Spartans RISE!

[GoodbyeSoberDay]

So you either want D&D's model of a historical spartan, the same for a 300-style Spartan, or you want a Spartan-style character.

1. Historical spartan.

I tentatively agree with Awa on the broad strokes, although I still think Spartans made some professional soldiers look like militia. Plato, an Athenian who wasn't a big fan of Sparta, pretty much goes out of his way in Laches to imply that the Spartans know courage in a way other Greeks simply couldn't. And while Plato's probably full of himself and/or male cow waste products, other, slightly more reputable historical accounts also point to Spartans being a superior group of professional soldiers, if not the most tactically-minded.

- Herodotus' account of the events of Thermopylae point to a level of skill and bravery beyond mere soldiery.
- There are a variety of famous quotes, but this one is my favorite (ripped from wiki): "[Phillip II of Macedon] proclaims claims "You are advised to submit without further delay, for if I bring my army into your land, I will destroy your farms, slay your people, and raze your city." The Spartan ephors sent back a one word reply: "If."[17] Subsequently, both Philip and Alexander would avoid Sparta entirely."
- In 272 BC, far after Sparta's zenith, Pyrrhus attempted to take Sparta while its regular army was campaigning elsewhere. A fraction of Sparta's army along with Spartan civilians, including women, outnumbered, fought off an experienced mercenary army led by one of the best tacticians of the Hellenistic age.

All that said, they're probably a bunch of Warrior 3s with improved stat lines, phalanx-related feats, and a regional bonus to morale-based conditions. They're human, and they're very vulnerable to D&D magic (good ol' Fireball has its uses, 'yknow). Not the unstoppable killing machines Frank Miller may have led you to believe. Speaking of which...

2. 300-style Spartans

Level 7+ warblade, relatively unarmored, maybe with some swordsage, crusader, knight, or marshal thrown in. Very cheesy in all senses of the word. If the enemies' arrows will blot out the sun, you'll Iron Heart Surge the sun away first so you can fight in the shade forever.

3. Spartan-themed D&D warrior

Warblade is also appropriate for Spartans whose main power isn't making your fellow players roll their eyes (will negates). If you really just want to be a relatively immobile bulwark of defense, you could go Crusader or Knight or Fighter or Barbarian or some combination; note that getting reach on that spear of yours and grabbing the various crowd control feats is close to a necessity in this case, and in any event makes sense in the context of the D&D world.

Here's the thing. You could build this out in so many ways it makes my mind boggle. All you really have to do to fit the Spartan mold is as follows:

- Be not only brave, but eager to face fights against enormous odds. Sounds pretty standard for a D&D adventurer. The Spartan standby "with this shield or on it," or in other words refusing to flee a battle, is non-standard... aaand you might want to bend this one. Greeks did tend to make use out of false-retreat tactics, and refusing to be routed was in the context of a large-scale battle, defending or conquering for your home.
- Own/carry on you only what you can use to kill someone or to facilitate killing someone. Again, sounds pretty standard for a D&D adventurer. Of course, a Spartan probably isn't in the adventuring game for treasure, which is the standard #1 reason to do it. He's probably in it for reason #2, killing things.
- Sharpen that laconic wit. This is the most important part of playing a Spartan. You could be a bookish batman wizard and still play a Spartan if you make those short, sweet responses at the right times. Wait, there's one thing that's more important in being a true Spartan...
- Calisthenics before battle. That's right, if you're expecting a fight, do those jumping jacks. Doing them OOC as well heightens the realism.

Good luck in your fight against those decadent Athenians and hubristic Persians.