Gladiator
by GrapeApe

Class: Warrior
Tag: GLA

Introduction

In a game like Diablo, I thought creating a variant like the Gladiator would be a natural decision, and easy to adapt...I was wrong! Morgane made the apt comment, “...trying to impose reality on a stylized game that cannot be made realistic.” Well, this is one o’ them cases. I wanted to make the Gladiator true to history, but the brunt of their arsenal simply isn’t available in Diablo (i.e. spears, tridents, nets, leg/arm guards, etc.) Below, the various types of Gladiators are correct, but the equipment they’re allowed to use had to be adapted to fit Diablo (some are fairly close, others...eh...I just threw history out the window ;). I present them as ranks, but in actuality, Gladiators squared off against each other almost regardless of type, with no dominant class.

Items

Base item restrictions change with rank. More on this is found in the Rank section.

Enchantments

Gladiators may use the following enchantments:

Blessed, Bronze, Brutal, Champions, Deadly, Fine, Glorious, Godly, Gold, Heavy, Holy, Iron, Jagged, Knights, Massive, Masters, Grand, Merciless, Ruthless, Saintly, Savage, Sharp, Silver, Steel, Strong, Sturdy, Valiant, Warriors, Bashing, Carnage, Craftsmanship, Haste, Gore, Maiming, Many, Quality, Piercing, Plenty, Puncturing, Readiness, Slaughter, Slaying, Sturdiness, Speed, Swiftness

Uniques
Thracians, Hoplomachuses, Samnites, and Bestiarii must wear Overlord's Helm if found.
The Gryphon’s Claw and Falcon’s Talon are also permissible, but not mandatory.
No other uniques are allowed

Shrines

The crosses that appear on shrines are considered Christian symbols, and the Roman Gladiators will not pray to those shrines.

Spells

NO MAGIC IS ALLOWED! Magic is for ninnies, so no reading of books or scrolls, EXCEPT for town portal scrolls.

Ranks

1) Retiarius
The retiarius, or net fighter, fought with a trident and a net. His fighting strategy was to entangle his opponent in his net and then skewer with the trident. Unlike other Gladiators, the retiarius wore almost no armor.

For clvls 1-4, you are considered a retiarius, and thus only allowed to use a short sword, buckler, and rags.

2)Mermillo
The mermillo, or fish man, was identified by the images of fish that decorated his helm. He fought with a short sword and carried a large, round shield.

For clvls 5-10, you are considered a mermillo, and thus only allowed to use sabre, small shield, quilted or leather armor, and a cap or skull cap.

3) Thracian
The thracian was lightly armored, carrying a very small round shield and a strangely curved sword called a sica. His helmet had a large crest, and he wore leg guards on both legs.

For clvls 11-16, you are considered a thracian, and thus only allowed to use a falchion, buckler, hard or studded leather armor, and a helm.

4) Hoplomachus
In all the books I’ve read, they’ve told me nothin’! Well, the hoplomachus was extremely similar to the Samnite, supposedly, so now I’m going just by a few pictures of this Gladiator type.

For clvls 17-23, you are considered a hoplomachus, and thus only allowed to use a long sword or blade, tower shield, ring mail or chain mail, a full helm, and rings. (A l‘il note about Gladiator armor: NO, they didn’t wear mail suits, or full body leather for that matter, but they did have mail leg and arm guards, so the mail shirts are allowed just for ease of playing.)

5) Samnite
The samnites were heavily armored (comparatively; not by Diablo standards), wearing a visored helmet with a high crest, leather or metal bands around their arms, a large rectangular shield, and a straight sword called a gladius, from which the word Gladiator was derived.

For clvls 24-31, you are considered a samnite, and thus only allowed to use a claymore, blade, or long sword, a tower shield, scale, ring or chain mail, a great helm, rings and amulets.

6) Bestiarius
This one probably deviates the most out of all of the ranks, but for high clvl, I think it’s necessary. The bestiarius was an animal fighter, specially trained for that purpose. They wore only a simple linen tunic, and carried a long spear, but bows, swords, and shield were not uncommon. They were looked down upon even by other Gladiators, but IMO, their ‘job’ was the toughest, and most life threatening. In man vs. man battles, there was a chance to live if you fought well, but it was life or death for the Bestiarius.

For clvls 32 and up, you are considered a bestiarius, and thus allowed to use a short sword, sabre, falchion, long sword, blade, claymore, or broadsword, short bow, hunters bow, short war bow, short battle bow, a tower shield, a breast plate, great helm, rings and amulets.

When you attain the Bestiarius status, additional suffixes are permissible. The following are animals that Bestiarii actually fought in the arena, that’s why I’m allowing them: Lion, Tiger, Bear, Mammoth, wolf, fox, and jaguar.

“Morituri te salutamus!”

Comments from Morgane

Retarius means fisherman, and he often fought Mermillo the fish man. (you can see the great potential for fun here) Retarii were a source of debate among Romans for centuries, some felt they were the best and most skilled, others felt they sucked. I think that individuals were or were not great Retarii. But then, I've never seen a live one.

The Thracian's Sica was a favourite weapon of assassins too. I've read about them hiding these swords in their left armpit and in fresh fish. Good thing it was not the same guy, and on the same day.

Hoplomachus were often Greek mercenaries or fighters dressed up as them. They represent Greek Hoplite troops and were meant to compliment Samnites who represented Roman troops.

You might wish to add the Postulati. The Postulati were such good gladiators that they got to use their own fighting style and equipment. For an example of equipment, the most famous Postulati (I can't remember his name) fought in half-plate wearing an iron mask and using two maces . The title was usually awarded after a lengthy and distingushed career. Often, they were offered freedom and citizenship. Usually they accepted the title but refused freedom to avoid retirement and taxes. In any case, they were sometimes richer and more powerful than their owners.

As far as a Postulati for your Gladiator class I feel the ban on magic should stand even for him. Using magic in a gladiator fight would be cheating. Besides, it's the crowd's job to cast the spells - it's their money riding on the fight ; )

Reply from GrapeApe

I haven't seen anything about the Postulati before, but if you know enough about them to expand on the ranks, go for it!