D&D 5E Do Classes Have Concrete Meaning In Your Game?

[empireofchaos]

It's more interesting to me when they are, precisely because then metagame concepts are transformed into more tangible categories. Specialties in a class are called "archetypes" - they are modeled after particular heroic characters, which means they are really narratives that people in a game world accept, to varying degrees, construct identities around. Broader classes are really no different, and if you look at the history of the game, the more successful classes are patterned after paradigmatic heroes - Conan, Strider, Gandalf, Archbishop Turpin, etc. The notion that similar people in your world founded orders, or inspired others to follow in their footsteps is hardly far-fetched.

That said, just because someone identifies themselves with a particular class doesn't necessarily mean they belong to it in some sort of "objective" sense. Kind of like when more than 80% of Americans identify as "middle class"...

 

[Miladoon]

A class might not but a piper will carry the pipes! And wear a kilt at the same time.

I have him at Fighter1/Sorcerer1

I want to play a goblin bard (necromancer) that plays a panfulte to animate the remains of dead adventurers and brings them to their home-graveyard.

 

[Imaculata]

I have a player in my pirate campaign, who plays a bard. But he IS a pirate captain. If someone were to ask him, "what are you?", he would answer, "I'm a captain". He wouldn't answer "I'm a bard". Sure, he has bardic spells, and uses bardic knowledge. Mechanically he is a bard, but in game he is simply a captain of a ship who has seen a lot, and knows lots of songs and tales.

I have a druid on the other hand, who is also a pirate. If you were to ask him the same question, it really could go either way. Because being a Druid, a Wizard, or Sorcerer, are specific professions in my setting. They could also be pirates, because one thing does not exclude the other. Heck, I have a whole culture of witch-pirates.

As for rogues and warriors, I don't think any character in my campaign would say that they are either of those things. A warrior might consider himself an adventurer, or a hired sword. Or just a pirate. Same for a rogue. No one would say that they are a rogue.

 

[Miladoon]

Which campaign to run witch-pirates?

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Shendorion]

It depends on the class. Some classes represent members of orders and organizations; some are just labels that exist entirely outside of the narrative to define a suite of abilities. Even in the case of a class based in an organization, it's not a hard and fast rule - you can be a high ranking priest in the church without being a cleric. You can be a high level cleric without holding high office in the church of your patron god; wandering miracle workers don't tend to head up large organizations.

I never liked by World of Warcraft character being called a rogue by the NPCs. He was a knight of the Cenarion Circle who did emissary work because he was good at long distance travel and hopeless at nature magic. Incidentally, a knight of the Cenarion Circle went lightly armed and armored and travelled mainly alone and unseen. Since there's no character class for that, I used what the game called a rogue to achieve the concept. The label the game put on the character didn't doom him to a life of crime or ill repute, or even stylishly dark clothing with lots of blades on it. The mechanics stayed under the hood, and the concept stayed above board, as innocent of common crime as of chivalry or witchcraft.

 

[empireofchaos]

So if a rogue is not a rogue, how would he or she explain the fact that all rogues (and they only, more or less) speak thieves' cant? Obviously this doesn't mean that they share something that makes them irreducibly different from everyone else, but they do share something, something that they practice specifically because it sets them apart from everyone else.

 

[Minigiant]

In my Six Kingdom setting, no.

In my New York Arcana setting, yes.

 

[hawkeyefan]

So if a rogue is not a rogue, how would he or she explain the fact that all rogues (and they only, more or less) speak thieves' cant? Obviously this doesn't mean that they share something that makes them irreducibly different from everyone else, but they do share something, something that they practice specifically because it sets them apart from everyone else.

They learned to speak a form of jargon. This could happen out of necessity, desire, association, or study. So it could vary.

Perhaps the character was raised by members of a thieves guild. Perhaps the character is a sheriff and hunts thieves and has learned cant in order to make his job easier. These characters may be rogues, but if asked why they know thieves cant, none of them would say "I understand thieves cant because I'm a rogue". They may as well add "I got it at first level."

 

[Miladoon]

While I completely respect your desire to play the game in exactly the way that gives you the most fun ...

Between this and the bagpipes, your playing style sounds exactly like the terrible D&D nightmare I had after an unfortunate visit to Taco Bell and the food poisoning associated with it.

thanks for being nice and crapping on me at the same time. I am certain your playstyle smells like whale blubber.

/teeheehee somekind of happy emote that makes the mods think I am just kidding.

Nah, we good.

So if a rogue is not a rogue, how would he or she explain the fact that all rogues (and they only, more or less) speak thieves' cant? Obviously this doesn't mean that they share something that makes them irreducibly different from everyone else, but they do share something, something that they practice specifically because it sets them apart from everyone else.

A prince of thieves can speak thieves' cant even though he is the Warlord of the Wandering Wood.