The Citizen (now with example characters)

CITIZEN



In the sprawling cities of the civilized world many dangers can be found and met by those brave enough. Cults and thieves' guilds thrive where there are lots of people to feed on, and screen them from their illegal activities. In the cities there are also people who have grown up with the very best of educations, sponsored by affluent and influential parents. These are the citizens. Some citizens take upon them selves to fight cults and thieves but others seek to gain money and power by helping them.

Adventures:
A citizen is a gentleman/lady warrior bred and educated by the finest teachers money can buy. Sometimes a citizen decides to follow in his parents' footsteps and sometimes the citizen may feel confined by his upbringing, striking out on his own. In any case, the citizen is well bred and entirely capable of taking on any challenges a metropolis can present.

Characteristics:
A citizen is trained in a variety of weapons and is quite capable in combat. His skills allow him to excel in urban areas. He knows who's who and where to get the best price. The citizen knows how to deal with people of all layers of society. Citizens are often well dressed and groomed. Their professional nature affords them to buy what finest civilization has to offer.

Alignment:
Citizens can be of any alignment. Their privileged upbringing however gives them a slight lawful bent. Many citizens live by a code of honor, but this is not mandatory. They are free to act as they chose in life.

Religion:
Citizens can be of any religion but they tend to stay with those who have churches in town. This means citizens rarely become followers of wilderness-oriented faiths, for example. It is also common among citizens to pledge allegiance to several different orders.

Background:
Citizens are the sons and daughters of those who have made it in an urban setting. They can be the heirs of nobles, wealthy merchants, or city officials. They have benefited from all the knowledge civilization, by way of teachers and scholars, can pass on to them. Citizens have gained a first rate combat education, as is befitting a duke's heir or niece of the Captain of the watch. They have also been trained in a wide variety of skills needed to make civilization work, such as trade, bookkeeping, or what currently is comme il faut.

Races:
Humans, elves and dwarves are the most common citizens. They have the stable societies necessary to breed such a privileged class. Half-elves, gnomes, and halflings might become citizens in human cities. Half-orcs on the other hand are rarely given such an opportunity.

Other Classes:
Citizens get along favourably with paladins, clerics and bards. They have little in common with rangers and druids and so tries to stay out of their way. Some citizens enjoy the company of rogues yet others feel rogues are the scum of the earth. Fighters and monks have a lot in common with the citizen so they treat each other with respect. Most classes, but perhaps barbarians the most, find the citizen's obvious lack of wilderness skills embarrassing, at best.

Role:
The best role of the citizen is that of scholar and secondary combatant. Citizens make for good leaders as they have way with people and often know several languages.

Abilities:
Citizens benefit from having a high intelligence since many of their skills are depend on it. Since citizens frequently find themselves in combat, strength is also important.

Alignment: Any.
Hit Die: d8.
Class Skills: The citizen's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Bluff (Cha), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disable Device (Int), Disguise (Cha), Forgery (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (architecture and engineering) (Int), Knowledge (local) (Int), Knowledge (nobility and royalty) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Open Lock (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Speak Language.
Skill Points at 1st Level: (4 + Int modifier) x 4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A citizen is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, light armor, medium armor, and shields.

TABLE: The Citizen
Base...................Fort...Ref...Will
Level.Attack Bonus.....Save...Save..Save..Special

1.....+1................+2....+0....+2....Bonus feat, Private Tutoring, Tenderfoot
2.....+2................+3....+0....+3....Bonus feat..............................
3.....+3................+3....+1....+3............................................
4.....+4................+4....+1....+4............................................
5.....+5................+4....+1....+4............................................
6.....+6/+1.............+5....+2....+5....Bonus feat..............................
7.....+7/+2.............+5....+2....+5............................................
8.....+8/+3.............+6....+2....+6............................................
9.....+9/+4.............+6....+3....+6............................................
10...+10/+5.............+7....+3....+7....Bonus feat..............................
11...+11/+6/+1..........+7....+3....+7............................................
12...+12/+7/+2..........+8....+4....+8............................................
13...+13/+8/+3..........+8....+4....+8............................................
14...+14/+9/+4..........+9....+4....+9....Bonus feat..............................
15...+15/+10/+5.........+9....+4....+9............................................
16...+16/+11/+6/+1.....+10....+5...+10............................................
17...+17/+12/+7/+2.....+10....+5...+10............................................
18...+18/+13/+8/+3.....+11....+6...+11....Bonus feat..............................
19...+19/+14/+9/+4.....+11....+6...+11............................................
20...+20/+15/+10/+5....+12....+6...+12............................................

Bonus feat: At 1st level, a citizen gets a bonus combat-oriented feat in addition to the feat that any 1st-level character gets and the bonus feat granted to a human character. The citizen gains an additional bonus feat at 2nd level and every four citizen levels thereafter (6th, 10th, 14th, 18th). These bonus feats must be drawn from the feats noted as fighter bonus feats. A citizen must still meet all prerequisites for a bonus feat, including ability score and base attack bonus minimums.
These bonus feats are in addition to the feat that a character of any class gets from advancing levels. A citizen is not limited to the list of fighter bonus feats when choosing these feats.

Private Tutoring: At 1st level, a citizen gets a bonus feat chosen from the following list to represent the excellent education a citizen has been given: Deceitful, Diligent, Investigator, Negotiator, Nimble Fingers, Persuasive, or Skill Focus applied to any one Knowledge.

Tenderfoot: Citizens are the only characters who cannot use the Survival skill untrained. If a citizen is forced to make a Survival check, the citizen is assumed to have failed. A citizen who spends two skill points to gain 1 rank in cross-class Survival can use the skill as normal.
A citizen who gains a level in any other class automatically overcomes this limitation. Any other character who gains a citizen level is not limited in this way.

Example Characters:

Amala, female Czn 1 (princess): CR 1; Medium Human (5 ft.3in. tall); HD 1d8+1; hp 9; Init +1; Spd 30 ft.; AC 12 (+1 dex, +1 dodge); Atks +3 (1d4, masterwork dagger) or +3 ranged (1d4, masterwork dagger); AL N; SV Fort +3, Ref +1, Will +3; Str 10, Dex 12, Con 13, Int 15, Wis 8, Cha 14.
Skills: Bluff +6, Disguise +8, Forgery +4, Intimidate +4 (cc), Knowledge (nobility and royalty) +6, Perform (sing) +6, Ride +6, Sense Motive +3. Feats: Deceitful, Dodge, Iron Will, Weapon Finesse. Traits: Tenderfoot

Ohrncroft, male Czn 4 (slave trader): CR 4; Medium Human (6 ft.1in. tall); HD 4d8+4; hp 25; Init +1; Spd 20 ft.; AC 16 (+1 dex, breastplate); Atks +9 (1d3§+3, masterwork whip); AL LE; SV Fort +8, Ref +2, Will +3; Str 16, Dex 13, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 14.
Skills: Appraise +7, Diplomacy +5, Bluff +9, Intimidate +4 (cc), Profession (trader) +6, Sense Motive +6. Feats: Exotic Weapon Proficiency (whip), Great Fortitude, Improved Grapple, Improved Unarmed Strike, Weapon Focus (whip), Persuasive. Traits: Tenderfoot

Carwen Silversteel, male Czn 12 (knight): CR 12; Medium Human (6 ft. tall); HD 12d8+24; hp 81; Init -1; Spd 20 ft.; AC 19 (-1 dex, +8 full plate, large steel shield +2); Atks +18/+13/+8 (1d8+4, masterwork longsword); AL LG; SV Fort +10, Ref +3, Will +8; Str 18, Dex 8, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 13.
Skills: Diplomacy +20, Handle Animal +8 (cc), Heal +15, Knowledge (nobility and royalty) +15, Perform (oratory) +16, Ride +16, Sense Motive +2, Survival +1 (cc). Feats: Cleave, Diehard, Endurance, Heavy Armor Proficiency, Mounted Combat, Negotiator, Power Attack, Ride by Attack, Spirited Charge, Weapon Focus (lance), Weapon Focus (longsword).

First, this is a weak class (if it's intended to be balanced with PC classes... it's better than the warrior, but not even close to the fighter).

Second, what's with the BA jump at 18th level? Look at the last attack if you don't know what I mean.

CRGreathouse said:

First, this is a weak class (if it's intended to be balanced with PC classes... it's better than the warrior, but not even close to the fighter).

Second, what's with the BA jump at 18th level? Look at the last attack if you don't know what I mean.

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If you don't mind me asking: Why do you find it weak?

The BA jump is a type-o.

edit: you fixed it

Behind the scenes

I got the idea for this class whilst playing in our current campaign. It's a city based campaign and it seems a lot of the abilities we have are redundant. We have little or no use for a number of abilities, such as trap finding or turn undead. We are fish out of water. On the other hand the game sports a lot of skills that aren't readily available to our classes, such as appraise or gather information. My character is a cleric and I do have gather information but it's cross class which means I'll never become any good at it.

I wanted the class to be a mix of fighter and rogue. The reason I didn't simply make a recipe for a multi-class fighter/rogue is that the rogue comes with a lot of bagage. All rogues have sneak attack, for instance. Something that can't rhyme with all civilized men.

In order to be able to fight I gave the class the best possible BAB. This is the result of a first rate education. I was thinking Paul Atreides from Dune here. Paul knows how to fight for he has been trained to do so since he was a toddler. It stands to reason that the heirs of nobility, in dangerous world, would be given such training. On the other hand, the citizen lacks the grit of fighters and barbarians so I opted for a lower hit die; d8.

The class has two good saves. Fort and Will. Fort is the result of good nourishing food throughout the character's upbringing. Will is the result of having to deal with a lot of abstract concepts, something a city slicker might be subjected to more than say, for example a peasant hero. I didn't want a good ref save as there are a whole slew of swashbuckling write-ups already. The citizen is not a swashbuckler, although it could probably be used as such by taking mobility instead of tumble for instance.

I chose class skills with two things in mind. I wanted skills that an educated person would have and also I wanted to bring out the less commonly used skills in the open. The skills are those I'd imagine a gentleman detective, such as Sherlock Holmes would have. Also since the class lacks the no-brainers such as tumble, spot, and climb, characters with this class will automatically get a different flavour than other characters. I.e. Knowledge (local) is a very interesting skill. However, it's low profile and the general lack of skill points makes it extremely rare. (At least in my experience. Keep in mind that your game probably is not quite the same as mine.)

I really like the idea of bonus feats rather than special abilities. I find feats more interesting since they can be used to define my character. Special abilities sometimes ruin any attempts at uniqueness. You simply have to come up with a reason for your scholar to have learned the art of sneak attacking, for you do get it whether you like it or not. (You may substitute sneak attack for inspire competence by music in the above sentence if you want.)

Naturally the fighter is the feat master of the game so it's not very nice (or good game design) to assign as many bonus feats as the fighter gets. I think half the number of bonus feats (6 instead of 11) is quite enough without stealing too much of the fighter's thunder. I also stripped heavy armor proficiency off the list. Not because I can't see the citizen wearing full plate but rather that he maybe wouldn't want too. The citizen can wear heavy armor, but it fits the character to take the penalty for it.

I chose four skill points rather than six for two reasons. First, the ranger has six skill points but that is due to the ranger's class skills. Rangers simply must invest twice as many skill points in their basic skills than others. Rangers need spot AND listen and they need move silently AND hide. This means that the six skill points of a ranger is not exactly three times as many as the cleric's two. Secondly, bards get six skill points too. Since citizens fight better than bards it's only fair if the bard is the better of the two when it comes to knowledge. (Other abilities of the bard supports this.)

I didn't want to add a lot of flavor schticks to the citizen as I want it to be versatile. It is a mix of fighter and rogue, after all. Still I needed something to define the character and I chose to invent an opposite of the barbarian's illiteracy: tenderfoot. Tenderfoot will keep the citizen where he belongs (in civilization) or make for some interesting role-playing if the citizen accompanies a group of rangers and barbarians into the wilderness. You might have met people without any wilderness experience in real life, and if so you know how awkwardly they can behave when faced with the great outdoors.

A lot of the character of a citizen will be define more by what the class lacks rather than what he has. With special abilities comes special responsibilities. If you can heal you are required to heal. If you can detect evil the party will rely on you to do so. If you lack these abilities you are free to make yourself useful in other, less obvious ways. This is strength in my book. Add to this the citizen's rather unusual class skills and I think the citizen might be useful, not only in a city setting, but also when the party goes spelunking: "Hm, what strange runes... I remember seeing something like this in my father's library. Hm.. let's see..."

RoastSlinky said:

Why doesn't he get bonus skill points from Int?

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Of course he does.

He's still a little weak... possibly give him Uncanny Dodge, or something?

LOL. Yeah. I'll consider it. But it wont be uncanny dodge since a low ref save and no dex skills hardly warrants it.

Added picture:

They can be the heirs of nobles, wealthy merchants, or city officials.

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My main problem with this class is its name; Citizen does sound too near to commoner to me. Since the description somewhat emphasizes they are born to the social upper classes, maybe they could be called "Patrician" or "Gentlemen".

Otherwise, I would give them feats at 1st, 5th, 10th, 15th and 20th level instead; would give them acess to only simple weapons, plus longsword, shortsword, rapier, and crossboww. I don't see why this class should know how to wield bows and axes which really look like peasant weapons. Then, I would only give them light armors (I don't see why they would be trained wearing heavy armor around, only fighters whose job is to fight learn it). However, for all these restrictions, give them 6 skill points per level (4 is too weak for this concept), plus Uncanny Dodge.

Just my 2 cents of course...

Turanil said:

My main problem with this class is its name; Citizen does sound too near to commoner to me. Since the description somewhat emphasizes they are born to the social upper classes, maybe they could be called "Patrician" or "Gentlemen".

Click to expand...

This is interesting. Perhaps your french ear picks other connotations to the word citizen than I do. However citizen implies a legal inhabitant with certain rights and responsibilities. Something the word commoner does not to the same extent. I imagine that the word I'm going for is the french "citadin" as opposed to "paysans". (Forgive me if my french is not up to the highest standards.)

I should add that I think of the citizens of Starship Troopers when I hear it. In Starship Troopers only citizens are allowed to vote for example. Also the expression senior citizen implies a certain amount of respect tied to the word.