The Sarker

Sarker
A fighter/magic-user variant for old school campaigns.

The Sarker is a mythic warrior that briefly taps the abilities of the beasts and monsters it slays by eating their flesh and wearing their skins.



Sarker Class Table

Lvl	Experience Points	Hit Dice	Maximum Spells Captured or Cast in Day
			1	2	3	4
1	0	1d8	-	-	-	-
2	3,000	2d8	2	-	-	-
3	6,000	3d8	2	1	-	-
4	12000	4d8	3	1	-	-
5	24000	5d8	3	1	1
6	48000	6d8	3	2	1
7	96000	7d8	3	3	1
8	200,000	8d8	3	3	1	1
9	350,000	9d8	3	3	2	1
10	500,000	9d8+2	3	3	2	2
11	650,000	9d8+4	3	3	3	2
12	800,000	9d8+6	3	3	3	3
13	950,000	9d8+8	4	4	3	3

The wearing of skins is one of the two most potent abilities of the Sarker and the primary one practiced at 1st level. If a Sarker kills and skins a beast or monster the abilities of the slain may be used by the Sarker.
A Sarker must have the means to skin a beast or animal and it takes 3 turns per HD of the monster to skin it and properly prepare the skin of rthe Sarker’s use.  A Sarker is allowed to keep as many skins as equal to half their Charisma score.

Protection of the skin, the AC of a Sarker is equal to the AC  of the skin of the animal or monster it is wearing. This ability requires no special activation.

Three times per day a Sarker may invoke one of the following powers while wearing a skin.

*Stride of the Beast, the Sarker’s movement rate advanced to that of the skin for up to an 3 hours.

*Ears of the Beast, the Sarker is able to understand and communicate with the same species as the skin it is wearing, for non-intelligent species there is no real issue here but intelligent monsters are not prone to be friendly to someone wearing a skin of their species. Duration 3 hours.

*Nose of the Beast at 4th level and above a Sarker can use enhanced sense of the skin worn to track prey. This ability is as effective as a Rangers ability to track.Duration 3 full turns per level of Sarker.

*Call of the Beast, at 4th level and above a Sarker is able to call aloud and summon 1-3 members of the skin worn. They will arrive as if by normal modes of travel in 1-4 rounds. If their reaction to the darker is positive they will serve 3 turns per darker level or until injured for 1/2 or more of HP. A darker may not call a creature of higher levels then his or her own.

*Dragons Breath, at 6th level and above a Sarker is allowed to make use of a special attack normal to the monster  type of the skin being worn. Any level dependent features are based upon the level of Sarker or HD of monster the skin was taken from.  This serves for but one use.

*The Warp, at 8th level and above a Sarker may transform in to member fo the species of the skin it wears, all characteristics are as per monster or beast that once wore the skin. HP are as per the skin as well and not the HP of the Sarker himself. If a Sarker in the throws of the warp suffers enough damage to reduce the HP of the creature to zero or less the skin is destroyed and the Sarker suffers any excess damage. If an effect would poison, continuously damage,or paralyze a Sarker he can throw off the skin to avoid the effect but will also lose the skin in doing so. Capture can also be thwarted by throwing off the skin assuming there is freedom to be gain dby crawling out of a beast. While in the throws of The Warp the Sarker is not able to use any other magic and anything that was begin carried is dropped at the site of the transformation. The warp lasts for 3 full 10 minute urns per level of the Sarker.

A Sarker may attempt a 4th or later use of a power but the skin being worn must save vs magic or be destroyed in the process.

The Witching Skin. One a month under the light of the full moon a Sarker is able to prepare a skin so it may capture the spells of hostile magic users. A Sarker may only have one such skin at a time and if the skill is lost or destroyed a new one may not be created until the next full moon.

When wearing the Witching Skin a darker may choose to capture a spell successfully saved against. Such a captured spell will cause no harm to the Sarker even if it normally would on a successful save. The Sarker is able to cast the spell as if normally prepared by a magic user of his level or the HD of the skin (whichever is lower). Once cast the spell is lost.
The table above shows the maximum number of spells that may be both cast or captured in a single day and serves as the absolute limit of spells that may be held in the Witching Skin.
Magic-Users and other Sarkers (maybe Druids as well if your campaign has them) that capture a Sarkers WitchingSkin may make successful use th espells in a Witching Skin, Sarkers are able to do this if they have no Withcing Skin of their own and spend 3 minutes to properly channel the spirit of the skin. Magic-suers must know the nature of the Withcing Skin (detect magic will usually suffice) and Read Magic will allow use of the captured spells.

Drinking of Blood- up to three times a day a Sarker may drink the blood of another and will immediately recover 2hp per HD/Level of the blood of the creature it is drinking. If the creature is still alive it will bleed to seat gunless it  makes a save vs death. It takes but 3 minutes to cut , drink, and heal.

Eating of the Heart- if a Sarker eats the heart of a beast the darker gains all the resistance and immunities of the beast when wearing the skin of the same species. This lasts until the skin is removed or the Sarker drinks the blood or consumes other organs of another beast/monster.

Eating of The Eyes if a Sarker eats the eyes of a the same typ e of beast as a skin begin worn the vision of the monster/beast is gained until the skin is removed or blood of another monster is consumed.



Weapon Proficiencies and Armor:  Sarkers may use weapons as a fighter but disdain the use of armor aside from the skins they prepare themselves (no shields allowed).
Combat Abilities and Saves: Sarkers attack and Save as a Fighter of the same level
Magic Item Use: the Sarker may use all magic items allowed to Fighters and Magic-Users.

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DMing notes.
Allow a Sarker to start with a 1 HD skin or nor depending on the danger level of a campaign. Acquiring new and better skins is an excellent motivation for a would-be monster hunter.

Be aware most monsters don’t like bumping into someone wearing the skin of a member of their species and very intelligent creatures will see a Sarker as an obvious danger that may be seeking to steal their skin.