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<blockquote data-quote="Water Bob" data-source="post: 6113772" data-attributes="member: 92305"><p><strong>PROFESSIONS</strong></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>In my game, the players aren't playing typical adventurers. They're playing clansmen, all villagers in the same Cimmerian clan. And, as such, the characters must be warriors, of course. All Cimmerians are warriors. But, they also must scratch out a living among their peers. They've got to play their part among the other NPC villagers.</p><p></p><p>To this end, all the PCs in my game have professions. You may or may not have reasons to have professions in your game. But, from my point of view, this is what roleplaying is all about. I wanted this campaign to be a bit different form the standard mercenary existence of the usual rpg adventurer.</p><p></p><p>Some of my players have tried to marry their character's professions with skills that they can use in the game. One player plays a hunter, and as such, he keeps his Move Silently, Hide, and Survival skills maxed out. Another player plays a smith--a weapon smith. In game, this character, when he's around the forge and not adventuring, playing through one of my tales, can repair weapons that have been sundered or even make new ones for himself or the other PCs. He's also the one the party turns to if they need to evaluate the worth of any weapons that they find during the adventure. A third player plays a trapper, and thus he sometimes uses his Craft (Trapmaking) skill to set traps in an adventure situation.</p><p></p><p>If you play this way, using professions, the above marriage idea between the profession and the skills needed to adventure is a good one. Players won't feel like they are wasting precious skill points on skills that they will never use. But, if you (the GM) want to make other types of professions attractive to your players, then you have to make those more mundane professions important in the game somehow.</p><p></p><p>For example, consider a cook. No player will want to play a cook, unless that player was just satisfying a role playing requirement. Most likely, he'd consider any skill points placed into Profession (Cook) wasted. But, you, the GM, can make this an important profession in your game. The obvious way to do this is to use the profession as a source of wealth in the game. This is Conan, not D&D, so the adventures your characters go on should rarely be sources of extreme wealth for the players. And, if the PCs ever do find a fair some on their travels, there's always the High Living rule to consider (pg. 142 2E core rulebook). Remember, Conan rarely had a lot of wealth. He lived by his sword, usually with little to clothe his back or shelter his head. So, your cook, in the game, could get most of his wealth from the inn where he cooks.</p><p></p><p>Or, maybe this cook is a mercenary. Mercenary outfits will pay a premium for soldier who can also cook.</p><p></p><p>You can take this concept and apply it to the adventuring party. If the players are paying little attention to their food, then occassionally make them roll against disease. Those that fail the roll have scurvy. Don't hinder them too much. Just make them have Fatigue for a day or two, until they've eaten a good meal or two. Or, look at the diseases available in the <strong>Across The Thunder River</strong> sourcebook.</p><p></p><p>I'm not suggesting that you bog down the game with boring details like this. What I am suggesting is that you do a little bit to spice up the game, make the cook important to the players, by creating a more interesting world to live in and explore. If no player wants to be a cook, then don't force one of them to play the part. But, if you do have a player--who maybe does like to cook in real life--find ways to make that aspect of the character important to the game.</p><p></p><p>Be creative and adjust your game in a fun way. If the whip doesn't work for you (as with the disease checks), then try the carrot. Give the PCs a bonus as long as they're eating good, home cooked meals. For example, if you don't want to mess with a roll every time the characters camp, just allow the cook to Take 10 on a cooking task. If he meets whatever difficulty you establish, allow the PCs a floating +1 modifier to any dice throw for that game day. He player can have his character can have a +1 on a single attack, or a +1 on a single damage throw, or a +1 on a save or a skill check. Whatever. It's a floating circumstance bonus to reflect the character being well fed and healthy.</p><p></p><p>Do something like this, and all of a sudden, the cook is important to the group, as he would be in real life, and the player playing the cook doesn't feel like he's wasting skill points in his profession.</p><p></p><p>If this doesn't work for you, then come up with something that does--something that fits your game. Maybe you can use the profession as a part of the story of your game. Think outside of the box. For example, a character is the main cook among the adventuring group, and the PC group is a part of a larger group of bandits. Well, in camp, everybody comes to the cook, right? They're either getting something to eat or they are trading meat that has been hunted or having some other business. People talk about their business while they are eating with their companions. So....the cook has an excellent Gather Information skill. Not only does he cook, but he's the go-to person in the entire camp for specific information. The player keeps his profession (Cook) skill up as a means to another end--because through cooking is the character's chief source of information that he sells to interested parties.</p><p></p><p>That's just one idea. I'm sure you can come up with something customized to your game. Find out what kind of profession interests the players then show the players how that profession will be useful in the game--not just as a roleplaying point, but as a source of income (the character's main source of income) and probably for some other reason. With cooking, you might want to look at the Herbalism rules and adapt some of those items to the cook. Or, you might want to find a d20 cooking supplement for generic OGL games and use it </p><p></p><p>I suggest that you look at the <strong>Barbaric Treasures</strong> supplement. It's got some nice rule suggestions for using professions in the game such as Goldsmith, Gem Cutter, Taxidermist, Butcher, Furrier, and Tanner.</p><p></p><p>The other thing to do is decide which skills will be helpful in that profession besides the profession skill. As I said above, a hunter would use Move Silently, Hide, and Survival quite a bit. A shepherd might have a high Handle Animal skill, and he might make money from selling sheared fleece or wool. A fisherman might improve his Rope Use and Swimming skills. You might want to create new <strong>synergy bonuses</strong> between the character's profession and some important skills. For example, a character with Profession (Trader) with five or more ranks might get a synergy bonus of +2 on Appraise, Bluff, and Diplomacy.</p><p></p><p>Many crafting professions can support an adventuring party through the things that they make. A leatherworker could make a good set of boots, a leather vest, or maybe a custom sheath like the one Conan used in the 1982 Conan The Barbarian movie where he could easily adjust it to carry his sword across his torso or around, on his back, or at his waist. If a character in the party wants to hide a knife his his boot so that it cannot be seen, then the leatherworker among the adventurers is the man for the job. You may want to follow the guidelines for wear and tear on clothing in <strong>Tito's Trading Post</strong> as a drain on PC's wealth. Here, a weaver or a leatherworker could help off-set those costs. </p><p></p><p>My point here: You can add professions to your game and make them much more than just an aspect of roleplaying. There are various ways to make a character's profession as important to the player as it would be in real life. Not only can a profession be the main source of income for a character, but it can also be a role-played way of supporting skills the adventurer needs to survive his adventures. </p><p></p><p>A profession can directly support adventurers during their travels. The armorsmith can make the best shields for those in the party that wants them--there are rules for improving weapons, armor, and other gear via certain professions in the game books. The herbalist can make poisons for the tips of weapons or bandages with salves that will restore a few hit points. Or, maybe you decide that the adventurers are eating so well that every character is allowed a +2 synergy bonus, once per game day, due to the superior food that the cook makes (the cook being a player character). </p><p></p><p>Looking at professions this way, your players will welcome having their characters spend skill points in the profession, because they will see a mechanical benefit in the game. They won't consider the points spent on the profession a roleplaying waste.</p><p></p><p>Also, consider a PC profession as part of your next story line. For example, you have a PC that is a gemcutter*. If so, then maybe your next adventure centers around a sorcerer that seeks a master gemcutter to do some work on a special stone....you get the idea.</p><p></p><p>*For that matter, if you've got a PC gemcutter in your group, of course you are going to let the group find uncut stones and stones that can be recut for higher value--making the group more coin when they sell or trade the gems. Simply because of this, a gem cutter can be nice to have among a PC party.</p><p></p><p>If and how you implement professions is totally up to you, but hopefully this post will give you some ideas on using the professions in the game--and your players getting even more rounded characters than they had before.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Water Bob, post: 6113772, member: 92305"] [B]PROFESSIONS[/B] In my game, the players aren't playing typical adventurers. They're playing clansmen, all villagers in the same Cimmerian clan. And, as such, the characters must be warriors, of course. All Cimmerians are warriors. But, they also must scratch out a living among their peers. They've got to play their part among the other NPC villagers. To this end, all the PCs in my game have professions. You may or may not have reasons to have professions in your game. But, from my point of view, this is what roleplaying is all about. I wanted this campaign to be a bit different form the standard mercenary existence of the usual rpg adventurer. Some of my players have tried to marry their character's professions with skills that they can use in the game. One player plays a hunter, and as such, he keeps his Move Silently, Hide, and Survival skills maxed out. Another player plays a smith--a weapon smith. In game, this character, when he's around the forge and not adventuring, playing through one of my tales, can repair weapons that have been sundered or even make new ones for himself or the other PCs. He's also the one the party turns to if they need to evaluate the worth of any weapons that they find during the adventure. A third player plays a trapper, and thus he sometimes uses his Craft (Trapmaking) skill to set traps in an adventure situation. If you play this way, using professions, the above marriage idea between the profession and the skills needed to adventure is a good one. Players won't feel like they are wasting precious skill points on skills that they will never use. But, if you (the GM) want to make other types of professions attractive to your players, then you have to make those more mundane professions important in the game somehow. For example, consider a cook. No player will want to play a cook, unless that player was just satisfying a role playing requirement. Most likely, he'd consider any skill points placed into Profession (Cook) wasted. But, you, the GM, can make this an important profession in your game. The obvious way to do this is to use the profession as a source of wealth in the game. This is Conan, not D&D, so the adventures your characters go on should rarely be sources of extreme wealth for the players. And, if the PCs ever do find a fair some on their travels, there's always the High Living rule to consider (pg. 142 2E core rulebook). Remember, Conan rarely had a lot of wealth. He lived by his sword, usually with little to clothe his back or shelter his head. So, your cook, in the game, could get most of his wealth from the inn where he cooks. Or, maybe this cook is a mercenary. Mercenary outfits will pay a premium for soldier who can also cook. You can take this concept and apply it to the adventuring party. If the players are paying little attention to their food, then occassionally make them roll against disease. Those that fail the roll have scurvy. Don't hinder them too much. Just make them have Fatigue for a day or two, until they've eaten a good meal or two. Or, look at the diseases available in the [B]Across The Thunder River[/B] sourcebook. I'm not suggesting that you bog down the game with boring details like this. What I am suggesting is that you do a little bit to spice up the game, make the cook important to the players, by creating a more interesting world to live in and explore. If no player wants to be a cook, then don't force one of them to play the part. But, if you do have a player--who maybe does like to cook in real life--find ways to make that aspect of the character important to the game. Be creative and adjust your game in a fun way. If the whip doesn't work for you (as with the disease checks), then try the carrot. Give the PCs a bonus as long as they're eating good, home cooked meals. For example, if you don't want to mess with a roll every time the characters camp, just allow the cook to Take 10 on a cooking task. If he meets whatever difficulty you establish, allow the PCs a floating +1 modifier to any dice throw for that game day. He player can have his character can have a +1 on a single attack, or a +1 on a single damage throw, or a +1 on a save or a skill check. Whatever. It's a floating circumstance bonus to reflect the character being well fed and healthy. Do something like this, and all of a sudden, the cook is important to the group, as he would be in real life, and the player playing the cook doesn't feel like he's wasting skill points in his profession. If this doesn't work for you, then come up with something that does--something that fits your game. Maybe you can use the profession as a part of the story of your game. Think outside of the box. For example, a character is the main cook among the adventuring group, and the PC group is a part of a larger group of bandits. Well, in camp, everybody comes to the cook, right? They're either getting something to eat or they are trading meat that has been hunted or having some other business. People talk about their business while they are eating with their companions. So....the cook has an excellent Gather Information skill. Not only does he cook, but he's the go-to person in the entire camp for specific information. The player keeps his profession (Cook) skill up as a means to another end--because through cooking is the character's chief source of information that he sells to interested parties. That's just one idea. I'm sure you can come up with something customized to your game. Find out what kind of profession interests the players then show the players how that profession will be useful in the game--not just as a roleplaying point, but as a source of income (the character's main source of income) and probably for some other reason. With cooking, you might want to look at the Herbalism rules and adapt some of those items to the cook. Or, you might want to find a d20 cooking supplement for generic OGL games and use it I suggest that you look at the [B]Barbaric Treasures[/B] supplement. It's got some nice rule suggestions for using professions in the game such as Goldsmith, Gem Cutter, Taxidermist, Butcher, Furrier, and Tanner. The other thing to do is decide which skills will be helpful in that profession besides the profession skill. As I said above, a hunter would use Move Silently, Hide, and Survival quite a bit. A shepherd might have a high Handle Animal skill, and he might make money from selling sheared fleece or wool. A fisherman might improve his Rope Use and Swimming skills. You might want to create new [B]synergy bonuses[/B] between the character's profession and some important skills. For example, a character with Profession (Trader) with five or more ranks might get a synergy bonus of +2 on Appraise, Bluff, and Diplomacy. Many crafting professions can support an adventuring party through the things that they make. A leatherworker could make a good set of boots, a leather vest, or maybe a custom sheath like the one Conan used in the 1982 Conan The Barbarian movie where he could easily adjust it to carry his sword across his torso or around, on his back, or at his waist. If a character in the party wants to hide a knife his his boot so that it cannot be seen, then the leatherworker among the adventurers is the man for the job. You may want to follow the guidelines for wear and tear on clothing in [B]Tito's Trading Post[/B] as a drain on PC's wealth. Here, a weaver or a leatherworker could help off-set those costs. My point here: You can add professions to your game and make them much more than just an aspect of roleplaying. There are various ways to make a character's profession as important to the player as it would be in real life. Not only can a profession be the main source of income for a character, but it can also be a role-played way of supporting skills the adventurer needs to survive his adventures. A profession can directly support adventurers during their travels. The armorsmith can make the best shields for those in the party that wants them--there are rules for improving weapons, armor, and other gear via certain professions in the game books. The herbalist can make poisons for the tips of weapons or bandages with salves that will restore a few hit points. Or, maybe you decide that the adventurers are eating so well that every character is allowed a +2 synergy bonus, once per game day, due to the superior food that the cook makes (the cook being a player character). Looking at professions this way, your players will welcome having their characters spend skill points in the profession, because they will see a mechanical benefit in the game. They won't consider the points spent on the profession a roleplaying waste. Also, consider a PC profession as part of your next story line. For example, you have a PC that is a gemcutter*. If so, then maybe your next adventure centers around a sorcerer that seeks a master gemcutter to do some work on a special stone....you get the idea. *For that matter, if you've got a PC gemcutter in your group, of course you are going to let the group find uncut stones and stones that can be recut for higher value--making the group more coin when they sell or trade the gems. Simply because of this, a gem cutter can be nice to have among a PC party. If and how you implement professions is totally up to you, but hopefully this post will give you some ideas on using the professions in the game--and your players getting even more rounded characters than they had before. [/QUOTE]
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