Deadheart gangsters have given up the flash and panache of the lone thief for the solid, dependable profit of organized street crime. These ruthless toughs with political connections arise as often from warrior backgrounds as from roguish ones. The greatest of deadheart gangsters are the founders of criminal brotherhoods that live on even after their deaths.

Deadheart gangsters succeed through fear and the threat of violence. They don’t always attack foes head on; instead, they maneuver around them, firebombing their establishments, burning unwanted rivals out of their lairs, and gathering together bands of the urban poor to take what they want from rich nobles, merchants, and traders. Their power to terrify ordinary people is the source of their strength; once that power is broken, deadheart gangsters rarely survive for long, as their own kind quickly kill them and take over their positions of power.

Deadheart gangsters are good fighters in a rough-and-ready street-fighting way. However, they are neither disciplined combatants nor adept with any form of learned magic; instead, their sheer stubbornness, physical presence, and willingness to break the law give them an edge. In addition, deadheart gangsters often have a great web of contacts that gives them influence among constables, guards, and other law-enforcers.

This prestige class is most popular among humans, dwarves, and halflings who have mastered the arts of bribery and corruption. Most deadheart gangsters come from peasant stock, though a few fallen nobles have been found among their numbers.

Role: Utility

Characteristics: Burgeoning mob bosses that rule through intimidation

Source: Book of Roguish Luck

Game Rule Information

The Deadheart Gangster has the following game statistics.

Abilities: Charisma is needed to keep your informants and marks in line, you also need Strength and Constitution for when things get physical

Alignment: Any Nonlawful

Hit Die: d8

Starting Gold: N/A

Class Skills

The Deadheart Gangster's class skills are Appraise (Int), Bluff (Cha), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Forgery (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (local) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (any) (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), and Use Rope (Dex).

Skill Points at 1st Level: (6 + Int modifier) × 4

Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 6 + Int modifier

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Deadheart Gangster.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A Deadheart Gangster is proficient with martial weapons, light and medium armor

Legbreaker Ex: A deadheart gangster is proficient in unarmed combat and automatically gains the Improved Unarmed Strike feat at 1st level. His unarmed strike deals greater-than-normal damage that increases at higher levels for all sizes of character, as shown in Table 1-2: Legbreaker Damage

Streetwise Ex: A deadheart gangster gains a +2 competence bonus on Gather Information, Knowledge (local), Intimidate, and Sense Motive checks.

Man of Respect: At 2nd level, a deadheart gangster is fully initiated into the fellowship in a special ceremony that replaces all the candidate’s feudal ties to liege lords, churches, and family with a powerful oath to serve the silent brotherhood of the deadhearts.

Someone who breaks this new oath of loyalty is usually found dead with his heart cut out within a short period of time. On the other hand, members of the gang do not fight one another and can usually count on each other for mutual aid.

When they reach 2nd level, all members of the class understand a special thieves’ cant peculiar to their kind. It can be understood only by other members of this prestige class or by the use of comprehend languages or similar magic.

Informants: At 3rd level or higher, a deadheart gangster may use his Gather Information skill to extract street lore from informants who come to him, rather than having to seek out information. Doing this requires a Gather Information check in a settled area of at least 50 other creatures, such as aboard ship or in a city, town, or village. In such an environment, the deadheart gangster may roll on Table 1-3: Informants below once per week. The exact information he gains is up to the DM; some suggestions are provided below.

Whenever the deadheart gangster is away from the settled area, he can make no checks to gain new information. However, on his return the character is entitled to make several checks to “catch up on events”—a number of checks equal to his class level or the number of weeks he was away, whichever is smaller. These catch-up checks require that the deadheart gangster spend a day prior to each check questioning henchmen, fellow gang members, and street informants; the information does not come without effort.

Icy Dread Ex: At 4th level and higher, a deadheart gangster can exhibit a disquieting presence that upsets normal animals, small children, and weak creatures when he moves adjacent to them. The character may choose to turn this ability off at any time.

When the ability is active, creatures within 5 feet of the deadheart gangster that have fewer Hit Dice than the character become panicked unless they make a successful Will save (DC 12 + the deadheart gangster’s Charisma modifier). Creatures with less than 1 HD are automatically affected (no save). If a creature is allowed a save and succeeds, it is unaffected. If the save fails (or if the creature has less than 1 HD), the creature is panicked for a number of rounds equal to half the gangster’s class level, rounded up. If the gangster has 12 or more ranks in Intimidate, increase the save DC by 2.

Icy dread has no effect on undead, constructs, oozes, and similar mindless creatures.

Paralyzing Gaze Su: At 5th level and higher, a deadheart gangster can effectively stare down and paralyze any creature that uses eyes to see. Doing so requires a full round action. He can attempt it a number of times per day equal to 3 + the gangster’s Charisma modifier.

Treat the deadheart gangster’s paralyzing gaze as a standard gaze attack that holds a target that fails a Will save (DC 10 + half the gangster’s class level + gangster’s Charisma modifier). If the save fails, the creature remains held for a number of rounds equal to the gangster’s class level. If the save succeeds, the target goes unaffected.

Fearsome Leadership: At 7th level, a deadheart gangster can attract a larger than usual crowd of followers and gains stronger than usual loyalty from the ones he has. If he does not already have the Leadership feat, he gains it as a bonus feat, even if he does not meet the prerequisites. If he already has the Leadership feat, he gains a +1 bonus to his Leadership score, improving his cohort and possibly gaining additional followers.

Tribute: At 8th level or higher, a deadheart gangster receives money from those who respect him and pay him a form of criminal fealty, also called tribute, tithing, vigorish, or “the percentage” in various cants and argots. This tribute is granted for a particular community; each deadheart gangster chooses his own territory when he reaches 8th level and must successfully negotiate access to that territory (violently or otherwise) with any other deadheart gangsters, bandits, or rogues of 8th level or higher in the area. Typically, this negotiation leads to either a profit-sharing agreement, an assassination, or an offer that cannot be refused.

Once he secures access to his chosen territory, each month the deadheart gangster gains 1 percent of the gold piece limit for that community as his share of the proceeds from all criminal activity in the city. This tribute can be reduced by aggressive action from the town watch (which cuts the amount in half), by infighting among the territory’s gangs (which reduces the tribute to nothing for that month, even if the fighting lasts only a few days), or by the appearance of a rival (which either cuts into profit by means of some sharing arrangement, or results in the death of one of the claimants to the tribute).

Crime Lord: At 10th level, a deadheart gangster has such a wide range of influence in his chosen territory that he knows about most crimes committed by any rogue, bandit, or assassin in the area. Even those misdeeds not performed by criminals who work for him are immediately reported to him by a network of informers. The deadheart gangster may roll on the informants table on the previous page once per day rather than once per week, and he gains a +3 competence bonus on all Gather Information checks.

The crime lord’s connections with fences and other shady characters give him an opportunity to buy stolen magic items for 75 percent of the usual cost. The DM still determines whether a particular item is available for purchase.

In addition, his tribute increases to 4 percent of the gold piece limit of his territory per month, though a crime lord often shares this wealth with his followers or rivals.

Finally, a crime lord acquires a special 7th-level character as a personal retainer—either an assassin, a fighter who serves as a bodyguard, a gutter mage advisor, or a shadowsworn. This retainer acts as a special cohort attracted to the crime lord’s organization and serves loyally as long as the crime lord rules. Upon the crime lord’s death, the follower may attempt to control the territory for himself.