Choose the character class your character will begin the game as. This will decide the character’s standing in society, his or her money, educational resources and access to special training and abilities. Character classes can change in the course of the game (see Character Advancement, p.140).
Many character classes have special advantages and disadvantages that are only available to members of that character class. Some of these special advantages and disadvantages are mandatory. Others are optional (PCs can spend points or get points by taking them).
A few character classes have special skills that only members of that class can buy. They are bought with skill points, the same as regular skills (see p.93).
character creation
064
Character Classes in Brief
Aristocrat: Wealthy land owner and noble, making dangerous deals with the Chinese.
Ascetic: Homeless monk, having given up all property and status, traveling and begging for food.
Astrologer: Learned scholar, making astrological predictions about medicine, magic and the future.
Bön Priest: A priest of the magic-heavy pre-Buddhist religion, seeking enlightenment and power.
Craftsperson: Respected creator and restorer of traditional clothing, houses, holy and secular art.
Dobdob: Monastic police officer, soldier and bodyguard, molded from a violent and uncontrollable child.
Doctor: A learned practitioner of traditional Tibetan herbal, magical and humoural medicine.
Farmer: A simple peasant working the land, the heart of central Tibetan culture and economy.
Foreigner: A person from outside Tibet who has become caught up in Tibet’s struggle.
Gesar Bard: Tellers of the saga of King Gesar, which has magic powers when told.
Kagyupa Monk: Male or female monk from a sect known for skills in divination and use of the body-heat tantra.
Merchant: Traveling businessperson, amassing wealth, trading and selling goods of all kinds.
Mirror Gazer: Born with the innate ability to stare in to a mirror and see other places and times.
Nomad: One of the fierce nomadic tribes, most of whom are currently at war with the Chinese.
Nyingmapa Monk: Male or female monk from the most ancient and shamanistic Buddhist sect.
Oracle: Able to call powerful gods & spirits down to speak through him or her.
Revenant: Sent back from hell with powers and the mission to warn others of hell’s suffering.
Sakyapa Monk: Male or female monk from a Buddhist sect that stresses logic and the tantra.
Savage: Primitive hunter and warrior from secluded rainforest valleys at the foot of the Himalayas.
Sorcerer: Using knowledge of malevolent magical rituals for pay and for personal gain.
Treasure Finder: Able to find holy objects and sacred texts hidden throughout Tibet and beyond.
Unclean: Families of butchers, blacksmiths and morticians able to withstand dangerous bad karma.
Weathermaker: Uses secret rituals to control the weather for good or ill, often trained in monasteries.
White Robe- Lay tantric practitioner, using secret family rituals, skilled in sorcery & exorcism.
Yellow Hat Monk: From the “reformed” conservative Buddhist sect currently ruling the country.
In Brief- Choose the PC’s place in Tibetan society.
character class
065
Aristocrat
This is a young man or woman from a wealthy land-owning family, one of Tibet’s minor nobility. The PC’s family owns a large estate of farm or pastureland.
Farmers or nomads live on the land and pay taxes to the family.
Nobility in Tibet comes from three basic sources:
Those whose ancestors were gifted with noble rank because of actions in the service of Tibet (largest group).
Those whose ancestors were the parents of one of the Dalai Lamas.
Those whose ancestors were monarchs in Tibet before the Mongol rule (smallest group).
Aristocrats have a strong relationship with the Tibetan government. Aristocrats are expected to raise private militias to assist the Tibetan army in military ventures.
Aristocrats are responsible for adjudicating criminal and civil legal matters that happen on their lands. Aristocrats can punish tenants with a fine, with stocks, with flogging or with short periods of imprisonment.
Members of aristocratic families have several career options. Some go to the finance office in Lhasa (see Structure of the Tibetan Government, p.41) to be trained to be government officials. Some aristocrats manage family estates as stewards. Other aristocrats make money by trading and investing family money. Some aristocrats do nothing useful. They spend their days socializing, playing games, going on trips and having picnics.
The Tibetan aristocracy as a whole has formed a dangerous pact with the Chinese. In
order to prevent their participation in the rebellion the Chinese have allowed the aristocracy to keep their wealth and some of their power.
A few aristocrats continue to live life as they always have. These aristocrats are oblivious to the fact that Chinese Communism is incompatible with a land-owning nobility. They are unaware that on their distant estates the Chinese are brainwashing, arresting, starving and displacing people. They enjoy the pleasures of Lhasa, unprepared for the coming storm.
Most Tibetans, even aristocrats, are practical people. Most aristocrats are preparing for the worst. They travel to their estates to help deal with the chaos.
They arrange to have wealth shipped to India. Some stockpile weapons and forge contacts with rebel leaders, preparing
to fight against the Chinese.
Skills
Skill Costs: Combat 9, Crafts 5, Divination 5, Exorcism 8, Folk Knowledge 6, Medicine 6, Scholarship 6, Sorcery 13, Tantra 15, Travel 5, Weathermaking 11, Western Knowledge 9.
Money- 3500 Srang + 100 per month.
Special Bonus Characteristics- There are several ranks that distinguish aristocrats. They can be bought with Bonus Points by aristocrat characters.
Shebpang (Optional Advantage, Costs 6 BP): City judge, this is a rank awarded to aristocrats who live in large towns.
It provides extra income (+50 Srang per month) and the responsibility to decide important civil and criminal cases.
PCs get Tibetan Law (3 levels) free.
Kung (Optional Advantage, Costs 3 BP): These are descendents of the father of an incarnation of the Dalai Lama.
This noble rank is only carried by men and can only be passed down to one son. If a family has no sons, they may adopt a boy or adult male to pass the rank down to.
Dza-Sas (Optional Advantage, Costs 8 BP): This title is awarded by the Tibetan government for special services to Tibet. It can be awarded either to a monk or a lay person.
This rank can be awarded to non-aristocrats for some great heroic act and will instantly promote them to the ranks of nobility. Dza-Sas can choose to enter the Kashag (national assembly).
Suggested Skills- Archery, Etiquette, Gambling, Tibetan Law, Literacy, Oratory, Trading.
Suggested Equipment- Bow: Long, Dalai Lama Amulet, Chuba (Fine), Hat (Fox-Skin), Horse, Khata.
Suggested Reading- Aristocratic Life (p.13), Government
& Law (p.41).
Srang- Tibetan currency, in coins or printed on paper notes. Srang coins are accepted throughout Tibet.
In Brief- Wealthy land owner and noble, making dangerous deals with the Chinese.
Ascetic
Most Buddhist monasteries own retreat caves.
Advanced monks, who feel they would benefit from such practice, go to these caves for ascetic retreats.
Here, they sit in complete isolation, meditating and praying. Younger monks are charged with bringing food to the ascetics but are not allowed to speak to them. Monks also have the option of becoming ascetic beggars. Rather than cutting themselves off from the trials and hardships of normal life they put themselves in complete submission to those trials and hardships. The disadvantage is that an ascetic beggar experiences many more distractions than a cave-bound monk. The advantage is that the ascetic beggar can do good works. Ascetic beggars also help the community by emanating good karma.
Tibetans know that they will gain good karma by giving donations to, feeding or otherwise aiding an ascetic. Illiterate Tibetans in the countryside often invite traveling ascetics to stay the night. In the evening the ascetics read the families’ holy books to them. The ascetics sleep in the families’ temple rooms
Some smaller Buddhist sects require ascetic practice from their students. The most famous of these sects is the Thul Shugs sect. Thul Shugs has a code of asceticism that is based on the sect’s philosophy. The heart of their practice is to realize the impermanence of everything and cultivate perfect indifference towards everything except the suffering of other beings. Another similar sect called Zhidegpa mixes codes of asceticism with use of the death tantra (p.105). Practitioners use human thighbone trumpets, skull drums and other items made from corpses. These items are produced in tantric rituals which include eating small bits of human flesh. The morbid theme reminds people that life is impermanent and to encourage the death of self-identity and all the attachments that go with it.
Ascetic beggars have given up all property, all housing, all family relations, all status and political power. Each day they wake up with no idea what they will eat or where they will sleep, yet they feel no anxiety over this. Their equipment is simple.
Most carry a begging bowl. Some may carry a staff with jingling rings (to drown out the sounds of the mundane world). Other items ascetics may carry are a food bowl, a knife (as a multipurpose tool) and
small charms and ritual items.
Special Equipment- PCs start with free Beggar’s Staff (1½ blunt damage, range 3) and Begging Bowl.
Skills
Free Skills: Indifference (2)
Skill Costs: Combat 11, Crafts 8, Divination 7, Exorcism 7, Folk Knowledge 7, Medicine 7, Scholarship 11, Sorcery 12, Tantra 9, Travel 7, Weathermaking 11, Western Knowledge 17.
Money- 50 Srang + 2 per month.
Starting Karma- PC starts with +20 to current KMA.
Suggested Skills- Breath Yoga, Fire Yoga, Literacy, Omen Reading.
Suggested Equipment- Fire Yoga Garment.
Suggested Reading- City Life (p.12), Buddhism (p.33), Tantra (p.38), Enlightenment (p.166), Mad Saints (p.183).
character creation
066
In Brief- Homeless monk, having given up all property and status, traveling and begging for food.
character class
067
Astrologer
Almost every village and monastery has someone with a detailed knowledge of astrology. These experts are paid to consult with clients on a great number of matters. People travel from miles around to consult with astrologers, both lay and monastic. Clients pay fees or give gifts worth anywhere from 20 to 500 Srang.
Astrologers give clients information on the best times to begin a risky endeavor, the causes of misfortune, the compatibility of a couple for marriage, the proper way to dispose of a body (see p.17) and the physical location of one’s life force spirit. Astrologers can also discover bubbles of bad karma from previous lifetimes that may suddenly interfere with the client’s life. Astrologers are also paid to draw up a life chart for a client. These charts are a calendar of the client’s future, showing upcoming periods of good luck and bad luck and telling what type of luck it is (e.g. luck in business, luck in love, etc.). By studying their charts, Tibetans can decide the best time to attempt an endeavor.
Professional astrologers do not use just one form of astrology. Their predictions are a careful deduction based on information provided by the newer system of zodiac astrology (imported from India) and the older indigenous elemental system of astrology. Most astrologers know non-astrological forms of divination which they can also use to supplement their readings.
Through careful detective work, a good astrologer can piece together these streams of information into an incredibly accurate picture of the future, present or past.
Skills
Free Skills: Elemental Astrology (3), Zodiac Astrology (2)
Skill Costs: Combat 12, Crafts 6, Divination 3, Exorcism 7, Folk Knowledge 5, Medicine 7, Scholarship 10, Sorcery 15, Tantra 15, Travel 8, Weathermaking 12, Western Knowledge 15.
Money- 1250 Srang + 50 per month.
Suggested Skills- Omen Reading, Protective Mantras, Simple Divination.
Suggested Equipment- Boots, Chuba (Common), Divination Cards, Pen & Ink.
Suggested Reading- Astrology (p.29), Divination (p.30).
Bön Priest
This is an ordained practitioner of the Bön church.
Bön priests have a lifestyle similar to Buddhist monks.
They spend much of their time studying Bön tantra and scholarship in monasteries and in small Bön communities. They are celibate until they gain a certain rank in the church, then they may choose to marry. Even more than Buddhist monks, Bön priests are respected by villagers for their proficiency in the arts of exorcism, funerary rites, weathermaking and sometimes sorcery.
Bön priests will spend much of their time traveling to villages to perform these skills in exchange for money or trade goods.
Bön has two ways. The first, older way, teaches how to solve worldly problems through the use of magical rituals. The second, newer way, teaches how to achieve enlightenment, though tantras that closely resemble (and in some cases are exactly same as) those taught in the Buddhist sects.
Some practitioners are attracted to Bön for the magical powers. These priests are likely to be enamored with tales of ancient Bön practitioners, who could fly around on drums and could travel to the hells to protect their charges. Others are attracted to Bön for the quest for enlightenment, and these are not afraid to study under Bön or Buddhist teachers.
Skills
Skill Costs: Combat 13, Crafts 7, Divination 5, Exorcism 5, Folk Knowledge 7, Medicine 6, Scholarship 10, Sorcery 8, Tantra 9, Travel 8, Weathermaking 7, Western Knowledge 16.
Money- 1500 Srang + 50 per month.
Starting Karma- PC starts with +10 to current KMA.
Suggested Skills- Breath Yoga, Fire Exorcism, Drum Divination, Meditation, Simple Curses, Sucking Exorcism, Weather Propitiation.
Suggested Equipment- Boots, Ceremonial Arrow, Fire Starter, Monk’s Robes, Two-Headed Drum.
Suggested Reading- Dark Ages (p.6), Bön (p.32), Tantra (p.38).
In Brief- Learned scholar, making astrological
predictions about medicine, magic and the future. In Brief- A priest of the magic-heavy pre-Buddhist religion, seeking enlightenment and power.
Craftsperson
This is a professional in some traditional craft. This person’s skill gives him or her a respected place in society. Craftspeople are part of the Tibetan equivalent of a middle class. They have no real social power but they make enough money to live comfortably.
Lay craftspeople who produce saleable goods live in cities and trading towns. They peddle their goods to merchants or sell them directly from road-side stalls. Lay craftspeople who do painting, architecture and masonry will make the rounds of monasteries and noble estates.
They are paid and given room and board. The craftspeople split their time between creating new crafts and restoring old ones. For example, a painter may stay a few weeks at an aristocrat’s mansion, touching up the faded paintings and adding a few new ones.
Monastic craftspeople (must buy Monastic Rank, p.136) are monks who have undergone basic Buddhist training, but have chosen to be trained in a craft rather than advanced Buddhist practice. Monastic craftspeople spend most of their time producing for the monastery they live in. They are given an allowance by the monastery.
If a nearby aristocratic estate or monastery has a major project, a monastic craftsperson may be hired out.
Craftspeople in Tibet may achieve respect (especially if they become teachers) but not fame. All crafts (especially those with religious importance) have exact proscribed dimensions. Painters of buddhas, for example, must learn the exact ratios of every part of each buddha’s anatomy and must learn to replicate them exactly in each painting.
Thus, professional craftspeople are respected for their exactness, not their personal creativity.
Craftspeople typically wear a single long earring.
Skills
Skill Costs: Combat 12, Crafts 3, Divination 8, Exorcism 9, Folk Knowledge 6, Medicine 8, Scholarship 9, Sorcery 15, Tantra 15, Travel 8, Weathermaking 13, Western Knowledge 15.
Money- 1250 Srang + 60 per month.
Suggested Skills
For architects: Architecture, Blacksmithing, Carving For bookmakers: Carving, Literacy, Painting, Printing, Trading.
For painters: Painting, Printing, Textiles, Trading.
For sculptors: Blacksmithing, Carving, Architecture, Trading.
For tailors: Tailoring, Textiles, Trading.
Suggested Equipment
For architects: Carving Tools.
For bookmakers: Book Making Materials.
For painters: Brushes & Paints.
For sculptors: Carving Tools.
For tailors: Cloth, Loom, Sewing Needle.
Suggested Reading- Dress (p.13), Housing (p.17), City Life (p.12).
character creation
068
In Brief- Respected creator and restorer of traditional clothing, houses, holy and secular art.
character class
069
Dobdob
This is a police officer for a monastery. Most Dobdobs live in huge monasteries that are the size of cities. These cities have a complex
internal bureaucracy and monks taking on all sorts to benefit from traditional Buddhist training, they were selected to become Buddhism, including the basic monks’ oaths, even if they know very little of Buddhist meditation and philosophy.
Dobdobs are sometimes called black monks. In some monasteries the Dobdobs dress just like normal monks. In other monasteries they wear a black stripe on their forehead and around their right arm to signify their status. Some Dobdobs model themselves after the wrathful aspects of dharmapalas, trying to look their monks’ robes stiff with grease and ash.
The first responsibility of Dobdobs is to maintain corporal punishment. The wiser Dobdobs investigate crimes committed within monasteries.
Dobdobs are also the first line of military defense for any monastery. Every monastery possesses at least a few rifles, kept for defense from bandits, and the Dobdobs are trained to use them.
Dobdobs are also bodyguards for lamas when they travel outside of the monastery.
They can also be hired out as bodyguards for aristocrats.
Dobdobs are trained in are his escort when he travels long distances). The dobdobs protect the Dalai Lama from over-eager crowds. They use their whips to keep people at a distance.
Skills
Skill Costs: Combat 4, Crafts 8, Divination 12, Exorcism 12, Folk Knowledge 7, Medicine 14, Scholarship 15, Sorcery 15, Tantra 17, Travel 10, Weathermaking 15, Western Knowledge 15.
Suggested Reading- Dark Ages (p.6), Monastic Life (p.10), Dharmapalas (p.23), Government and Law (p.41).
In Brief- Monastic police officer, soldier and bodyguard, molded from a violent and uncontrollable child.
Doctor
This is a practitioner of traditional Tibetan medicine.
Tibetan medicine is a conglomeration of Tibetan folk beliefs and scholarly learning brought in from China and India. Indian medicine borrowed heavily from Classical Greek humoural medicine. The doctor will have been trained in a medical university (the most prominent being Chagpori in Lhasa) for at least 7 years. Most medical colleges are affiliated with monasteries and there are both lay and monastic doctors. Lay doctors own small clinics in a city, seeing patients and living as part of Tibet’s middle class. Aristocrats may have personal doctors who can be lay or monastic.
Doctors use a variety of methods to cure patients:
-Divination to diagnose.
-Herbs and humoural medicine to treat diseases.
-Buddhist mantras to alleviate pain and speed healing.
-Thread cross ceremonies to call back life force spirits.
-Exorcism if the problem is caused by a malevolent spirit.
Many doctors also make pilgrimages to the places where the most powerful medicinal herbs grow. They know exactly when and how to harvest these herbs in order to preserve their complete medicinal power.
Skills
Free Skills: Herbalism (3), Humoural Medicine (2).
Skill Costs: Combat 12, Crafts 6, Divination 5, Exorcism 4, Folk Knowledge 6, Medicine 3, Scholarship 6, Sorcery 12, Tantra 12, Travel 8, Weathermaking 13,
Western Knowledge 13.
Money- 2750 Srang + 60 per month.
Starting Karma- PC starts with +5 to current KMA.
Suggested Skills- Elemental Astrology, Exorcism, Literacy, Mirror Gazing, Sucking Exorcism, Thread Crosses, various Medicine skills.
Suggested Equipment- Books (various medical skills), Boots, Ceremonial Arrow, Chuba (Common), Dolma Pill, Herbs (Various), Medical Charm.
Suggested Reading- Protection (p.26), Medicine (p.29), Divination (p.30).
character creation
070
The Trouble With Dobdobs
Dharmapalas were once powerful demons, beings of rage and violence. Knowing that they could not be destroyed or permanently restrained, the ancient Buddhist teachers bound them to oaths to only use their violence to protect Buddhist and Bön teachings and the Tibetan people. Dobdobs are based on the same
Dharmapalas were once powerful demons, beings of rage and violence. Knowing that they could not be destroyed or permanently restrained, the ancient Buddhist teachers bound them to oaths to only use their violence to protect Buddhist and Bön teachings and the Tibetan people. Dobdobs are based on the same