A Red & Pleasant Land: The Alice – A New Character Class

I am crap at writing reviews, so instead of writing a review of the marvellous Lamentations of the Flame Princess sandbox supplement titled A Red & Pleasant Land, I will be posting a blog entry for each of its chapters. That will be my way of writing a review of sorts, by showcasing how inspiring reading the book has been to me.

Chapter II of A Red & Pleasant Land is entirely devoted to the description of a new LotFP character class called The Alice. Now instead of merely paraphrasing this chapter (because that's pretty much all you can do with a technical piece such as a new character class), I'll be repurposing The Alice character class for the Monsters & Magic role-playing game, along the lines of what David Rollins has done for D&D 5e.

The Alice
a new character class for Monsters & Magic

Prime Attribute: Dexterity
Physical Hit Points: D4
Mental Hit Points: D10
Starting Money: 3D4×10

As explained in A Red & Pleasant Land, whereas your average adventurer sets out looking for adventure, in the case of Alices, it is actually adventure that seeks them. The Alice is a mysterious magnet for odd occurrences, perplexing phenomena, and extraordinary endeavours.

Restrictions
Alices are human, and from a civilised background.


Alice Traits
✠ Light Armour
✠ Simple 1-Handed Weapons
✠ Tool of the Trade: Choose one particular Game or Musical Instrument
✠ Luck Manipulation (as described in Aperita Arcana)
✠ Read and Write
✠ Exasperation, per the text in A Red & Pleasant Land, but use the Effect Engine instead of rolling the dice, i.e.:

• Difficulty: whatever is causing the exasperation, or a GM-set value (p37 of M&M)
• Minor effect, subtract 5 and read the resulting number on the Exasperation table on p31 of A Red & Pleasant Land
• Major effect, subtract 10 and read the resulting number on the Exasperation table, allow for some leeway
• Extreme effect, let the Alice choose the number on the Exasperation table

Alice Advancements
Each time the Alice levels up, instead of letting the player choose the advancement, have them roll 1D100:

1D100 Roll	Results
01-20	The Alice may choose one of the Monk traits on p17 of M&M as an Advancement
21-70	The Alice may choose one of the Thief traits on p22 of M&M as an Advancement
71-74	per the text of the Alice D100 Level Up Table on p32-33 of A Red & Pleasant Land
75	The Alice gets Recognise Faction or Function of Any Voivodjan Aristocrat as an Advancement
76-79	per the text of the Alice D100 Level Up Table
80	The Alice may replace STR with CHA in a combat roll
81	The Alice gets Identify Drugs & Plants as an Advancement
82	The Alice gets Lie Convincingly as an Advancement
83	per the text of the Alice D100 Level Up Table
84	The Alice gets Voivodjan Etiquette as an Advancement
85-87	per the text of the Alice D100 Level Up Table
88	The Alice gets an extra language as an Advancement
89	The Alice gets Artistic Forgery as an Advancement
90	The Alice gets Appraise Treasure as an Advancement
91-93	The Alice may replace STR with DEX in a combat roll
94	per the text of the Alice D100 Level Up Table
95	The Alice gets Dodge Missiles as an Advancement
96	The Alice gets the Stalwart Defence stance (p42 of M&M) as an Advancement
97-98	The Alice gets Sylvan Sympathy as an Advancement
99-00	The Alice gets Utterly Blasé as an Advancement

As a bonus, I am adding a further sub-class of the Alice, the Goose-boy, devised by yours truly, and inspired by Lúdas Matyi, the Hungarian epic poem written by Mihály Fazekas.

The Goose-Boy
a new Alice sub-class for Monsters & Magic

Secondary Attribute:Wisdom
Starting Money: 5D6

The Goose-boy is the commoner counterpart to the Alice. The Goose-boy starts as a young peasant boy who leads a quiet life but who is severely wronged by some upper-class NPC, and who sets out on an adventure to settle a score with the NPC.

Restrictions
The Goose-boy is a human from the sticks. The player must choose the reason the PC has become a Goose-boy; possible reasons are:

• stolen property
• someone forcibly married his sweetheart
• killed relative

Goose-boy Traits
✠ Light Armour and Shield
✠ 1-Handed Weapons
✠ Country Bumpkin: Choose one particularly lowly profession such as goose boy, pig herder, etc.
✠ Luck Manipulation
✠ Disguise (p23 of M&M)
✠ Exasperation

Goose-boy Advancements
As the Alice above, except:
75 Sense Orb Loc - the Goose-boy may detect the hidden human settlements of Voivodja
84 Exhort the Commoners - the Goose-boy may stir up trouble against the aristocracy
88 Thieves' Cant - the Goose-boy has learnt the secret language of lowlifes
89 Impersonate Trade - the Goose-boy may pass off as a trader or an artisan
90 Rigmarole - the Goose-boy may fast-talk his way pretty much anywhere

If you are using my 13C setting, Goose-boys are agents of the Trickster.