Your Own Design Goals

[Crazy Jerome]

My competing Bard:

Foremost, the bard is a loremaster.

The bard, true to its historical roots, knows stuff--broad and deep. While some of this knowledge is obscure and/or trivial, much of it has practical applications, some of it quite powerful and direct. Almost everything the bard does well is because he know exactly how to go about it.

Performance is the bard's idiom.

If knowledge is the source, performance is the method. A bard chants, sings, tells stories, orates, etc. because the bardic voice is how he remembers all that vast knowledge. Sure, in a pinch the bard can tell you a funny story or relate a sad tale purely for entertainment, but there is nearly always something deeper in the performance as well.

The bard is not a dabbler; it merely seems that way.

The bard isn't a warrior. But when he strikes at you while chanting the lay of the ancient warriors, he is recalling their techniques to his mind. The bard isn't a mage, but his knowledge of how magic works is both wide and deep (if often a little on the theoretical side), and the magic of music goes back to the dawn of man. The bard doesn't practice picking locks every week, but he knows how locks work. He doesn't charm your pants off because he is a fancy performer or a cunning rogue, but because he knows people. Any reputation that develops from all of this is often dependent on the bard's style and related vices.

The bard teaches.

His role in life is to spread knowledge, often in his travels. Not least of all, he looks for that spark that indicates the next generation of bards, lest the lessons of his stories be lost to time. This can often seem inspiring to others, but that is a feeling the careful, thoughtful teaching produces in them, not something the bard sets out to do.

 

[howandwhy99]

The Linkboy is a standard NPC class for those who carry torches.

Torches can be lit or spare. How much the boy can carry depends on how strong they are.

The Linkboy can also bear lanterns and other light sources.

Lanterns can be lit, carried, and snuffed out by the boy. Extra oil can be carried too such as flint, steel, and tinder. Other light sources like candles may be carried as well.

The Linkboy is typically a young boy, but a mature man may also serve.

Linkboys earn little and are easy to train and so are worth very little. However, sometimes older men will work as Linkboys, often when no other work can be found.

The Linkboy is paid only a dollar a day, less on commission.

Linkboys are cheap and it often pays to have a couple or more in case something happens to one.

 

[MoonSong]

Not that I expect to see any of this, I hope at least some will be the case...

The mage is knowledgeable...
The mage is knowledgeable in all (or at least a smattering of) things arcane. Be it from their years at the Wizard's Academy, individual master/apprentice tutelage or getting a few sheaves of parchment from the local hedge wizard and teaching themselves, the mage has a chance to have knowledge on just about any arcane topic. Whether the background is "Sage" or "Scholar" or "Apprentice" (or whatever else), they have perused more pieces and topics of knowledge than any other class. They can Read [Arcane] Magic by default, having first and foremost mastered the language of their Craft. This is no longer a "spell", but a mundane innate class skill. They may know mystical or medicinal herbs, some history of or identify (without magic) that legendary item you just found, or warn you the diagram on the floor being a "binding circle" used for conjuring demons...identify (and perhaps know the weaknesses of) magical beasts, places of power, a chance to know (or at least heard/recall something of) topics occult. The extent, detail, and accuracy of their knowledge may vary from topic to topic depending on numerous variables.

The mage is, foremost, the quintessential spell caster...
Through their intense interest, study, force of will and/or innate gifts (through background and/or themes), the mage works magic...and tirelessly seeks to increase their proficiency in that work. To blast the goblins, open the door, see behind the door or across the valley, undo the enchantment half the party has fallen under, or ride the winds, the mage has the ability...with a bit of luck and the right spell in their grimoire...to handle just about any situation that may arise. If a ritual or scroll is found (and time to study and prepare available) a mage can cast just about any type of effect through/with their magic.

The mage is intelligent and thoughtful...
Beyond their knowledge and their spell casting, you need to have an above average brain to be a mage. You do not dive into situations on whim. Study, analysis, consideration of the options, careful selection (and implementation!) of their limited mystic resources is essential to succeed and increase one's power. Those young mages who act only on impulse very often do not become old mages.

The mage is not, necessarily, a "sorcerer"...but may be...
Sorcerer as a Class no longer exists [in my personal design goal, here] but is achievable through certain Background and Themes...be it the "Arcane Bloodline" background or "Innate Caster" or "Arcane Adept" (or even just "Sorcerer" so people know what they're getting) or whatever-they-term-them Themes, a mage may possess some innate talent for magic or simply be trained in utilizing the energies of the universe to conduct their spells (or some of their spells) through spontaneous casting. Though increasing ones knowledge/repertoire (and book of spells) is still necessary and always desirable.

I beg to differ, here is my ideas on the sorcerer

The sorcerer is born not made
A sorcerer has powerful ancestor (a dragon, a fey or an outsider), was born under extraordinary conditions, or was touched by a powerful outsider. Regardless of the source it shapes the way his powers develop for better or worse, and the sorcerer is aware of his magical gift from an early age, this shapes the way he sees the magic and interacts with it.

The sorcerer isn't a magic user, he is one with the magic
In the sorcerer's mind there is no difference between the magical and the mundane, magic is second nature to him, in the same way that breathing, talking or walking is. Magic permeates everything he does, his spells are just the maximum expression of it.

The sorcerer's magic is visceral and a reflection of his personality
The sorcerer is the barbarian to the wizard's fighter, his spells are wild and unsubtle exhibitions of his arcane talent rather than precise and exact constructs. His magic is more about feel than though, more a series of talents he can shine at than a toolbox to be kept and changed as the situation fits. While some sorcerers may chose to study the basis behind their magic most don't even care about it.

The sorcerer has a strong pressence
The sorcerer exudes magic, everything he does is magical in some way. As a result he sticks in the croud and is impossible to ignore. Something in his voice, his gestures or the way he moves calls the attention and inspires a variety of reactions on the onlookers be it by admiration, shock or fear.

The sorcerer isn't afraid of getting physical
To the sorcerer isn't the most skilled, the best athlete or the best of combatants, but is far from being completely helpless on those areas. To him there isn't such a dilemma between training his body or improving his magic, he may choose to favor one over the other, but isn't forced to pick between them.