By: Aaron Turpen

[Adapted to AD&D rules from Stephen King's "The Dark Tower" series, featuring the Gunslinger, (C) 1991 Stephen King.]

This adaptation is for AD&D 2nd edition rules. It is a modified fighter/thief with adaptations from the Monk rules in 1st edition AD&D.

In my opinion, it is a well-balanced and fun to role-play class. Especially if you run or are playing in a predominantly evil or wasted world. I have played this class in the Dark Sun, Ravenloft, and two home-made settings. It fit well. Although a few adaptations may need to be made in some circumstances.

The Slinger is a character who sees the world in a unique way.

Most Slingers are Neutral Good, but any good alignment is accepable. Slingers have tendencies towards quiet, thoughtful natures and are rarely outspoken. When a Slinger speaks, however, most people listen. They carry with them an aura of authority, though they rarely use this.

Slingers generally think of themselves in the third person and rarely, if ever, show feeling or emotion. This is not to say they are unemotional, just that those emotions are deadened or unpronounced.

Most Slingers are proceeding through life with a goal-be it defined or not. Many have lost siblings, parents, etc. early on in their life and are searching for a meaning. Many others are on a quest they don't realize or that has been fated to them. A Slinger without a goal is a thief without hands. She is no longer a Slinger.

People who encounter a Slinger usually have the same reaction.

They think of this person is a quiet, thoughtful, and perhaps dangerous person. A Slinger is something to behold in movement-just to watch them walking is to watch a ballet of grace in motion. A Slinger is combat is even more impressive. The fluidity and seeming absent-mindedness of his movements is remarkable. He is a virtual opera of flying daggers and quiet movement.

Slingers are trained from a young age, usually by another, higher-level Slinger. It is rare to find more than three pupils to the teacher and even rarer for a Slinger to sell his or her teachings to another. Many of these, as before mentioned, are orphaned or abandoned.

The training involved to become a Slinger has, more than once, killed the pupil. The physical training is intense and the mental training is exhausting. Upon graduation (1st level), a Slinger is sent into the world with only the two special daggers his teacher has given him. These daggers will stay with this person for the rest of their life and are commonly passed on to a child or favorite pupil when the Slinger has reached the last stage of his life.

Aignment: Any Good align. only.

Race: Human only.

Prime Requisites:	Dexterity 14
	Wisdom 9
	Constitution 12
	Charisma 13

Dexterity Bonus (16+)

+10% ExP

+1 dagger/round at 3rd and another at 9th.

+2% to Thieving Abilities per level.

Constitution Bonus (16+)

16: +1 HP

17: +2 HP

18: +3 HP

Base Thieving Abilities

Hide in Shadows: 10%

Move Silently: 15%

Detect Noise: 10%

+5%/level up to 90%

Attributes

+1 on all saving throws against magic.

Aversion to magic with a 20% failure rate when using magical items. (See Dwarf race notes for more information on details) that are not daggers or related.

If "backstabbing" a victim (attacking while sleeping, unawares, etc.), suffers a -50% (1/2) to damage roll.

Cannot use written magical items.

Cannot wear any armor above studded leather.

Secret/Special language is the High Speech. Can communicate with other Slingers using this language. Some intelligent, good aligned, animals and monsters understand this as well.

Dagger attacks gain a +1 to damage.

Cannot own more than six magical items.

Saves as a Rogue of like level.

Attacks (rolls) as a Fighter of like level.

Level	Experience	HD	Title	Special Abilities
1	0	1d8	Maggot
2	1,200	2d8	Grunt
3	2,400	3d8	Grunt	3 daggers/round
4	4,800	4d8	Runt
5	12,000	5d8	Man	Permanent 30% Find Traps, Hunger & thurst have no effect until deadly
6	24,000	6d8	Man
7	48,000	7d8	Man
8	90,000	8d8	Man
9	168,000	9d8	Slinger	5 daggers/round, Receive Ka
10	348,000	9d8+2	Slinger
11	528,000	9d8+4	Slinger
12	708,000	9d8+6	Protector	Heal 1d4 pts/day on self/other
13	888,000	9d8+8	Protector
14	1,068,000	9d8+10	Protector
15	1,248,000	9d8+12	Ka-Slinger	Daggers become 1d8 damage
16	1,428,000	9d8+14	Ka-Slinger
17	1,608,000	9d8+16	Ka-Slinger
18	1,788,000	9d8+18	Ka-Slinger	Immune to all poisons, suffer no aging effects (except death, of course)
19	1,968,000	9d8+20	Ka-Slinger
20	2,148,000	9d8+20	Ka-Slinger	+1d10 x 5 to life expectancy

The Father

Though a Slinger may be an orphan, or a castaway, that Slinger always has a Father. The one who trained the Slinger will always be considered that Slinger's Father. To go against the honor of the Slinger is to deface one's Father. This is the lowest crime a Slinger can commit. Death and violence are an intricate part of the Slinger's life. The pain and suffering of others is not. Slingers are honored in battle by the warrior classes in both song and story for their chivalry and adeptness in battle.

A Slinger in battle is a sight to behold and the songs the Slinger sings of his or her Father are legends in their own right. When a Slinger falls in battle, they are honored by others with the sober ceremonies usually only reserved for Kings and Paladins. When a Slinger falls in battle and another Slinger is present, no burial right is done by the Slinger's peer. The dead Slinger's daggers are taken and destroyed. They cannot kill again. It would be dishonor to the Slinger's Father for those weapons to cause pain when the wielder who spent his life with them can no longer use them.

The Ka

The Slinger believes and is directly tied to a belief in the Ka. The Ka is an ancient word in the High Speech which means "Circle of Life." All things: birth, life, death, pain, happiness, love, hate, are a part of the Ka. Gods exist as part of the Ka. Man exists as part of the Ka. Evil and Good are parts of the Ka. Everything in the universe moves in circles, from the highest Sun to the lowliest flake of sand. Nothing can disturb the Ka, nothing can change it. It is the fundamental universal law. The person who moves with his personal Ka will have harmony and simpleness. One who moves against the Ka will have strife and discord. Finding the path of your Ka takes many years. When it is reached, the Slinger will understand everything and have perspective on all. He becomes omnipotent without being all-seeing. He becomes one with his Ka and his Ka becomes him.

Slinger's Chant

"I do not aim with my hand, he who aims with his hand has forgotten the face of his father.

I aim with my eye.

I do not throw with my hand, he who throws with this hand has forgotten the face of his father.

I throw with my mind.

I do not kill with my dagger, he who kills with his dagger has forgotten the face of his father.

I kill with my heart."

[Adapted from page 26, "Waste Lands" by Stephen King, (C) 1991]