Glaive

Glaives are the elite warriors of the Ninth World, using
weapons and armor to fight their enemies. Hunters,
guardians, and soldiers could be Glaives. Sometimes
scouts, warlords, bandits, and even athletes are Glaives.
“Glaive” is a common slang term used almost everywhere
in the Steadfast and the Beyond for any person skilled with
weapons or a martial art, but in truth, it applies only to
the best of the best. Glaives are warriors who command
abilities far beyond those of a typical person with a sword.

Most Glaives are either strong (using the heaviest armor
and weapons available and having a high Might) or fast
(sticking with light weapons and armor and having a high
Speed). A few attempt to use both Might and Speed and
stay somewhere in the middle. Glaives also use ranged
weapons such as bows or darts. Some don’t rely on
weapons at all, preferring to use their bodies in hand-tohand
combat—punching, kicking, grabbing, throwing, and
so on.

Glaives in Society: In most cities and villages, people
hold Glaives in great esteem. Although a Glaive could
just as likely be a thug as a noble warrior, those who help
protect their fellow humans from the dangers of the Ninth
World are always treated with respect. There is no shame
in getting paid for the use of one’s skills, so being a blade
for hire is a perfectly acceptable profession. Restrictions on
carrying weapons openly are rare, and most Glaives wear
the tools of their trade with pride.

Not surprisingly, Glaives often get along best with other
Glaives, or at least soldiers, guards, or similar comrades
in arms. Nanos, scholars, and people who aren’t terribly
physical are less likely to mix well with Glaives, but
obviously not every Glaive is the same. They focus on
their bodies, but that doesn’t mean they don’t value more
cerebral pursuits as well. A Glaive need not follow the
stereotype of the dumb bruiser with a sword or an axe.

Glaives in the Group: In a group of explorers, Glaives
typically take the lead. They’re usually the most physically
capable, the most durable, and the most ready to meet
danger head-on. Sometimes they act protectively toward
their companions; other times, they’re more self-interested.
Either way, a Glaive’s place is often in the middle of the fray.

Glaives and the Numenera: When it comes to the
numenera, most Glaives are interested in weapons,
armor, or devices that aid them in combat. The ancients
produced all sorts of incredibly durable substances, many
of which can be made into armor that is lighter and more
protective than steel. Sometimes, Glaives can scavenge a
suit of armor composed of these advanced materials, but
more often they find the materials and then ask a crafter or
smith to make the armor. Of course, the problem is that a
substance that is difficult to damage is also hard to work.

As varied as armoring materials might be, numenera
weaponry is infinitely more so. These items include melee
weapons that shock, stun, or burn whatever they touch;
and ranged weapons that blast projectiles with incredible
power or bursts of strange energies. There are also bombs,
damaging energy fields, poisonous gases, and far stranger
weaponry, but some Glaives find that such complex objects
are better off in the hands of a Nano. Maneuverability is
just as important as attack or defense, however, so an item
that allows a Glaive to move quickly or negate gravity is a
great prize.

As for cyphers, Glaives prefer physically enhancing or
restorative objects, such as injections of chemicals that
improve reaction time or pills with microscopic repair
devices that heal wounds and restore fatigued muscle
tissue. They use the nickname “boost” for any cypher that
enhances their strength, stamina, reflexes, or other physical
aspects, while one that repairs damage or alleviates fatigue
is called a “treat.”

Advanced Glaives: As they progress, Glaives become
better combatants, often felling multiple foes in a single
stroke. They gain special types of attacks and learn to use
armor more efficiently to get the most out of the protection
it offers.

GLAIVE BACKGROUND

Glaives are no mere bandits or town guards. They stand
head and shoulders above ordinary soldiers and brawlers.
Something in your background—whether intensive
training, inborn traits, or biomechanical modification—has
made you more than the others around you. Choose one
of those three options (described below) as the source of
your skills, strength, reflexes, and stamina. It will provide
the foundation of your background and give you an idea
of how you can improve. The GM can use this information
to develop adventures and quests that are specific to your
character and play a role in your advancement.

INTENSIVE TRAINING

You are strong, fast, or both, but what really separates you
from the crowd is your training. Perhaps you ascended
the highest peak of the Black Riage or sought the deepest
sewers beneath Qi to find teachers who could show you
how to move, fight, and endure beyond normal human
limits. You know a thousand ways to kill a foe, most
of them secret to all but a chosen few. You’re privy to
techniques and fighting styles that most people in the
Ninth World have never seen. You have learned that the
impossible is possible—as long as you know the secret.
Your body is a weapon, and your weapon is part of your
body. You have studied with the masters, and now you carry
that regimen as you venture into the world.

Advancement: You need to train and practice constantly
to hone your skills and develop new techniques, building
on what you’ve been taught. Perhaps at some point you will
return to your secret masters for further initiation or find
new teachers or lessons that can take you to the next step.

When you gain additional points for your stat Pools, an
increase to a stat’s Edge, or an increase in the level of Effort
you can apply, the benefit comes as the result of rigorous
exercise and personal development. When you gain a new
skill or Glaive ability, it’s the result of the martial arts you
have studied.

INBORN TRAITS

You’ve trained under excellent instructors and have
experience in many dangerous situations, but what
makes you different is deep inside, entwined in your
genetic heritage. Maybe it was the luck of being born fit.
Maybe you’re a hulking brute—a mountainous figure who
commands attention when you enter a room. Or maybe
your strength is more subtle; you might be the descendant
of a bioengineered species bred (or designed) for
perfection. Perhaps you’re a mutant with psychic abilities
that augment your physical nature; you guide and enhance
your attacks with telekinesis, or you use a natural mutation
in your brain to control matter on a molecular level to
resist blows and inflict harm. Perhaps you’re something
wholly new: an aberration or a human so perfect that you’re
beyond human. You might be a posthuman—the next step
toward the true destiny of the people of the Ninth World.

Advancement: You have talents of which you are only
dimly aware. You must practice and experiment to find your
limitations, if any. At some point in the future, you might
have to seek out someone who can help you master your
inherent abilities. You were born with great power. Now you
need to learn how to use that power, even if the education
takes a lifetime.

When your stats improve, it’s because you’re tapping
deeper into the unknown reserves within you. When you
gain a new Glaive ability, it’s the result of your superhuman
traits as much as it is about your study, practice, or
knowledge. You can do things that other people simply
cannot, no matter how hard they train.

BIOMECHANICAL MODIFICATION

You might be a fighter, but you’re no archaic stereotype—
this is the Ninth World, after all. Although you trained and
gained your share of practical experience, you have the
numenera on your side as well. Some of your knowledge
of fighting techniques is implanted in your brain and
spine, wired into your nerves and muscles. Your joints
have surgically implanted servo motors. Subdermal plating
makes you tougher than should be possible. Your muscle
tissue is augmented with artificial fibers.

Perhaps your genetic code has been rewritten by
engineered viruses, or the tissues in your body have
been reworked by nanotech, turning you into an efficient
battle machine. Or maybe you’ve been altered by strange
science—radioactive treatments of bizarre energies,
chemical compounds and drugs, or extradimensional
enhancements—that makes you stronger, faster, tougher,
and more proficient in attack and defense than anyone
around you.

Whatever the case, you’re the result of ancient knowledge
made manifest in the present, and now you’re shaping the
future. Perhaps your modifications are obvious and visible;
perhaps they’re not. Regardless, you know that you’re more
than merely human.

Advancement: Your body is an ongoing project. In a way,
it’s a work of art, although its beauty comes not from its
appearance but from what it can do. As you go forward,
you should keep an eye out at all times for new parts and
systems that can be incorporated into your body, or new
doses of drugs and supplements to maintain your abilities.
You might need to seek out surgeons, mechanics, or
bioenhancement specialists to take you to the next level.
Perhaps the Aeon Priests can help. Perhaps the parts you
need can be found only in the ruins of the past or the
dangerous black market of a faraway city.

When your stats improve, it’s because you literally have
added something new to your body. When you gain a new
ability, it’s the direct result of a tangible change in your own
physical being.

GLAIVE PLAYER INTRUSIONS

As a Glaive, you can spend 1XP to use one of the following
player intrusions, provided the situation is appropriate and
the GM agrees.

Perfect Setup: You’re fighting at least three foes and
each one is standing in exactly the right spot for you to
use a move you trained in long ago, allowing you to attack
all three as a single action. Make a separate attack roll for
each foe. You remain limited by the amount of Effort you
can apply on one action.

Old Friend: A comrade in arms from your past shows up
unexpectedly and provides aid in whatever you’re doing.
They are on a mission of their own and can’t stay longer
than it takes to help out, chat a while after, and perhaps
share a quick meal.

Weapon Break: Your foe’s weapon has a weak spot and
in the course of the combat quickly becomes damaged and
moves two steps down the object damage track.

GLAIVE STAT POOLS

Stat Pool Starting Value

Might 11

Speed 10

Intellect 7

You get 6 additional points to divide among your stat Pools
however you wish.

GLAIVE CONNECTION

Roll a d20 or choose from the following list to determine a specific fact about your background that provides a connection
to the rest of the world. You can also create your own fact.

Roll Background

1 You were in the military and have friends who still serve. Your former commander remembers you well.

2 You were the personal guard of a wealthy merchant who accused you of theft. You left her service in disgrace.

3 You were the bouncer in a local bar for a while, and the patrons there remember you.

4 You trained with a highly respected mentor. He regards you well, but he has many enemies.

5 You trained in an isolated monastery far away. The monks think of you as a brother, but you’re a stranger to all others.

6 You have no formal training. Your abilities come to you naturally (or unnaturally).

7 You spent time on the streets and even were in prison for a while.

8 You were conscripted into military service, but you deserted before long.

9 You served as a bodyguard to a powerful criminal who now owes you his life.

10 You worked as a constable. Everyone knows you, but their opinions of you vary.

11 Your older sibling is an infamous glaive who has been disgraced.

12 You served as a caravan guard. You know a smattering of people in many cities and towns.

13 Your best friend is a sage and a scholar. She is a great source of knowledge.

14 You and a friend both smoke the same kind of rare, expensive tobacco. The two of you get together weekly to
chat and smoke.

15 Your uncle runs a theater in town. You know all the actors and watch all the shows for free.

16 Your blacksmith friend sometimes calls on you for help at the forge. However, he pays you well.

17 Your mentor wrote a book on the martial arts. Sometimes other warriors seek you out to ask about its
stranger passages.

18 A man you fought alongside in the military is now the mayor of a nearby town.

19 You saved the lives of a family when their house burned down. They’re indebted to you, and their neighbors
regard you as a hero.

20 Your old trainer still expects you to come back and sharpen her blades and clean up after her classes, but
when you do, she occasionally shares interesting rumors.

First-Tier Glaive

First-tier Glaives have the following abilities. Add them to
the appropriate place on your character sheet, under
Effort, Edge (in the appropriate stat Pool), equipment, and
potentially skills and special abilities:

Effort: Your Effort is 1.

Fighter: You have a Might Edge of 1, a Speed Edge of 1,
and an Intellect Edge of 0.

Combat Prowess: You add +1 damage to one type of attack
of your choice: melee attacks or ranged attacks. Enabler.

Cypher Use: You can bear two cyphers at a time.

Trained in Armor: You can wear armor for long periods
of time without tiring and can compensate for slowed
reactions from wearing armor. You reduce the Speed Effort
cost for wearing armor by 1. Enabler.

Weapons: You can use any weapon without penalty.

Physical Skills: Choose one of the following skills in
which you aren’t already trained: balancing, climbing,
jumping, or swimming. You are trained in this skill.
You have an inability in crafting numenera, salvaging
numenera, and understanding numenera.

Starting Equipment: You start with clothing, two weapons
(or one weapon and a shield), light or medium armor, an
explorer’s pack, two cyphers (chosen for you by the GM),
one oddity (chosen for you by the GM), and 5 shins (coins).
If you start with a ranged weapon that requires ammunition
(arrows, for example), you start with 12 of that type of
ammunition. Before selecting your weapons, armor, and
other gear, you might want to wait until after you’ve chosen
your fighting moves, descriptor, and focus.

Default Starting Cyphers and Oddity: Your GM may
provide you with starting cyphers and an oddity. Otherwise,
you begin with the following.

• Cyphers: density nodule, rejuvenator

• Oddity: Blob of clay that takes on various mysterious
shapes when left alone

Fighting Moves: You have a special talent for combat and
can perform feats that others can barely imagine. These
feats are called fighting moves. Some fighting moves are
constant, ongoing effects, and others are specific actions
that usually cost points from one of your stat Pools.

Choose two of the fighting moves described below. You
can keep track of these in the Special Abilities section
of your character sheet. You can’t choose the same
fighting move more than once unless its description says
otherwise.

• Aggression

• Fleet of Foot

• Impressive Display

• Misdirect

• No Need for Weapons

• Trained Without Armor

Second-Tier Glaive

Second-tier glaives have the following abilities:

Skill With Attacks: Choose one type of attack in which
you are not already trained: light bashing, light bladed, light
ranged, medium bashing, medium bladed, medium ranged,
heavy bashing, heavy bladed, or heavy ranged. You are
trained in attacks using that type of weapon. Enabler.

Fighting Moves: Choose one of the following fighting
moves ( or a move from a lower tier) to add to your
repertoire. In addition, you can replace one of your first-tier
fighting moves with a different first-tier fighting move.

• Chop

• Crush

• Reload

• Skill With Defense

• Successive Attack

Third-Tier Glaive

Third-tier glaives have the following abilities:

Expert Cypher Use: You can bear three cyphers at a time.

Skill With Attacks: Choose one type of attack in which
you are not already trained: light bashing, light bladed, light
ranged, medium bashing, medium bladed, medium ranged,
heavy bashing, heavy bladed, or heavy ranged. You are
trained in attacks using that type of weapon. Enabler.

Fighting Moves: Choose one of the following fighting
moves (or a move from a lower tier) to add to your
repertoire. In addition, you can also replace one of your
lower-tier fighting moves with a different fighting move
from the same lower tier.

• Experienced With Armor

• Lunge

• Slice

• Spray

• Trick Shot

Fourth-Tier Glaive

Fourth-tier glaives have the following abilities:

• Capable Warrior

• Experienced Defender

• Feint

• Minor to Major

• Snipe

Fifth-Tier Glaive

Fifth-tier glaives have the following abilities:

Adept Cypher Use: You can bear four cyphers at a time.

• Arc Spray

• Jump Attack

• Mastery With Armor

• Mastery With Defense

• Parry

Sixth-Tier Glaive

Sixth-tier glaives have the following abilities:

• Finishing Blow

• Slayer

• Spin Attack

• Weapon and Body