New NPC class - Tradesman

I've never been happy with 3e's ultra-crappy Commoner class. I've decided to replace it with a Tradesman class that also subsumes the Expert class. It's based on the 1e DMG's division of 0-level NPCs into sedentary, active & labouring, with inspiration from Masque of the Red Death's Tradesman class and d20 Call of Cthulu's Offensive/Defensive character split.

TRADESMAN & EXPERT

The Tradesman class replaces the Commoner for most purposes. The Expert is a subset of Tradesman.

TRADESMAN

Hit Die: d4 (sedentary), d6 (active), or d8 (labouring).

Skill Points at 1st Level: x4 standard per-level.

Skill Points at Each Level:
d4 hit die (Sedentary): 8 + Int modifier. The Tradesman can choose any twelve skills to be class skills.
d6 hit die (Active): 6 + Int modifier. The Tradesman can choose any ten skills to be class skills.
d8 hit die (Labouring): 4 + Int modifier. The Tradesman can choose any eight skills to be class skills.

Saving Throws & Base Attack Bonus
The Tradesman can choose any one Save to be his good save, based on his profession - eg Fortitude for a miner, Reflex for a thief, Will for a priest. In this case they use the good (3/4) Base Attack Bonus.

The Tradesman may alternatively opt to have two good saves, in which case they use the poor Base Attack Bonus (1/2).


Table: The Tradesman

(mucked-up-by c/p table):


NPC Level Base Attack
Bonus Good/Poor Poor
Save Poor
Save Good
Save
1st +0/+0 +0 +0 +2
2nd +1/+1 +0 +0 +3
3rd +2/+1 +1 +1 +3
4th +3/+2 +1 +1 +4
5th +3/+2 +1 +1 +4
6th +4/+3 +2 +2 +5
7th +5/+3 +2 +2 +5
8th +6/+4 +2 +2 +6
9th +6/+4 +3 +3 +6
10th +7/+5 +3 +3 +7
11th +8/+5 +3 +3 +7
12th +9/+6 +4 +4 +8
13th +9/+6 +4 +4 +8
14th +10/+7 +4 +4 +9
15th +11/+7 +5 +5 +9
16th +12/+8 +5 +5 +10
17th +12/+8 +5 +5 +10
18th +13/+9 +6 +6 +11
19th +14/+9 +6 +6 +11
20th +15/+10 +6 +6 +12

Class Features
The following is a class feature of the Tradesman NPC class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The Tradesman is proficient in the use of all simple weapons and with light armor but not shields.

Pretty neat, but it seems OVERLY flexible to me.

For instance, you could end up with some odd combinations, like a Sedentary character with the better BAB. Would that make sense in some situations?

Alternatively the Sedentary type could have the (1/2) BAB progression, a good Will save, and choice of good Fortitude or Reflexes.

Labouring could have the (3/4) BAB progression and a good Fortitude save.

Active would have choice?

I don't know, this was just a thought that crossed my mind. Your system looks pretty good.

CCamfield said:

Pretty neat, but it seems OVERLY flexible to me.

For instance, you could end up with some odd combinations, like a Sedentary character with the better BAB. Would that make sense in some situations?

Alternatively the Sedentary type could have the (1/2) BAB progression, a good Will save, and choice of good Fortitude or Reflexes.

Labouring could have the (3/4) BAB progression and a good Fortitude save.

Active would have choice?

I don't know, this was just a thought that crossed my mind. Your system looks pretty good.

Click to expand...

Thanks

Re sedentary character with good BAB - I thought about this; there's no reason why someone couldn't be moderately well skilled with weapons while engaged in a sedentary occupation (in fact many modern American gun enthusiasts might fit this). The two alternatives you postulate are already catered for; the one thing it doesn't allow for as written, that I think might be wanted, is a sedentary character with poor BAB & only a good Will save (poor Ref & Fort), this Sage-like character should probably get something like an extra 2 skill points, so 10/level. Likewise a Labouring type could have Fighter BAB in return for 2 less skill points - ie the Warrior.