Extra Reasons To Play A Class

[Hand of Graz'zt]

I will soon be starting a new campaign and am in the middle of preparing the introductory handouts. As part of the handout I want to give my players some extra reasons for why you would want to play a certain class.

The types of things I am talking about is those special little side quests and the like which are unique to the class: like cleansing evil shrines in the name of your deity for clerics; or tracking down the spellbook of a long dead archmage for wizards.

Any ideas for some of the classes I have missed would be greatly appreciated, if you have any suggestions for those classes I already have some ideas for, by all means let me have it.

Here is what I have so far:

For all martial classes there is knightly orders or schools of martial techniques. (I would like to have distinct ones for each of the martial classes though)

Cleric
Discover long lost relics of your faith, convert the shrines of evil powers to your deity and be rewarded, build a congregation, interact with your deity

Fighter
Ranger
Rogue

Paladin
This would be similar to the Cleric.

Warlock
Bend otherworldly creatures to your will, join covens of warlocks in rituals of dark power, perform tasks for those whose power you call upon and be rewarded

Warlord

Wizard
Uncover ancient spellbooks of great mages, endure tests of magic to join secret societies of the magi,

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

For the Martials:
Rogue:
A secret guild of assassins or Thieves. Either become a member or fight it. Being a Rogue means you are the most likely to find about it either way. Side quests might involve the Rogue working for the Guild or finding allies to fight it.

Warlord:
A "War Academy" exists in a major city. The Warlord might want to get access to its records on strategy, become a teacher there (assuming he's too experienced to become a student), or publish his own book on warfare.
Alternatively, the Warlord comes from this Academy and might have contacts to students (often nobles?) that lead to new adventures or side treks.

Fighter:
The fighter wants to become member of a renown Mercenary Guild. Possibly, he wants to end an internal strife or steer the guild towards his goals (probably to defend an area instead of plundering it)

Ranger:
A (secret) guild of Rangers coordinate each other to eliminate threats. They share information, and sometimes have missions for members to gain more information or take out a target.

Warlock & Fighter:
Both could have the goal to free an area from a hostile power, and try to make allies that help them in that goal.


A general notion: If you can, make each "subplot" either very short, or large enough so that all party members can contribute. The spotlight should be shared among all, though it's okay to give a little more focus to an individual party member.

 

[Ginnel]

I think you got this the wrong way round, by all means give those as general examples, but get character backgrounds and motivations from the players and if they can't suggest anything themselves work something out for them from their background they have given you.

Example: Human Player, wanted his Dad to be an adventurer who sailed the skys in a ship, Ok done left the player with a map from his Dad also the players request, stuck in his dads secret base with smuggling cellar into the world and a group of mermen his dad had saved, who passed on a magic sword his father had once owned to him

 

[Wednesday Boy]

I think you got this the wrong way round, by all means give those as general examples, but get character backgrounds and motivations from the players and if they can't suggest anything themselves work something out for them from their background they have given you.

Example: Human Player, wanted his Dad to be an adventurer who sailed the skys in a ship, Ok done left the player with a map from his Dad also the players request, stuck in his dads secret base with smuggling cellar into the world and a group of mermen his dad had saved, who passed on a magic sword his father had once owned to him

I think this is the best way to have good side quests because the character and the player will be more actively interested in their goals.

If I'm playing in a homebrew game I find it helpful when the DM gives a general overview of the world (prominent organizations, interesting locations, the dynamic between the nations and races of the world, etc.) because then I can come up with more specific goals. Otherwise I find myself with very general goals.

Ex: If I didn't know that a specific section of the city was so riddled with crime that the city guard wouldn't enter, my goal would be "stop crimes in the city" instead of "become the protector of that section until it is free from crime and the people living there can have a safer life."

 

[Hand of Graz'zt]

I think you got this the wrong way round, by all means give those as general examples, but get character backgrounds and motivations from the players and if they can't suggest anything themselves work something out for them from their background they have given you.

100% agree.

The basic idea behind these little one liners for each class is just to get the creative juices running for the players.

Plus it helps break them out of the thinking "D&D is just roll initiative and attack", most of these players will have come from 2e and played games that were a little more open (Vampire and Mage etc), so I just want something to demonstrate that all the things that make Vampire and Mage great, exist within D&D if you give it a little thought.

I love the idea for Warlord tying in with War Academys, who doesnt want to be Sun-Tzu!

I am giving some thought to tying the Ranger in with the Feywild or the Elemental forces. Similarly I could bring in some Shadowfell elements to the Rogue.

 

[greyscale1]

Some might say that this is a bit 'anime' and I might agree, but few can doubt its fun.

Martial character wants to be "The Best", "Number 1 Warrior" etc.

 

[Ginnel]

Ok a few ideas from my past

Wizard or any other class really: to catalogue every single monster in the multiverse, carries around a big book with them or similar recording device (I had a big monitor lizard who carried the book for my Gnome wizard)

Fighter: to test himself against one on one against all the different fighting styles, read types of weapons to prove he's the best

Rogue: make a daring heist of the worlds most famous treasures or at least later on in his carear world famous ones maybe the local lords ancient tapestry to start ending with the Raven Queens Onyx throne near the end of epic levels

Ranger: see fighters, also similar to wizard case, map the world/multiverse.

Warlord to learn the secrets of an old master/lead an army/be involved in the biggest battle the world/multiverse has ever known.

Cleric: to become a proxy of his God to vanquish his gods enemy

Paladin: see cleric

And why limit yourself with classes

Dragonborn: restore worship to a dragon god, destory all dragons/evil dragons and their worshippers

Elf: to reclaim his feywild origins

Eladrin: to advance himself in the eladrin courts

Human: to restore the human empire

Dwarf: to grow the longest beard in the world

Tieflings: to release his people of their curse from demons/humans

 

[Foxen]

Here are some character plot ideas that you can throw out to your players to help chum their imaginations...

Family Jewels
Rogue (or any) - characters family heirlooms were stolen, and the rogue must track down the thieves and several family treasures. However, the thieves have sold the items and they are now scattered across the countryside etc. Can easily be twisted where the Cleric or Paladin must recover holy artifacts (non-magical ones!) raided from an ancient monestary, or the character's family name is tarnished because they were accused of stealing the items, and he must recover the jewels to restore the family name.

Friendly Competition
Warlord, Fighter, Rogue, Ranger, etc. Out there somewhere, the PC has a nemesis...a warlord may have an opposing marshall, coming in and recruiting his potential hirelings or henchmen. A Fighter is always bested by another warrior, claiming his kill...and gaining the glory and victory that the fighter worked so hard to earn. The rogue is always two seconds too late (Oceans 12?) and the notorious cat burgular snatches the goods depriving the rogue of treasure, etc.

Revenge
All Classes. The characters have somehow been scorned or betrayed or lost something due to the actions of a villain. The character must somehow track down this villain, and either bring them to justice, kill them, or somehow defeat them in a non-violent way (like the character was greatly shamed by a villain when they were in school...how the vile jock Harry would always pick on the poor white haired snakey kid). How can the PC best the villain...and get revenge, that is up to them.

Unrequited Love
Character is madly in love with a person, whom they are trying to win their hand in marriage. Perhaps a greedy father requires a huge dowry or something, or the love interest is in love with another...like the PC nemesis! Or, the love interest requires several "quests" of the PC to prove their worth to her (or him)...and in fact, she's actually a con artist! Imagine several PCs in love with the same woman...but none of them find out until they are all set to marry her...on the same day!

Druidic Order
For one campaign, I ran the Druids like Jedi...heh. For 4e, the Wood Elves and Rangers would be part of this "Druidic Order" and must fight against the forces of darkness or what not that bring "imbalance" to the "wild". Time to time they are given "secret" missions within a given party quest...that they must accomplish without the party finding out, especially since the order is quite esoteric.

Dragon Lord
Dragonborn folks have to bring great honor to their Dragon Lord. They must set out to adventure, to prove their worth to take their place along side their dragon lord when it is called to battle.

A few more class/race specific stuff....

Warlord - build up a small army (he's willing to take anything and anyone willing to join!)

Wizard - find the collection of books from one particular author.

Ranger - rescue animals of the wild...

Elf - rescue fey creatures and return them to the feywild.

Dwarf - find the best incredients in the world so he can brew legendary beer!

Sorry for wordy, hope this help inspires something...

Fox