d20 RPG Objects Legends of the Ancients - Carthage.pdf - RPG Objects - R5700

Charles Rice

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Paul King

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Jeremy Simmons

Layout

Chris Davis

Play Testing

Ed Lennon, Corey Hodges,

Paula Rice, Ethan Ripplinger,

Ryan Kelley, Jay Fitzloff, Chris

Hoover, Aaron Wiggins.

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Document.

Carthage

Introduction

minted coins accepted throughout the ancient world

which further enhanced their ability to trade.

This wealth was used to buy military might and

the Carthaginian army was largely composed of

mercenaries. Many of the Carthaginian mercenaries

were Numidians, a warlike African nation to the

south of Carthage. These warlike tribesmen fought

with large shields and spears and were greatly feared

in ancient times for their ferocity.

At its height, the Carthaginian Empire controlled

Northern Africa, Southern Spain (called “New

Carthage” by the Carthaginians), and the

Mediterranean islands of Corsica, Sardinia and

Western Sicily.

loses the war in the end, this becomes known as the

pyrrhic victory.

202 BCE: Scipio Africanus defeats Hannibal at the

Battle of Zama (see below), ending the Second Punic

War.

146 BCE: Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus destroys

Carthage. The city is besieged by a Roman army and

ﬂeet for three years who starve the population down

from an estimated 250,000 to 50,000. When the city

ﬁnally capitulates every man, woman and child in the

city is sold into slavery. The city burns for 17 days,

after which salt is ploughed into the ﬁelds and a curse

pronounced over the area.

19 BCE: The poet Virgil dies and his unﬁnished

epic, the Aeneid is published. This epic poem

describes Carthage at its height and gives a mythical

reason for the enmity between Rome and Carthage.

1 st century BCE: Augustus carries out the will

of his adopted father, Julius Caesar and establishes

a colony for veterans on the site of Punic Carthage.

This colony must ﬁrst overcome the curse placed

on the site by the Roman destroyers of the original

Carthage. Wolves attack the new colony in great

numbers, not only killing the inhabitants but also

destroying boundary markers and crops, driven by the

power of the curse to drive the new inhabitants from

the land they despoiled.

2 nd century CE: Always an excellent location for

a city, Roman Carthage is once again a prosperous,

vital center for trade in the ancient world and is the

2 nd largest city in the Western Roman Empire (after

Rome).

2 nd through 4 th centuries CE: Carthage becomes

an early center for the Christian church: both

Tertullian and Augustine, inﬂuential early Christian

theologians live in Carthage.

439 CE: Carthage is conquered by the Arian

Christian Vandal King Gaiseric (the Arians are a

heretical offshoot of the early Christian church

banned by Rome). With Carthage as his base of

Welcome to the ﬁrst in a new series

of Legends books: Legends of the

Ancients. Each book in this series

will present a brief snapshot of

an ancient civilization, presenting

enough history and mechanics for

you to add it to your game. Want to

add a historical ﬂavor to a new land or

adventure? This series will help. For those who want

to run a fantasy game set in the ancient world, this

series, along with RPGObjects’ other Legends books

(Legends of Excalibur or Legends of the Samurai)

will, over time, help ﬁll in more and more of the past

with a slant toward the fantastic.

Carthaginian History

814 BCE: Carthage founded.

6 th century BCE: Oligarchic constitution

established.

508-450 BCE: Rome and Carthage sign peace

treaties. During this time Hamilcar Barca is defeated

by the Greeks in Sicily at Himera, preventing the

Carthaginians from gaining a foothold there.

409 BCE: Hamilcar’s grandson, Hannibal, defeats

the Greeks and destroys Himera. A temple to Athena

is built to thank the gods for the Carthaginian victory.

War continues with Greece for over a century.

5 th century BCE: Carthage conquers several Greek

colonies in western Sicily including Selinus.

323 BCE: Population of Carthage 200,000

264-240 BCE: First Punic War. Sicily and Sardinia

seized from Carthage by the Romans.

218 BCE: Hannibal Barca attacks Seguntum (an

island south of Spain), triggering war with Rome.

He eludes the army sent to stop him, marches across

the Alps and defeats the Roman army three times

in 218, 217 and 216 BCE. Although Hannibal wins

every battle he ﬁghts in Italy he is eventually forced

to return to African to defend his homeland where he

Carthage: Synopsis

Carthage was a powerful Empire that rivaled Rome

itself and vied with that great empire for supremacy

over the ancient world. Carthage was founded by

Phoenician emigrants and was located in modern

day Tunisia in North Africa. The Roman word for

these emigrants was poeni, from which is derived the

adjective punic, the name given to the Carthaginian

people and their three wars with the Roman Empire.

The site of the city, surrounded as it was by hills

and bordering on Lake Tunis was easily defensible,

had excellent ports, and an abundant supply of ﬁsh.

These combined to quickly elevate Carthage to

one of the largest cities in the ancient world with a

population of over 200,000 in the 4 th century BCE.

With the wealth from Africa’s natural resources

and Mediterranean Sea trade, including raw

materials, gold, silver and slaves, Carthage was also

one of the richest nations in the ancient world. The

Carthaginians trade with Britain for tin and trade with

Spain for gold, silver and copper. The Carthaginians

Legends of the Ancients

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Carthage

operations, Gaiseric dominates the Mediterranean as

the Carthaginians (and later Romans) did and annexes

Sicily, Corsica and Sardinia. He even sacks Rome

itself, plundering the city for two weeks, carrying

inestimable wonders and treasures back to Carthage.

533 CE: The Byzantines send an expedition to

sack Carthage, ending the Vandal control over the

Mediterranean. Byzantine Emperor Justinian orders a

new city built on the site.

698 CE: Carthage is conquered by the Muslim

King of Egypt, Hasan ibn Noman who completely

destroys the city once again. But the site is too

valuable to go to waste and eventually a Muslim city

is founded on the site of Punic Carthage. This city,

named Tunis thrives to the present day.

was that Scipio had his own Numidian allies who

were only two days away with a force of 6,000 heavy

infantry and 4,000 cavalry, enough to give Scipio a

decisive advantage.

Hannibal, thinking he had a decisive advantage,

sought to negotiate Scipio’s surrender. Scipio used

this time to allow his reinforcements to arrive. Now

with an army greater in size to Hannibal’s, Scipio

moved to occupy the only source of fresh water in

the area. With his army exposed to the North African

desert heat, Scipio knew Hannibal had to attack

despite having the weaker force.

At home in Africa now, Hannibal had access to

specially trained war elephants and had 80 of them

brought to this battle. His plan was to have his

weaker cavalry entice Scipio’s mounted forces away

from his infantry and have his elephants smash the

Roman legions.

Scipio had known he would have to contend

with war elephants however and formed a plan

speciﬁcally to counteract them. The Romans left

huge lanes in between their forces, which were

arranged in columns (Roman armies typically fought

in small squares of men arranged in a checkerboard

formation). As the elephants attacked the Roman

soldiers stood their ground in a show of tremendous

discipline, when most armies would have broken

and ﬂed to be trampled by the elephants. The Roman

swordsmen beat their swords on their shields and

shouted as loudly as possible while archers in their

midst ﬁred arrows at the elephants and their riders.

The confused elephants, surrounded by noise and

the arrows piercing their hides as they ran through

the wide lanes the soldiers left for them became

frightened, feeling they were under attack by one

beast larger than themselves. They then panicked, and

as they returned to the Carthaginian lines trampled

Hannibal’s men in their frightened attempt to escape.

Hannibal’s planned elephant charge had been a

complete disaster.

Hannibal’s cavalry found its plan to draw off the

Roman cavalry equally frustrated. The retreating

elephants frightened the horses enough to allow

Scipio’s cavalry to close and engage. Soon the entire

force of Carthaginian cavalry had been routed off

the ﬁeld as well. This led to the climactic battle

of the two infantry armies. This battle was still

very much in doubt with Scipio and Hannibal both

trying to outﬂank the army of the other, but when

Scipio’s cavalry returned from its complete route of

the Carthaginian horsemen and fell on the rear of

Hannibal’s infantry, they broke and ﬂed and the war

was over. Scipio was soon honored with the name

he would be known by for the rest of his life: Scipio

Africanus.

The Battle of Zama

The battle that decided the Second Punic War was

the deciding battle not only for the Carthaginians’

desire to contend with Rome for dominance of the

ancient world, but also in the lives of two of the

most important historical ﬁgures of the age: Scipio

Africanus and Hannibal Barca.

With Hannibal and Scipio both in Carthage and

both aided by the heavy Numidian Cavalry, the scene

was set for the climactic battle of Zama. Hannibal

was raising a huge army; one that Scipio knew would

be able to defeat his small force if he allowed it to

assemble unmolested. He therefore began to attack

every vulnerable town in the interior of Carthage,

engaging in scorched earth warfare, destroying

everything his army could not carry away or use. This

forced Hannibal to attack before he was ready.

When Hannibal arrived at Zama he immediately

sent out spies. Scipio promptly captured them, but

rather than killing them he showed them around his

camp and then released them. What the spies had

seen was that Hannibal had much more cavalry than

Scipio and thus a decisive advantage in the coming

battle. What the Hannibal had no way of knowing

New Core

Class

Mercenary

The mercenary ﬁghts for money.

In ancient times many rich empires

supplemented their armies heavily with mercenaries,

usually from barbarian cultures in Africa and

Scandinavia.

Adventures: Mercenary adventures often involve

a group of mercenaries being hired for a military

campaign. Often these campaigns take place far from

the mercenary’s home and are a good way for the

mercenary to see the world, gain experience and (of

course) wealth.

Characteristics: The mercenary is a ﬁghter who

is primarily motivated by his desire for wealth.

While professional soldiers ﬁght for nationalism or

ideology, the mercenary will serve with those he

detests as long as he is well compensated.

Religion: Most mercenaries have no interest in

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Carthage

religion. However some are devout worshippers of

various gods, using their faith as a comfort when

they are far from home. The gods preferred by these

religious mercenaries are gods of battle, though some

revere the pagan gods of their barbarian homelands.

Background: Mercenaries tend to be rugged

individualists. Many end up leaving their homes and

taking up the life of a mercenary because they did not

ﬁt in at home. So instead of attempting to conform

(or perhaps stage a revolution) these individuals

separate themselves from their society, surrounding

themselves with strangers who regard them with an

equal mixture of fear, contempt and awe. Sometimes

these outsiders make a home among the foreign

peoples they ﬁght for, their skill in battle earning

them acceptance. Sometimes the mercenary returns

home, rich and powerful enough to return to his

society on his own terms. Most of these outsiders

leave and are never seen again and die on distant

shores far from home.

Other Classes: The mercenary gets along with

most classes, depending on alignment. A dishonorable

mercenary would probably not get along with a

Paladin but not because he is a mercenary, simply due

to his own character traits. Mercenaries and thieves

tend to get along extremely well, understanding one

another’s psychology and desire for wealth.

Role: The mercenary ﬁlls the role of the ﬁghter

well. Although he is not usually heavily armored,

he makes up for that with extreme hardiness and an

inexhaustible grit and determination to get the job

done and earn his pay.

come from foreign lands whose inhabitants eschew

the use of armor.

Alignment: Any. Most mercenaries are Neutral,

believing in nothing they cannot spend or wear or

hold. These typical mercenaries are as loyal as they

are well-compensated and tend to move on if they

are not sufﬁciently rewarded. Some are despicable

creatures ready to betray their employers the minute a

better offer comes along even if it’s from a rival. Still

others are scrupulously Lawful, obeying contracts to

the letter.

Honor (optional): Owners of other books in the

Legends series may want to substitute Honor/Nobility

for Alignment. In this case the mercenary has no

Honor minimum but suffers double Dishonesty

Honor penalties while gaining double Honesty Honor

bonuses.

Hit Die: 1d12

feat at 1 st level.

Improved Feint: At 2 nd level the Mercenary

receives this feat as a bonus feat without needing the

prerequisites.

Color of money: Mercenaries are motivated

by wealth. This allows an employer to motivate

his mercenaries to greater efforts if he is willing

to provide a monetary incentive. The mercenary

can gain the modiﬁer listed on the class table as a

morale bonus to attack or skill checks once per day.

To qualify for this modiﬁer the mercenary must be

promised a reward of at least 100 gold pieces per

character level (the mercenary might not qualify for

his bonus if working for a stingy employer).

Most mercenaries require at least half of this

money to be paid up front but that is a matter to be

settled between the mercenary and his employer.

Whether or not any funds are paid up front does not

affect whether or not the mercenary can use this class

ability.

At 5 th level the mercenary can use this ability twice

per day.

At 10 th level the mercenary can use this ability

three times per day.

At 15 th level the mercenary can use this ability four

times per day.

At 20 th level the mercenary can use this ability ﬁve

times per day.

Mercenary’s Revenge: Employers of mercenaries

realize that the promise of reward is enough to spur

the mercenaries to greater feats of warfare. The

promised reward often does not materialize and

mercenaries then turn on their former employers.

If a mercenary is promised rewards for the color of

money class ability and is not paid the full amount,

he gains his color of money modiﬁer as a morale

bonus to all attack, damage and skill checks against

his employer until such time as he is paid or his

employer is killed. Using this modiﬁer to collect

payment due does not count against the mercenary’s

Class Skills

The mercenary’s class skills (and the ability for each

skill) are: Appraise (Int), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str),

Craft (Int), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Ride (Dex),

Sense Motive (Wis), Survival (Wis) and Swim (Str)

Skill Points at 1 st Level: (4+ Int. modiﬁer) x4

Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4+ Int.

modiﬁer

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the

mercenary.

Weapon and Armor Proﬁciency: The mercenary

is proﬁcient in all simple and martial weapons as well

as with Light and Medium armor and shields (but not

Tower Shields).

Weapon Focus: Mercenaries are not usually as

well equipped as professional soldiers, relying on a

few trusted weapons, often brought with them from

their exotic homelands to see them through many

campaigns. The mercenary gains this feat as a bonus

Game Rule Information

Mercenaries have the following game statistics.

Abilities: Strength and Constitution increase

the mercenary’s ability to engage in close combat.

Dexterity helps compensate for the fact that

mercenaries to not usually wear heavy armor, some

because they cannot afford it, but many because they

Legends of the Ancients

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Carthage

color of money class ability for that day.

Often the lack of reward isn’t because the employer

was purposely deceptive. Perhaps a cache of gold was

thought to be in the city when it was not. Regardless

of the reason, many commanders have met their ends

on the swords of their own mercenaries when unable

to deliver upon their promises.

Bonus Feat: Although an unconventional soldier,

the mercenary continues to master the soldier’s art.

At the listed levels he gains a bonus feat from the

Fighter list of his choice. The mercenary must meet

all prerequisites for any feat selected.

TABLE 1: THE MERCENARY

Level

Base Attack

Bonus

Fort

Save

Ref

Save

Will

Save

Special

1 st

Weapon Focus

2 nd

Improved Feint

3 rd

Color of money +1

4 th

Bonus Feat

5 th

Color of money 2/day

6 th

+6/+1

Color of money +2

7 th

+7/+2

Mercenary’s Revenge

8 th

+8/+3

Bonus Feat

9 th

+9/+4

Color of money +3

10 th

+10/+5

Color of money 3/day

11 th

+11/+6/+1

12 th

+12/+7/+2

Color of money +4

New Feats

13 th

+13/+8/+3

Bonus Feat

14 th

+14/+9/+4

15 th

+15/+10/+5

Color of money 4/day

Mercenary Captain

The mercenary has risen to command his own small

band of mercenaries. As someone who understands

the workings of the mercenary mind, the mercenary

can attract followers through not only his personal

Charisma and reputation, but also his ability to

deliver wealth.

Prerequisite: Leadership, Color of money class

ability

Effect: The mercenary gains a permanent bonus

to his Leadership score equal to his Color of money

modiﬁer. This represents his reputation and standing

among other mercenaries.

The mercenary can also increase his Leadership

score temporarily by offering additional funds to

his followers. For each 1,000 gold pieces promised

to his followers at the completion of a mission,

the mercenary gains a temporary +2 bonus to his

Leadership score. At the end of the mission these

additional followers will fade away (after collecting

the promised additional funds).

If the mercenary does not deliver the promised

money he suffers a permanent penalty to his

Leadership score equal twice the bonus gained from

16 th +16/+11/+6/+1 +10

+10

Color of money +5

17 th +17/+12/+7/+2 +10

+10

Bonus Feat

18 th +18/+13/+8/+3 +11

+11

Color of money +6

19 th +19/+14/+9/+4 +11

+11

Bonus Feat

20 th +20/+15/+10/+5 +12

+12

Color of money 5/day

NPCs

offering additional reward. The mercenary may also

not use money to increase his Leadership score for 30

days after failing to deliver on a promise of reward.

NPC Mercenary

Starting Ability Scores: Str 15,

Dex 14, Con 13, Int 10, Wis 12,

Cha 8

Increased Ability Scores: 4 th Str 16;

8 th Con 14; 12 th Str 17; 16 th Str 18;

20 th Str 19

Primitive Background

Many mercenaries come from barbarian lands at the

edge of civilization. They are drawn to the civilized

lands in pursuit of fortune and glory, or perhaps out

of a desire to see how the more advanced peoples

live. Often they are not impressed.

Prerequisite: Rage class ability

Effect: You may pick one Simple weapon common

to your people. You gain a +1 to hit and damage

when wielding that weapon. This ability also adds

Barbarian to your favored class list.

Special: This feat may only be selected at 1 st level.

5 th Level Human Mercenary: CR 5; Size M; HD

5d12 + 5; hp 43; Init +2 (+2 Dex,); Speed 20 ft; AC

22 (+7 +2 breastplate , +3 +1 heavy steel shield , +2

Dex); BAB +5; Full Atk +10 melee (1d8+4/19-20/x2

+1 longsword ) or +7 ranged (1d8/19-20/x2 light

crossbow); SQ Color of Money +1 2/day; AL any;

SV Fort +6, Ref +7, Will +3; Str 16, Dex 14, Con 13,

Legends of the Ancients

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d20 RPG Objects Legends of the Ancients - Carthage.pdf

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