A gambler lives by his luck. He doesn’t worry about much of anything, including where his next meal comes from, and trusts to luck—perhaps more than he should. In the end, no matter how much skill one might have to their name, a little fortune or misfortune can go a long way at shifting the balance of power. For those who take risks and live life on the edge, having luck on your side can mean the difference between becoming a legend, or being an unmarked grave. But then, there lies the joy of taking the risk…
Role: Being a gambler is a life of making the right choices. It also helps to have a good hand, and the gambler’s friends are his cards. Gamblers work best when their compatriots are really good at what they do.
Alignment: Any
Hit Die: d8
Starting Wealth: 4d6 × 10 gil (average 140 gil.) In addition, each character begins play with an outfit worth 10 gil or less.
Class Skills
The gambler’s class skills are Acrobatics (Dex), Appraise (Int), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (local) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Perception (Wis), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Stealth (Dex), Swim (Str), and Use Magic Device (Cha).
Skill Points Per Level: 6+ Int modifier
Class Main Ability Scores:
The gambler mainly focuses on DEX and CHA for combat and CHA for their class features.
Table: Gambler
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the gambler.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency
A gambler is proficient with all simple weapons, plus the sap, sword cane, short sword, throwing cards, and whip. Gamblers are proficient with light armor but not with any shields.
Limit Breaks (Su)
At 1st level, the gambler receives the Limit Breaks (Extraordinarily Lucky and Slot Machine).
Extraordinarily Lucky (Su): This Limit Break makes the gambler extremely lucky. Any melee or range attacks automatically misses unless a natural roll of 20 is rolled, and even then, the critical threat is unconfirmed unless another natural roll of 20 is rolled. This ability only dodges a number of attacks equal to the gambler’s Dexterity modifier per round. This lasts for a duration of 1 round + 1 round per four gambler levels after 1st. This limit break requires only a swift action.
Slot Machine (Su): This Limit Break allows the gambler to test his luck and let the whims of fate determine what shall be his action. Roll 3d6 and consult the table below for the effect. He may choose targets after he has determined the effect of his dice. The DC for the saving throws are (DC 10 + half of the gambler’s level + his Charisma modifier), where applicable. The gambler cannot use luck points to reroll the effect.
Table: Slot Machine Limit Break
| Combination | Effect |
|---|---|
| 6-6-6 | The gambler may cure all allies within 60ft of damage equal to 10 hit points per gambler level, or he may harm all opponents within 60ft with non-elemental damage equal to 10 points of damage per gambler level (Fort save for half). |
| 1-1-1 | The gambler is dazed for 1d4 rounds. |
| Triples (except for all 1's or 6's) | The gambler may choose either to cure one ally within 60 feet of damage equal to 10 hit points per gambler level, or he may harm one opponent within 60 feet with non-elemental damage equal to 10 points per gambler level (Fort save for half). |
| Doubles (such as 2-2-any other number) | The image of the gambler doubles, granting him a 50% miss chance. It lasts until someone successfully strikes the gambler. If the attack misses and hits the duplicate (or the gambler is subject to an area effect), the attacker, instead, injures himself as if struck by the attack. |
| Ascending (1-2-3, 2-3-4, 3-4-5, or 4-5-6) | The gambler or an ally within 60 feet gains a luck bonus to a single attack, skill check, or saving throw equal to half the gambler's level (minimum 1). This bonus must be used by the end of the round or it's lost. |
| All Odds (1-3-5) | The gambler can move one of his enemies within 60ft up to his movement speed, sliding them along the ground like a chess piece. This movement does not provoke attacks of opportunity. A successful Will save reduces this movement to half. The motion may take them beyond the effect's range. |
| All Even (2-4-6) | The gambler can move one of his allies within 60ft up to his movement speed, sliding them along the ground like a chess piece. This movement does not provoke attacks of opportunity. The motion may take them beyond the effect's range. |
| Any Other Combination | The gambler heals 1 damage per gambler level and purges himself of one of any of the following status effects: blinded, confused, dazzled, deafened, diseased, fatigued, poisoned, or sickened. |
Throwing Cards (Ex)
At 1st level, a gambler begins play with a deck of steel, durable playing cards. Durable playing cards don’t break due to normal use, whether or not they hit their target; unless the playing card goes missing, a gambler can retrieve and reuse a durable playing card again and again. In the hands of a gambler, this deck of cards is deadly. With a range increment of 20 feet, it deals 1d4 points of slashing or piercing damage and is treated as a light thrown weapon like shurikens. In addition, a gambler does not provoke attacks of opportunity when throwing within melee range. To replace an entire deck of cards, it costs the gambler 5 gil. These playing cards have a hardness of 1 and 3 hit points per card. The gambler can also upgrade this deck of cards. It costs 300 gil and 1 day of work to upgrade it to a masterwork.
Luck Pool (Su)
At 1st level, the gambler gains a reservoir of luck points that he can draw upon to fuel his powers.
This luck pool has a number of points equal to his gambler level + his Charisma modifier. The pool refreshes once per day when the gambler rests for a full 8 hours.
With these luck points, he can spend them to reroll any single d20 roll for himself with 1 luck point as an immediate action once per round, If used on an ability or skill, the ability/skill check cannot take more than 1 round.
Or, they may spend 1 luck point as free action to gain an extra swift action that does not count against the gambler’s normal limit of one swift action per round that can be used with gambler class features. This does not increase the normal limit of one swift cast spell per round.
These luck points are also used in other class features he receives as he levels.
Gil Toss (Ex)
At 1st level, a gambler can place his material fortunes on the line to make an attack. The gambler can turn coins into deadly projectiles that gain the velocity of a bullet when thrown. These coins can be used as simple thrown weapons with a range increment of 20 feet, deal bludgeoning and piercing damage, and have a critical multiplier of ×2. Gil coins retain their normal appearance and are treated as ammunition for the purposes of drawing them. The gambler transmutes coins with the same action used to draw them. Regardless of whether the coin hits or misses the target, it is destroyed after the attack. Different types of coins create different effects when thrown.
Higher value coins have larger damage die but keep the bonuses and effects granted by lower value coins:
- 1-gil coins deal 2d4 points of damage and count as silver for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
- 10-gil coins deal 2d6 points of damage and count as +1 weapons (that improves by 1 for every four gambler levels after 1st).
- 100-gil coins deal 2d8 points of damage, plus an additional point of damage per gambler level (to a maximum of an extra 20 points of damage at 20th level), and are treated as adamantine weapons for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction and bypassing hardness.
- 1,000-gil coins deal 2d10 points of damage and ignores armor, natural armor, and shield bonuses.
Beginner’s Luck (Ex)
A gambler knows which end of a sword to hold. Poking it in the enemy’s direction works unreasonably well for them. At 1st level, the gambler may use his Charisma modifier in place of his Strength modifier on melee attack rolls or in place of his Dexterity modifier on ranged attack rolls.
Gambler Gambits (Su)
At 2nd level, a gambler gains one gambler gambit. He gains an additional gambler gambit every even level thereafter. A gambler cannot select an individual gambler gambit more than once. Gambler gambits require a gambler to spend luck points.
- A complete list of gambler gambits can be found here: Gambler Gambits
Evasion (Ex)
Sensing which way the wind is blowing turns out to be a useful survival trait as well as a useful money-
Uncanny Dodge (Ex)
Nothing says “stop winning so much” like the other sort of blackjack. At 3rd level, the gambler cannot be caught flat-
Fortune’s Favor (Su)
At 3rd level, a gambler can gain a +1 luck bonus to AC so long as he has one luck point. This luck bonus increases by +1 for every four gambler levels thereafter, but can’t exceed the gambler’s current total of luck points. Multiple luck bonuses do not stack with each other.
Sharpened Cards (Su)
At 4th level, a gambler gains a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls with throwing cards. This bonus increases by +1 for every four gambler levels beyond 4th.
Professional Gambler (Ex)
At 5th level, the gambler adds half his gambler level to all Profession (gambling), Sense Motive, and Bluff skill checks.
Breaking Even (Su)
At 5th level, as a swift action, the gambler chooses one creature he can see. For the next minute, whenever he hits the target with an attack, he regains hit points equal to his Charisma modifier (minimum of 1). However, whenever he misses the target, he takes damage equal to the same amount. The gambler can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + his Charisma modifier.
Lucky Streak (Ex)
Sometimes, there’s too much money on the table to cut and run. At 6th level, as a swift action, the gambler may trigger a state where his force of personality imposes itself upon the world and keeps him alive in the face of unlikely odds. He gains a +4 morale bonus to Charisma and may add his Charisma modifier as a bonus to his saving throws and Armor Class. This state lasts for a duration of 1 round + his Charisma modifier, after which time he is fatigued until the end of the encounter. He may use this ability once per day, plus one additional time per day for every four gambler levels above 6th.
Double or Nothing (Su)
At 7th level, after the gambler hits with a weapon attack, he may use this ability as a free action to choose odds or evens. If the total number on his damage dice matches his choice, he can apply double the damage rolled. However, on an incorrect result, his damage is halved (rounded down).
Know When to Run (Ex)
A gambler that has learned to cheat, quickly learns to run. A 7th level gambler may move at twice his normal speed. If he does so, he loses his Dexterity bonus to AC for one round and automatically fails any check to avoid being tripped.
High Roller (Su)
At 9th level, when the gambler hits a creature with a weapon attack, but does not score a critical hit, he can try to attempt to turn it into one. Starting with the number shown on the triggering attack roll, as an immediate action, the gambler chooses higher or lower and rolls the dice again. If he successfully guesses the outcome three times in a row, the original attack becomes a critical hit. The gambler can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + his Charisma modifier.
Know When to Walk Away (Ex)
By 9th level, a gambler has learned that sometimes the only way to break even is to not play. He learns to move at half movement speed without provoking attacks of opportunity.
Gil Rain (Ex)
At 10th level, a gambler can use his gil toss ability to hit any number of creatures within 30 feet by spending gil (must use the same type of coins) and making a ranged touch attack for each creature. However, he cannot make multiple attacks with his gil toss ability through the gil rain ability.
Opportunist (Ex)
At 10th level, once per round, a gambler can make an attack of opportunity against an opponent who has just been struck for damage in melee by another creature. The gambler must be threatening his opponent to use this ability. In addition, the gambler gains Snap Shot as a bonus feat, even if he doesn’t meet the prerequisites, which can be used with thrown or ranged weapons.
Stalwart (Ex)
At 11th level, this ability grants the gambler the ability to alter the likelihood of secondary effects interacting with him. If he makes a Fortitude or Will saving throw against an attack that has a reduced effect on a successful save, he instead avoids the effect entirely. This ability can only be used if the gambler is wearing light armor or no armor. A helpless gambler does not gain the benefit of the stalwart ability.
Improved Evasion (Ex)
At 12th level, the gambler knows when to run. Hell, he started running half a second earlier. This ability works like the gambler’s evasion, except that while the gambler still takes no damage on a successful Reflex saving throw against attacks, henceforth, he takes only half damage on a failed save. A helpless gambler does not gain the benefit of improved evasion.
Improved Uncanny Dodge (Ex)
A gambler of 13th level is already hard to catch with his pants down and can no longer be flanked; he can react to opponents on opposite sides of him as easily as he can react to a single attacker. This defense denies creatures the flanking bonus by flanking him, unless the attacker has at least four more levels than the target does.
All or Nothing (Ex)
When the chips are down, the gambler doesn’t see danger, he sees chips for the taking. At 13th level, the morale bonus to Charisma granted by the gambler’s Lucky Streak ability improves to +6, and while the ability is active, he gains DR/-
Check (Ex)
At 14th level, a gambler learns to use inaction to his advantage. When in combat and an opponent within 100 feet does nothing except move on his turn, a gambler may check as an immediate action. He gains a +1 bonus to attack, damage, saves, and AC versus this opponent. He may check multiple times against the same opponent, each time increasing his bonuses by one.
Lucky Seven (Su)
At 15th level, the gambler’s weapon attacks can score a critical hit on a natural roll of 7 or 20.
Jackpot (Ex)
They’ll have to invent a new lucky star just for the gambler. At 17th level, any luck bonuses the gambler benefits from have their numerical value increased by one.
Cheat (Ex)
An experienced gambler knows that sometimes the best odds are outside the game. Beginning at 17th level, a gambler may attempt a feint as a swift action, using his Sleight of Hand skill rather than his Bluff skill, and opposed by his opponent’s Perception skill, rather than his Sense Motive. If he fails, he provokes an attack of opportunity from this opponent.
Skew Favor (Su)
At 18th level, a gambler learns how to twist the odds of fate more into his favor. Up to 3 times per day, he can maximize the damage dealt from gil toss and gil rain abilities.
Tempting Fate (Ex)
At 19th level, the gambler is very hard to kill. As an immediate action, if the gambler has at least 1 hit point remaining and would be dealt enough damage to kill him, he can spend a luck point to take only enough damage to reduce him to a negative number of hit points equal to 1 less than Constitution score and he automatically stabilizes.
Even the Odds (Ex)
An experienced gambler always seems to know the best line of play. Rather than a victim of bad luck, the gambler employs random probability to his advantage. At the start of each day, a 20th level gambler may roll a number of dice equal to his Charisma modifier of any die type. Instead of making a random roll, as an immediate action, the character can instead substitute one of these pre-
Favored Class Bonuses
Instead of receiving an additional skill rank or hit point whenever they gain a level in a favored class, some races have the option of choosing from a number of other bonuses, depending upon their favored classes. The following options are available to the listed race who have gambler as their favored class, and unless otherwise stated, the bonus applies each time you select the listed favored class reward.
- Al Bhed: Add +1/5 damage to the gambler’s gil toss ability.
- Bangaa: Add +1/4 to the gambler’s luck pool.
- Dwarf: Add +1/2 to Profession (Gambling) skill checks.
- Elvaan: Add +1/4 to the gambler’s luck pool.
- Galka: Add +1/2 to Profession (Gambling) skill checks.
- Gria: Add +1/6 for a new gambler gambit.
- Half-Breed: Add +1/6 for a new gambler gambit.
- Hume: Add +1/6 for a new gambler gambit.
- Immortal: Add +1/5 damage to the gambler’s gil toss ability.
- Mithra: Add +1/6 to the gambler’s initiative rolls.
- Moogle: Add +1/6 for a new gambler gambit.
- Namazu: Add +1/6 for a new gambler gambit.
- Seeq: Add +1/2 to Profession (Gambling) skill checks.
- Tarutaru: Add +1/4 to the gambler’s luck pool.
- Varg: Add +1/4 to the gambler’s luck pool.
- Viera: Add +1/6 for a new gambler gambit.
Archetypes
- A complete list of gambler archetypes can be found here: Gambler Archetypes
