The Gladiator

This is a subclass of fighter and is strongly modeled after the Duelist class from Dragon Magazine #73

Requirements and abilities: Same as Fighter except as provided below:
Prime requisite: While fighters are specialists in dealing out damage, Gladiators are specialists in taking damage and enduring long, exhausting fights. They must have a constitution of at least 12. If their constitution is 16 or greater they receive a +10% experience bonus
Hit Dice: d12
Armor: Any* +1 AC bonus when using gladiatorial armor - see arms and equipment
Shield: Yes
Weapons: Any* it cost twice the weapon proficiency slots to become proficient in a weapon that is not a gladiatorial weapon - see arms and equipment.
Oil and poison: no
Attacks per round:
   1-4 level: 1/1
   5-9 level: 3/2
   10-14 level: 2/1
   15 level: 5/2
Weapon proficiencies: 3 +1/3 levels, -2 for non-proficiency

           0 - 2,500      1    1d12  Beginner
    2,501 - 5,000      2    2d12  Bestarius
    5,001 - 10,000    3    3d12  Brawler
  10,001 - 20,000    4    4d12  Challenger
  20,001 - 40,000    5    5d12  Contender
  40,001 - 80,000    6    6d12  Lanista
  80,001 - 160,000  7    7d12  Ludus
160,001 - 320,000  8    8d12  Rudis
320,001 - 640,000  9    9d12  Gladiator
Each level beyond 9th the experience point requirement double but no additional hit dice are gained, instead the gains 3 hit points instead, plus any constitution bonus.

Special Abilities:
Bloody Combat:
Gladiators are specialists in taking damage and showing it. This is expressed in two ways. First the Gladiator uses d12 hit dice each level. Second, the bonus hit points for their Constitution are doubled for Gladiators (e.g. +8 per level for an 18 Constitution). This is not that the Gladiator is healthy than others (except that they tend to have excellent Constitutions) but that they are specifically trained on how to take minor and showy bloody hits while at the same time avoiding more serious blows.

Gladiatorial weapon specialization:
The gladiator begins with a weapon specialization specific to his primary style of gladiatorial combat. For example: a Retiarius which fights with a net and trident begins with a free weapon specialization in either net or trident or a Sagittarius begins with weapon specialization in the bow. For purposes of further weapon specialization the gladiator can increase his mastery of this weapon as if he were a fighter three levels higher than his actual level. High level gladiators are often high masters, or even (much more rarely but more commonly than fighters) grand masters of their particular weapon of focus.

Parry the Death Blow:
The gladiator is out to win... but not at the cost of dying for it if it can be avoided. When he is hit by a blow that would have caused him to be reduced to 0 or negative hit-points he can make a saving throw verses death. If successful he manages to block the blow, but is thrown off balance and cannot attack until the next round as he recovers. If the fail saves then the gladiator is reduced to 1 hp. This is traditionally the time he must decide to yield, fake being dead, or fight to the death. This ability to parry the death blow can be used multiple times in the same combat but each use has a cumulative -2 penalty to the save. Note that for this ability to work there must be an actual blow to, a Gladiator reduced to -15 hit points by a red dragon's breath while out adventuring cannot parry the flames and is just as crispy as the next guy.

Evasion:
The gladiator has a chance equal to 5% per level of evasion as per a thief acrobat. He also receives the same bonuses/penalties as the acrobat for race, armor and dexterity that apply to that skill. However, using evasion costs the gladiator an attack with their weapon for that round (e.g. a low level gladiator who can attack only 1 per round could either attack or evade but not both, a higher level gladiator with three attacks per round could elect to forgo all their attacks and attempt to evade three attacks that would otherwise hit him, or attack twice and attempt one evasion, etc.) The gladiator must have initiative to use this skill and decide how many of their attacks they will forgo to reserve the right to attempt an evasion(s). Then when an opponent attacks, after the attack roll had been made and determined it would be a hit, but before damage is announced, the gladiator may decides if that is an attack to attempt he wishes to attempt to evade or not.

Working the Crowd:
There is a strong connection between the gladiator and his audience which feeds upon itself. For every natural 20 the gladiator rolls the crowd's excitement mounts and the gladiator receives a +1 to all future d20 rolls for the combat. However for every natural 1 the gladiator rolls he receives a -1 to all future d20 rolls during the combat as the crowd looses interest and begins to boo and jeer. If the gladiator manages to use his evasion (see above) to avoid what would have been a critical hit by his opponent then he gains a +2 to his modifier for the rest of the battle. At the DMs discretion other effects can increase or decrease modifiers such as the gladiator being successful with an exceptionally daring move.

The Rewards of Victory:
For every public combat that the gladiator wins he earns extra experience points. The amount of extra experience points is his "Working the Crowd" bonus at the end of the combat (but not less than 1) multiplied by the number of hit dice in the audience watching the fight. (e.g. a gladiator finishes with a +4 Working the Crowd bonus after a long and exciting fight before a crowd of 200 0-level commoners, 40 1st level individuals and a 5th level local lord. this nets him 4 x 245 or 980 in bonus experience for the fight.) He also gains experience for whatever money he is paid or wins for the fight and the actual experience for the fight itself.

Social Standing:
The social standing of a gladiator varies from place to place. In may countries they are infamous and lowly having come from the ranks of the slaves and criminals. Other lands have gladiatorial traditions where private citizens battle for their personal glory and the masses honor them. However in any of these traditions the successful gladiator is well known and even idolized by the masses, if not by the upper classes. Gladiators have the following modifiers to their reaction checks:
    -6 when dealing with upper class individuals
    +1 for each public combat they have won in the last year in that area
    +2 for each public combat they have won that the individual has personally witnessed
    +1/2 their gladiator level with people who's wisdom is greater or equal to their gladiator level
    +1 for each gladiator level with people who's wisdom is less than their gladiator level