The Extras class for 5e

See the pictures below? Those folks are you. The faceless mob milling in the background, the bumbling pirate crew, the crazy bandits, the friendly goblin horde. Forget about the poseurs in the foreground, you can be the heroes getting things done!

A 5e class based on Joseph Minola's Extras, with stolen material from Coins & Scrolls' Many Goblins. Now with a 1/30 chance every session of a Spherelet of Annihilation.

Extras are working class heroes like this.

QUESTIONS

Can Extras split into multiple groups?

No, they're scared to be alone so they always huddle up. (Or what do I care. Do it after level 2 so that you can send a named character with each group. Split hit points evenly and don't double limited use powers. )

Can they multiclass?

Gods, let's burn that bridge when we come to it. Bard Extras - a back-up band. Druid Extras - who brought the rat plague? Wizard Extras - apprentices on spring break. Warlock Extras - your very own cult.

Can Extras keep each other as a pet? Can they dual wield each other?

Let's not go there again.

With Named Character looking up at the camera. Is it bad if I can't remember his name right now?

BASIC ABILITIES

• hp: d12
• saves: str, con
• armor: light/medium armor, shields
• weapons: simple and martial
• proficiencies: pick any two
• equipment: leather armor, handaxe, dungeoneer's pack, 10gp
• background: anything available, really. Gain 1x the equipment for your background.

The Extras move in one single mob of ideally 20x20 feet. There are 1d12 + 6 of them present at any given time. This affects exactly zero of their abilities. Extras act as one character with only one attack per round (except for the Named Characters ability).

 

Yeeesss, you're starting to get it

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Sharesies - the Extras share one HP pool and count as one person for healing, area effects and traps. For each 5 damage taken, one Extra drops or dies semi-comically. You know how they sound. Save-or-die spells affect only one of them, other single target spells affect all of them at once. Watch out for Charm Person.

Extras need 10 of each item before they can benefit from it mechanically. They weirdly consume rations and ammunition as if there were only 1 of them.

They can be given and can use a magic item, but only once per scene unless you manage to scrounge up 10 copies. The happy extra with the Ring of Deflection steps up to raise the Extra's AC by 1 just in time to cause the arrow to miss, and then is absorbed back into the mob.

Or just hand out the slashy-slashy and get this show on the road.

So hard to get good help - Extras are, in case you hadn't figured this out, inept and bumbling fools. As such, they tend to lose things, forget to bring tools, get tired and generally be less helpful than you'd think a highly underpaid mob of henchmen would be. The Extras have equipment slots equal to their Strength score like a single character; items worn like armor, shields and weapons do not count against these equipment slots, but don't count on them carrying the entire expedition's gear. Any exces gear doesn't cause encumbrance - it's just lost, forgotten, ruined and so on.

While they remember (or can be arsed to), the Extras can perform the work of 10 men, like rowing, standing watch, digging a trench, hauling a statue.

You will be avenged - once the Extras hit 0 HP, they die comically except for the named characters, who become individual fighter characters at 1d4 x 10% their max hit points. The first named character is 2 levels lower than the Extras (minimum 1), the others are a third the level of the Extras, rounded down (also minimum 1). All ability scores (strength to charisma) are the same as the original Extras at that level. Any expended abilities (second wind, indomitable) are expended if the Extras expended them.

If all these named characters make it back to safety (town, ship, tree fort), they can recruit a new band of Extras at their original level, at the cost of 10 gp per level. If any die, one named character continues adventuring with the rest of the party while the others head for greener pastures.

 

Extras: getting things done in the background.

CLASS ABILITIES

1. second wind, named character
2. jack of all trades, named character
3. you mean one of these, named character
4. ability score improvement or feat, named character
5. fighting style, named character
6. ability score improvement or feat, named character
7. named character
8. ability score improvement or feat, named character
9. indomitable, named character
10. whirlwind attack, named character

Second wind - as fighter level 1

Named character - one of the Extras stands out with their own personality. Ten words max. "Bob the Goat - smells like cheese - klepto" is perfect. A named character may take one independent action per scene in addition to mob's action, then fade back into the general mass. Every level, create another named character. Each named character may take an extra action once per scene, and only one named character may take such an action per round.

Did you know? "That one orc with the skull as a hat" in LotR3 actually had a name. Guritz. Never forget.

Jack of all Trades - as bard level 2.

You mean one of these? - once per scene, the Extras manage to produce Something of Dubious Provenance. The item is good for one use. Once per session, the Extras may produce a Where The Hell Did You Find That?

Ability score improvement or feat - may add +2 to one ability score or +1 to two ability scores (maximum of 20), OR may choose a feat for which they qualify. See below for permissible feats.

Indomitable - as fighter level 9

Whirlwind attack - as ranger (hunter) level 11, once per short rest.

When the Extras player says "like in Pirates of the Caribbean" and you say "sure" and they say "and I want the background where you get a second identity" and you're not really paying attention. 

Feats for the Extras

charger, crossbow expert, dual wielder, durable, grappler, great weapon master, healer, heavily armored, heavy armor master, linguist, lucky, mage slayer, magic initiate, medium armor master, ritual caster, savage attacker, sharpshooter, shield master, skilled, skulker, tavern brawler, tough

d100 Something of Dubious Provenance

Extras scrounge up the weirdest things. Don't ask how they got it, don't ask why it's cracked and dirty or why it smells this bad - ignore all that and see if you can put it to good use.

(Sources: Jeff Rients' Deck of Stuff, Coins & Scrolls' Actually Medieval Professions)

1. alms bowl
2. bag of coal
3. bag of flour
4. bag of manure
5. bag of salt
6. bag of vegetables
7. bagpipes
8. barrel
9. bear trap
10. bearskin cloak
11. block and tackle
12. bone dice
13. book of poetry
14. book of star tables
15. bottle of fortified wine
16. bottle of strong liquor
17. broom
18. bundle of rags
19. bundle of wood
20. bundle of wound wool
21. cake of soap
22. caltrops (5)
23. candles (3)
24. cask of ale
25. chain, 15'
26. chalk, 5 pieces
27. crow-beaked mask
28. crowbar, cold iron
29. cube of incense
30. deck of marked cards
31. deer pelt
32. devotional statue
33. dose of poison
34. fancy clothes
35. fine wine, 1 bottle
36. fishing rod & tackle
37. flask of oil
38. flint, steel, and tinder
39. foppish wig
40. glass jar
41. grappling hook
42. grave marker
43. groin cup
44. guard's livery
45. hammer and chisel
46. helmet
47. horn
48. iron lockbox
49. iron pot
50. iron spikes (3)
51. iron tongs
52. jar of grease
53. jar of honey
54. jar of leeches
55. jar of worms
56. lantern
57. leather bag
58. loaf of bread
59. lute
60. magnifying glass
61. manacles
62. map (foreign lands)
63. metal file
64. monk's habit
65. necklace of teeth
66. needles (10)
67. net (10')
68. palette and pigments
69. pipe and 3 doses of opium
70. pocketful of nails
71. pot of glue
72. quality cloak
73. quill, ink and sheath of parchment
74. ration: fruits and nuts
75. rations (3)
76. religious tome
77. rope, 30'
78. scissors
79. screwdriver, file
80. sealable scroll case
81. set of scales
82. silver ring
83. spyglass
84. stepladder
85. stuffed cat
86. tablet with chalk
87. tarot deck
88. ten-foot pole
89. tiny barrel of beer
90. torch
91. two yards of linen
92. vials of dye (4)
93. waterproof bag
94. wax seal stamp
95. wheel of cheese
96. wheelbarrow
97. wicker basket
98. winter clothes
99. wire scraps, bending tools
100. wooden bucket

d30 Where The Hell Did You Find That?

Just like Something of Dubious Provenance, these items are on their last legs. They have one scene of use left in them, then crumble, turn to ash or disappear. If the item is not used in the hour after the Extras produce it, it gets harmlessly lost again.

(Sources: 5e magic items, Coins & Scrolls potions)

1. Bag of Devouring
2. Broom of Flying
3. Chime of Opening
4. Decanter of Endless Water / Eversmoking Bottle
5. Dust of Sneezing and Choking
6. Folding Boat
7. Immovable Rod
8. Javelin of Lightning, single use
9. Lantern of Revealing
10. Portable Hole
11. Sphere of Annihilation, 1 footinch diameter
12. Potion of Gaseous Form - 30 minutes, fly speed of 5.
13. Potion of Healing - 2d8+3 hit points
14. Potion of Invisibility - d6 rounds (self or object)
15. Potion of Petrification - turns creature or object to stone or vice versa
16. Potion of Polymorph - add a piece of a creature, transform into it (30 min same species; d6 rounds other species)
17. Potion of Shrink - you or object coated shrink 12 times. Lasts 30 minutes.
18. Potion of Sovereign Glue - glues anything to anything, forever.
19. Potion of Sovereign Grease - coated 5' surface becomes perfectly frictionless.
20. Potion of Universal Solvent - dissolves any adhesive, sovereign glue and sovereign grease.
21. Potion of Burrow - Burrow speed of 15 in dirt (not stone), 30 minutes. Or 6 person burrow.
22. Potion of Cloudkill - die if you drink it; or create 20' cloud (d6 Con/round; Con 14 for half)
23. Potion of Deep Sleep - sleep for 30 minutes and cannot be woken by any means.
24. Potion of Ethereality - become an invisible ghost for 1d6 rounds.
25. Potion of Haste - take an extra round at the end of every round after everyone else, d6 rounds. Age 1 year per round.
26. Potion of Hide From (d3) 1-2 Animals, 3 Undead.
27. Potion of Love - fall in love with the first person you see after drinking this potion.
28. Potion of Raise Dead - die and revive unharmed after 30 minutes. If poured in the mouth of a corpse, it permanently returns an a zombie. It is not under anyone's control.
29. Potion of Sovereign Acid - melts through anything except glass and adamantine, all the way to Hell. Lethal if drunk, and messily so.
30. Potion of Void Element - (d8) 1-3 metal, 4-5 wood, 6-7 stone, 8 earth - become intangible to this material for 30 minutes; it moves right through you. Do not drink a number 8 when standing on unworked earth, or number 4-5 on board a ship.

Pratchett's Nac Mac Feegle: the ultimate in Extras. Provide ample amounts of moonshine and don't ask where they got the sheep. Or the trussed up prince.