The Luchador (PFRPG) PDF

The Luchador is a classbook by Drop Dead Studios, penned by the great designer Michael Sayre. It is a hybrid class mixing the monk and the vigilante. I must confess I had great expectations about this book, being a proud Mexican and an ex-big fan of Lucha Libre (it has lost some of its charm), so how does this book fare against my spoiled-brat hopes? Lessee!

What’s inside?
19 pages of content for 5 bucks (great rate IMHO), which include:

-The Luchador hybrid base class: Mixing the thematic parts of both classes, the author creates a wrestling specialist that wouldn’t be possible in core rules. They have a similar chassis, having d8 HD plus medium BAB, good Fortitude and Reflex saves, 6 skill points with an ample enough list for the Luchador to be many things, especially the face of the group; the “weakness” of the class is the weapon/armor proficiency, getting nothing beyond simple weapons proficiency (not that it matters if you can wrestle with a chimera like in the awesome cover). From the Monk, the Luchador inherits improved unarmed strike and better unarmed damage that goes up with level, Charisma-based AC bonus, plus some others, like a ki pool, opened by the class’ talents. From the Vigilante, the Luchador gets a variant of dual identity that is less superhero-esque (not that of a big deal if someone knows your real identity), plus Social and Stable talents.

As new toys, the luchador gets Skillful Combatant, which in a Monk-y fashion treats the luchador as a full BAB class for CMB and CMD. They also get a kind of mini-archetype, the Stable, which gives the Luchador a real-world theme and access to some exclusive talents, the stables being Freestyle (the most Lucha-esque of the bunch), Oil Wrestling (from Turkish tradition) and Sumo (big-man Japanese wrestling). Having watched all three, I would say that the author is stretching the concept of a Luchador to the limit, but OK. Corazon (Spanish for “heart”), is another ability that is unique to the Luchador, and is kind of a status. While not part of Lucha Libre, this ability sounds a lot like Face from Kung Fu movies and can be poached for other classes like Monks, Samurai, and Yakuza (any really). Not having Corazon makes a lot of the class talents work in a limited fashion. Submission Specialist is another new toy, which increases grappling damage but only when going nonlethal. Aerial Takedown improves the Luchador’s jumps and adds the option to grapple at the end of a charge, even flying creatures! Finally, as a capstone the Luchador gets DR 10/-, Fast Healing 1, and doesn’t suffer from physical penalties when aging. Also, they get access to unique Social and Stable talents, the latter having unique tricks for Free Stylers, Oil Wrestlers and Sumotoris. Also, each flavor of Luchador gets access to one talent that prevents victims of escaping your grapple via teleportation, which is a really nice adition to the Luchador’s arsenal.

-8 Luchador Archetypes: Blood Breakers forget about doing nonlethal damage in exchange for getting mutagens (Bane anyone?). Dancing Dervishes are powerful dance fighters who get exclusive toys… based on a skill check (we all know you can increase these checks through the roof); cool archetype but should have gotten a special caveat preventing skill-enhancements. Earthbound are slow wrestlers who exchange the high-flying flair of Lucha for a more stoic, immobable style, getting the Staltwart Defense ability of, well, Staltwart Defenders, and get some other modifications including a more thematically-appropriate capstone. Ki Strikers are high-fantasy warriors who get Elemental Fist for free and some blasty powers in exchange for raw damage and some stable talents, very fighting game-y (thumbs up). Lichadors… get closer to undead, losing Stable to get some unliving resistances; nstead of increasing their nonlethal damage, their touch channels positive energy (which can’t heal) and is treated as ghost touch, so you can wrestle with zombies or even ghosts! They also get access to some very dark and flavorful talents and as a capstone they become Liches! An excellent archetype in all but name. Masked Beasts borrow the Animal Focus ability of hunters in a limited fashion, and also battle with savage natural attacks instead of the more martial art-sy of other Luchadors, and can even wild-shape like druids! Masked Saint was a must, and while they lose the increased nonlethal damage, they get access to Lay on Hands and some mercies like a Paladin, plus the weapon bond ability with their unarmed strike, culminating with a more thematic capstone. Finally, Rudos (Lucha Libre’s heels) are heartless ruffians, meaning no Corazon, who instead of a Stable have a lackey that helps them in their fights, treated as a cohort from a class that can fight unarmed (mostly Monks, Brawlers and other Luchadors). The author shows his research, since in Lucha Libre, Rudos can (and Dios do they do) enter the ring and help their comrades, while Tecnicos (the good guys) can’t.

-21 Favored Class Bonus: In the author’s fashion, instead of a boring list of bonuses, each of the 21 (!) races get a short but flavorful paragraph describing the Luchador’s role in their community.

-15 Feats: This section includes 13 combat feats which open new options in combat, some of which can be built upon by the Luchador’s talents feats. Interestingly, some use an attack of opportunity as part of the cost of doing a maneuver. I particularly liked the Tag Team feat, being something you see in team wrestling all the time. The two non-combat feats are Masked Intentions, which gives a generous bonus to both Bluff and Sense Motive for characters who qualify, and Dragon Tatoos, which basically make you (and your unarmed strikes) enchantable. Another good thing of most feats is that they CAN be used by other characters, Monks in particular, and that is always a good thing.

-5 normal equipment: two Luchador masks which basically feel like normal and masterwork, 2 folding weapons common in pro-wrestling (not so much in Lucha), and wrestling oil, all complementing part of the Luchador arsenal.

-7 magical items: 4 masks, one for each side of Lucha Libre (Rudo and Tecnico), and two based on real-life legendary Luchadors Blue Demon and El Santo, Luchador Boots and a Vial of Renewing Oil

Of Note: The idea of merging the Monk and the Vigilante in one class is nutty, but pulling it out in a flavourful and technical way is IMHO an epic feat! Even while having grown surrounded by Lucha movies and shows, it never occurred to me to mix RPGs with Lucha (except that one time we played Marvel Super Heroes card game and I played El Santo).

Anything wrong?: There is enough substance in Lucha Libre that adding Sumo or Oil Wrestling was not necessary, but is not a bad thing. But I would have preferred little people wrestling, Exoticos (flamboyant gay gay wrestlers), an “evil” wrestling villian archetype (heels/rudos like Psicosis or El Satanico), and maybe a monster hunter archetype (having seen many El Santo vs what-have-you, this one is a must), and maybe a referee bard :D (like the mythic and polemic El Tirantes, who even has his son, El Tirantes Jr., as a fellow referee). I was also expecting some kind of interaction with performance feats, but I think I can do that on my own (maybe just treat unarmed strikes and unarmed combat maneuvers be considered performance weapon, thus granting a +2 to the Performance Combat check and… voilá!).

What I want: As I mentioned above, an Exotico archetype, a little people (small race) archetype, and maybe an “evil” version of the Masked Saint. Maybe some unique masks that give specific abilities that are worth adventuring for (El Santo was not always El Santo, and in one movie, he gives his “powers” to his son by giving him his mask!), maybe a bloodline-like archetype for all these Jr. and the second/the third wrestlers. A “personal move” rule for iconic, unique locks, holds, throws and all that. And maybe a recommended bibliography/filmography for people who want to know more about Lucha or just get inspiration sources for Lucha adventures.

What cool things did this inspire?: The masks I mentioned before, and some Luchador achievement feats that give you a title (like El/La Something) for achieving something awesome. I remember El Canek, a big (for Mexico’s standards) Mexican wrestler who did the epic feat of lifting Andre the Giant, something not even WWE wrestlers did! He still wrestled beyond his 60’s! I’m also adding the Luchador to the classes in my fantasy modern Mexico campaign.

Do I recommend it?: If you are reading this review it is because you are already intrigued by the idea of having Luchadors in an RPG. In that case, I wholeheartedly recommend it! If you are here with the idea of adding more flair to the grappling rules, you CAN poach a lot of things from this book, maybe doing a Vigilante sub-specialty or Monk archetype that gives you access to Luchador tricks, or just adding the mystique of the Lucha Mask to your characters. If you like Lucha, this is a five star-shaped world champ belts!

Trivia: There is so much crazy myths surrounding Lucha, like the one that wrestlers use their masks all the time and even marry using them and even their spouses don’t know their secret identities! (though I was married by a wrestler/priest, Fray Tormenta, talk about multiclassing in real life LOL) I often ROFL about that, especially when the person telling me is not Mexican and truly believes those. To them, I share the TRUE gems of Lucha. Like El Vampiro (Velasques?), who before every Lucha went to a mine, collected living bats under his cape, and released them when he entered the ring and the spectators were HORRIFIED (in retrospect, poor bats but oh boy), or a crazy wrestler that started an EFFIN FIRE that consumed the whole Arena! (no one was hurt IIRC). Or in the Lucha movies, where two Luchadors were in brightly colored suits, with capes and masks and all that, and then got on a PINK Ferrari… the one riding shotgun said “slow down, we don’t want unnecessary attention” (I always smile with that scene). THOSE are some of the crazy things that inspire the true flair and flavor of Lucha Libre!

This base-class clocks in at 24 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page ToC, 1 page SRD, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 19 pages of content, so let's take a look!

The luchador class, chassis-wise, receives d8 HD, 6 + Int skills per level, 3/4 BAB-progression, good Fort- and Ref-saves, proficiency with simple weapons and gains basically a monk's unarmored AC-bonus progression, but uses Charisma as governing attribute for it. Similarly unarmed damage increases to 2d10 at 20th level...and yes, Small luchador-damage-table included. First level nets the luchador the vigilante's double identity, with his masked persona being his larger than life luchador personality and thus, discovering his social identity is usually not as big a problem. He also treats his luchador levels as both vigilante and monk levels for the purpose of feat/talent/etc.-qualifications and receives Improved Grapple as a 1st level bonus feat. The luchador also uses his class level instead of his BAB to calculate his CMB and CMD and is treated as having at least Intelligence 13 for the purpose of combat feat prerequisites.

Similarly, at first level, the luchador chooses one of three stables: Freestyle luchadors gain +1 to Acrobatics and Intimidate checks made to demoralize, +1 per every 5 class levels gained, Oil Wrestlers may spend 1 minute preparing themselves to gain +1 to CMD vs. grapple, bull rush, drag, reposition, increasing similarly Disguise faster also decreases the oil application time, which is a nice addition here. Finally, the sumo stable weigh twice as much and may target adversaries of +1 size larger than they usually could with combat maneuvers, with subsequent increases in weight and size categories you can affect. Yep, you could potentially suplex dragons or even the tarrasque. Come on, that is one awesome visual!

The luchador also has a form of social/spiritual clout called Corazon, which is gained at 2nd level; for as long as they have one, they add +1/2 class levels to feint DCs and Intimidate to demoralize DCs. Corazon is lost upon being unmasked, which requires being pinned or the like. Corazon is regained by defeating an opponent of a CR greater or equal than his own sans assistance...or defeat a foe who has previously unmasked him. Starting at 2nd level, they also inflict + Charisma modifier damage whenever they inflict nonlethal damage via unarmed strikes, grapples, etc., +1d6 at 5th level and every 3 levels thereafter, rewarding heroic, good behavior. Like it!

Starting at 3rd level and every 3 levels thereafter, the luchador may select a social talent, with 6 new ones added to the array provided by the vigilante. Some of these have the corazon-descriptor, decreasing their efficiency when the luchador has no corazon left: Ancestral Guidance improves the Knowledge (nobility, hostory and religion)-checks. Mchaismo/Marianismo lets the luchador take 20 on a non-UMD Cha-based check once per day, +1/day at 7th and 15th level (take 15 sans corazon). Shamanic Inheritor lets him 1/week call a shaman of his class level to perform a spell for him (cool) and at 12th level, another talent even may provide a means to be raised from the dead 1/month by such an entity. Stable Master nets you a neat stable income (get it...hahaha...sorry, will put a buck in the bad pun jar later) and The People's Champion provides a chance to be warned of ambushes, plots, etc. in areas where his renown has spread.

4th level provides the aerial takedown class feature, increasing his jumping distance, further improving it by +10 ft. per 4 class levels, allowing for a combination with a charge, grapple at the end, and potentially crash flying creatures to the ground. So cheesy and awesome - I adore it! Also at 4th level and every 3 levels thereafter, the luchador may select a stable talent, which contain the option to wear armor in conjunction with their unarmored AC, swashbuckler poaching (including the Dueling Cape Deed), short-term dazing, immediate AOE-demoralizes after knocking foes out, directing escape attempt, including teleportation, into devastating throws, ki-poaching (including short-term flight)...and so on. There also are amazing stable-exclusives like setting yourself ablaze if you're an oily wrestler, gaining nigh-inescapable sumo-grips, follow up attacks to grapples or trips...or, obviously, gaining a vigilante talent, though this one probably should have a "can be taken multiple times"-caveat.

The talents deserve special mention in particularly when combined with the 15 (unless I miscounted) new feats: Cloak throws that combine feints with grapples and throws, Dragon Style-synergy special charges, gaining a tattoo that lets you enchant your unarmed strikes, Dopkicks, Suplexes, alternate damages caused via Eagle Strikes of the Serpent that double as short-term debuff, combining elemental fists with grapples, eyegouging and nosebreaking and even Tag Team's an option. Why am I talking about the feats now, right in the class discussion? Well, because they are precise, complex, employ concepts you can't usually execute well...and because they help the class gain something you only rarely see: When you take the feats in conjunction with the talents, you can generate an absolutely amazing combo-playstyle that lets you do something different a lot of the time; I have not seen a martial class with this much combo potential often; favorites like Interjection Games' Master of Forms, Assassin or certain Akashic classes or the Swordmaster come to mind - I love this one's options.

The capstone nets DR 10/- and fast healing 1 and eliminates aging ability score penalties.

Beyond the basic set-up of the class, the pdf also features a ton of archetypes, 8 to be more precise: The Blood Breaker gets a mutagen instead of skillful combatant and may select associated discoveries...but I wish its engine had further emphasized this. The Dancing Dervish must Perform (dance) to gain an AC-bonus and instead of the 4th level talent, momentum helps him substitute his check for attacks, with 10th level's whirlwind strike providing this for all attacks, with modified math. Not a big fan of this one; it doesn't click and while the skill vs. CMD with the mods is okay, the matter of fact remains that skills can easily be cheesed. The Earthbound gains the stalwart defender's defensive stance at 4th level, gain a social skill bonus and a capstone, that increases their defensive abilities. Okay tweak of the engine, but could have gone further in my book. The Ki Striker gains Elemental Fist at 1st level, are locked into spiritual power as the 4th level stable talent and may, at higher levels, send forth surges of energy via ki and gain a deadly array of ki-powered strikes at a higher level. I like this one, though it once again could further develop the theme.

The Lichador would be one of my favorites, gaining undead resistances, additional damage versus the undead as well as several unique stable talents - from blood drain to a vargouille's paralyzing shriek (yep, with an end after one attack for balance's sake - thank you!) and high level energy drain/mummy rot or becoming shadowy, the theme of this archetype is amazing and it ALSO changes the engine to play differently LOVE this one! The Masked Beast gains the hunter's animal focus via his totem mask, with different abilities depending on the animal emulated and they also gain a proper natural weapon - codified perfectly and 4th level unlocking wild shape - another definite winner here that radically changes the playstyle! The Masked Saint would be the pala-crossover option. Finally, there would be the rudo - these guys usually are the villains, the heels, the guys you love to hate - masters of dirty tricks and sans corazon. They also gain teamwork feats and an accomplice cohort...and I kinda like the idea here, but considering the loss of power that the lack of corazon provides, I don't really consider these guys perfectly balanced - they can use an upgrade.

I am a HUGE fan of how the pdf handles favored class options: Instead of a bland one-line note of crunch, each race covered also notes the take of the race on the class - and the FCOs are neat and go beyond core: Skybourne's extensive race-catalog receives support here - kudos for going the extra mile!

The pdf also features rules for wrestling oils, two types of masks, steel-backed folding chairs and tables and 7 magic items: Laces that enhance your charging (and prevent embarrassing stumbles), powerful championship belts taht combine deflection bonuses to AC and a bonus to Strength and Con, further enhancing the item's potency when defeating worthy foes (yes, concisely defined). A vial of renewing oil and a total of 4 enchanted masks complement this section. Personally, I'd have priced the belt higher, but that may be me. Amazing: One of the masks provides a means to heal when attacking, but cannot be abused and comes with an appropriate Achilles heel. Two thumbs up!

Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are very good on a formal level, excellent on a rules-language level. The pdf tackles highly complex subject matter and boils it down to concise options. Layout adheres to a solid 2-column, full-color standard and the pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience. The original pieces of full-color artwork are internally consistent and employ Jacob Blackmon's signature style.

Michael Sayre's Luchador takes one of the most maligned, hated mechanics in Pathfinder and makes it amazing - I usually don't grapple a lot as a GM, nor do my players...the luchador may well change that. The damn cool combo potential of the class allows for some seriously cool experimentation and exceedingly rewarding "OMG, SEE WHAT I DID THERE?!?"-moments - so yes, the luchador class-frame with its feats is amazing. Similarly, I loved the detail given to the racial options and the magic and mundane items also are great. So all amazing? Well, almost. On the archetype-front, this felt a bit like it followed two design philosophies: On one hand, we get a lot of minor engine-tweaks and then there are those amazing bits like the Lichador.

When seen back to back, it becomes pretty much immediately apparent, that the Blood Brother, for example, could carry SO MUCH MORE. I mean, come on, Mr. Hyde luchador? That's 10 types of awesome and deserves some cool combo-mechanics - burning mutagen duration for special tricks, blood lusts, odd mutations, acid pustules...there is so much to be done here...and the pdf settled for the base minimum. I know that this is me being a damn, spoiled brat of a reviewer, but I do feel that the excellent base class deserved more of the complex, cool archetypes.

To sum this up: The luchador is an excellent class and one that will, with a cosmetic reskin, feature for several monk orders in my games. It is a design-feat and fun to play and definitely a class for players that usually are bored by martials. It is rewarding and great...but the archetypes, as a whole, only reach the level of good to very good as a total, not the excellence of the rest of the pdf. As such, the pdf misses by seal of approval by a tiny margin, but I will still remain with a definite recommendation of a 5-star-rating.

Endzietgeist out.

All right, Smarks! It's time to expose the business with a review!

Things I like

-I appreciate both Professional Wrestler and Skillful Combatant for not allowing a 3/4ths BAB to absolutely ruin this class's ability to grapple. It was something I was worried about, and I'm glad to see both of these kick in at 1st level.

-Some of the new social talents are pretty amusing, giving a nice buff to their numbers.

-Aerial takedown is cheesy and I love it.

-For the most part, the new talents are pretty cool, with en fuego being a favorite of mine for the silly visual of it. Some feel like they shouldn't be stable locked like inescapable, but it's not a large issue. There are a few that feel kind of weak, but that's to be expected.

-Earthbound is a fun archetype that I just want to enjoy, and it gives me a very amused smile at the thought of playing that overly solid wrestler. Kudos for not stable locking this one.

-Overall I like Ki Striker. It's not a huge difference from the base class, but it gives just enough to where I can appreciate it.

-Lichador might be my favorite archetype from this book for how much it changes the base class, embraces a new theme, and goes into detail about making this theme viable. It's certainly one that I'd enjoy playing.

-For what it trades, Masked Beast feels like a fun upgrade to me since I'm not big on stables, giving a fun alternative to play a more bestial grappler.

-Masked saint is also basically a straight (if alignment locked) upgrade to the base class, and having a healing brawler is a great thing in most parties.

-I appreciate the amount of effort that went into the race section, rather than just a list of favored class bonuses.

-The feat section is nice and tight with a lot of things I could see using with other classes while still feeling unique, and I just kind of love shoulder throw.

-Call me a mark, but I enjoyed the table and chair, even if I thought you should be able to put an opponent through a table. The rest of the items were fun as well, and I do enjoy championship belt quite a bit.

Things of which I am uncertain about

-While 6+ int class skills is nice, I guess I just kind of see this as a 4+ int class skill sort of hybrid.

-I do like submission specialist as an ability, but it feels like it could have been optional.

-Stables feel like they should mean more, it feels like a very lacking decision.

-The shamanic line of social talents feels off and the idea of being able to summon a shaman no matter your location makes it feel very video gamey.

-From how it reads, I think they can only ever gain one vigilante talent as opposed to luchador talents, which isn't a great situation.

-I really want to like the blood breaker, but I feel it gives up too much. Still, the concept makes me smile even if I'm not in love. I'd probably retool it so that the mutagen was auto scaling rather than requiring you to burn talents on it.

Things which I don't like

-I'm not a huge fan of the word 'corazon' being used here myself, it just feels wrong for the concept being used. Also being able to just beat the opponent that beat you without needing it to be 1 v 1 to get back your corazon feels really cheap. Even certain talents needing corazon feels unnecessary. I guess the entire concept just doesn't feel like it matches the spirit of what I would want here, and the mechanical downside for losing it feels underwhemling.

-I'm not even a little of the fan of the art used in this book.

-Dancing Dervish feels off both thematically and mechanically in a way that I don't love.

-Rudos are our heels, and honestly, to me a heel shouldn't involve teamwork feats. Losing Corazon here is a plus to me, but given the rough penalties for lacking it with some social talents, the entire archetype feels like a downgrade.

Final Thoughts
This class has a lot of fun to it, but I think there's just some design that I'd rather see changed in it. Submission specialist being mandatory and thus pushing back the acquisition of stable talents was less than ideal, as one of the things I liked most about the vigilante was the quick-ish rate at which they accrued. Without an extra stable talent feat or any other way to get them, a lot of these options for characters are too limited to be of use, making me wish submission specialist hadn't been included.

As a whole, the flavor and such is a lot of fun, especially for wrestling fans who have no doubt spied a few references thrown in, although I'd have liked Rudo to have been a stable rather than an archetype to give a stronger base to that idea, since heel wrestlers are very important in the industry.

While not as strong as the vigilante, this is a perfectly viable Tier 4 class that simply oozes charm and finesse and will really help to make you feel like you're playing your own jobber, so I'll leave it with a solid 4/5.