difference in practice, improving your action economy. I would have to try it, and I haven’t yet.

Level 10: Bolder Brutalities

Your brutal martial prowess has improved. The following effects are added to your Brutality options.

• Rive. You can activate the Cleave mastery property in addition to a different mastery property you’re using with that weapon, and you can add your ability modifier to the damage of the additional attack made as part of that property’s activation.
• Rush. You can activate the Push mastery property in addition to a different mastery property you’re using with that weapon, and you can immediately move up to your Speed without provoking Opportunity Attacks.
• Stagger. You can activate the Slow mastery property in addition to a different mastery property you’re using with that weapon, and the target has Disadvantage on the next saving throw it makes before the end of your next turn.

For a second I thought this skill overlapped with Tactical Master, gained at Fighter level 9 but it actually combines very well. Tactical Master allows you to change the weapon mastery of a weapon you attack with to Push, Sap, or Slow, while both Brutality and Bolder Brutalities add the Mastery, plus the extra effect. If you want any of the extra effects of Brutality, but your weapon already has that Weapon Mastery, you can change it for one of the ones that Tactical Master allows you.

Level 15: Brutal Resurgence

Whenever you use your Second Wind to regain Hit Points, you regain an expended use of Brutality. You also regain an expended use of Brutality whenever you use your Action Surge.

I like this feature because it doesn’t make you choose whether to use Second Wind and Action Surge or Brutality, but rather gives you the extra use when you use them normally. But it also prevents you from using them to recover uses of other features like Flourish Counter, but both are good options, since Flourish Counter is not spent unless the counter attack is successful and it also has a Brutality effect. So you are only choosing between healing yourself or dealing damage with a counter attack.

On the other hand, I feel like it’s a little late to gain more uses of these effects. It’s true, it’s great to win them, but up to this point, it depended only on Charisma, which I didn’t like very much from the beginning.

Level 18: Mutilate

When you hit a Bloodied creature with an attack roll, you can attempt to critically insult it. The target makes a Constitution saving throw (DC 8 plus your Charisma modifier and Proficiency Bonus). On a failed save, the target suffers the following effects:

• Maimed. If the target takes the Attack action, it can make only one attack.
• Sluggish. The target’s Speed is halved, and it has a −2 penalty to its Armor Class.

These effects last until the target regains Hit Points. Once a target fails its saving throw against this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a Long Rest.

This ability sounds good at first, but I don’t like how relatively easy it is to remove the effect. Again, the use is not lost until it is successful, which is good because it only works on bloodied creatures, and you want to activate it as soon as the creature reaches bloodied.

I’m not sure if this only affects Multiattack’s attacks or also the special abilities you can do with Multiattack. Because many high level monsters, as part of their Multiattack also do a special action that is not an attack. I imagine that it only affects attacks, for example, if a kraken makes two Tentacle attacks and uses Fling, Lightning Strike, or Swallow, with this ability it could only make one tentacle attack, and still use Fling, Lightning Strike, or Swallow. Either way, this ability is most effective against strong, brute monsters, and less so against creatures that cast magic or have special abilities, and even less so against creatures that have a lot of reactions.

Overall, the subclass looks interesting, especially from level 15 onward. The Charisma focus is unique (or at least, uncommon) for a Fighter and reinforces its identity as a performer-warrior, though it may complicate stat allocation. Still, the mechanics capture the spirit of a blood-soaked arena champion who fights to both survive and impress.