D&D 5E Dose D&D have room for a diplomat class?

[JWO]

Could you have a social focused class that was all about mundane buffs, debuffs and combat maneuvers?

I don't know if anyone's played Malifaux (Tabletop skirmish game), but there's a crew you can take that's lead by a guy called Lucius who's a bureaucrat. He's not that good at fighting but he's really good at directing the rest of his crew and making tactical decisions.

 

[meomwt]

I created a Diplomacy Domain for Mrs meomwt's 5E cleric. Though she can kick butt when required (usually from range, with a crossbow).

http://www.enworld.org/forum/5earchetypes/browsecategory.php?do=member&entryuserid=47885

 

[Mephista]

I'd say Lore Bard, personally, for a diplomat adventurer. Bard magic is literally defined as the power of words. For the diplomancer, the pen is indeed mightier than the sword.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Part of this thought is that I was wondering how you would do classes for a star treck like setting and you have a lot of people like Spock and Scotty who are scientists and engineers not fighters.

In D&D, the main conflicts are environmental, interpersonal, and violent. Thus, the three pillars - exploration, interaction, and combat. Each class in D&D is designed to help a player approach all three conflicts and resolve them in a unique way.

It sounds like those wouldn't be the main pillars for a Trek-esque setting - if you can get away with being a protagonist there without being much of a fighter, combat is not an important pillar. Being able to fight is a "ribbon," a thing that maybe some people do for flavor. At most perhaps a skill you can take (Strength (Brawling)). This seems reasonable given my exposure to Trek - Kirk's sweaty wrestling sessions weren't essential for every character.

So I'd look at what the main conflicts you're looking to explore actually are, first. Internal? Political? Ideological? Technological? Emotional? What do Spock and Scotty and other non-fighters struggle with and use their skills to overcome? What threatens them? What are they afraid of?

Once you know that, you can use those as important pillars. I'd then make new classes or tweak existing classes so that your players could pick classes that fired on the conflicts relevant to your setting, rather than the D&D default ones. You might also need some resolution systems a little more robust than skill checks for these challenges, some failure states that are a little less binary, maybe even different ability scores. But changing a pillar of play is a pretty major change to the game.

 

[nomotog]

In D&D, the main conflicts are environmental, interpersonal, and violent. Thus, the three pillars - exploration, interaction, and combat. Each class in D&D is designed to help a player approach all three conflicts and resolve them in a unique way.

It sounds like those wouldn't be the main pillars for a Trek-esque setting - if you can get away with being a protagonist there without being much of a fighter, combat is not an important pillar. Being able to fight is a "ribbon," a thing that maybe some people do for flavor. At most perhaps a skill you can take (Strength (Brawling)). This seems reasonable given my exposure to Trek - Kirk's sweaty wrestling sessions weren't essential for every character.

So I'd look at what the main conflicts you're looking to explore actually are, first. Internal? Political? Ideological? Technological? Emotional? What do Spock and Scotty and other non-fighters struggle with and use their skills to overcome? What threatens them? What are they afraid of?

Once you know that, you can use those as important pillars. I'd then make new classes or tweak existing classes so that your players could pick classes that fired on the conflicts relevant to your setting, rather than the D&D default ones. You might also need some resolution systems a little more robust than skill checks for these challenges, some failure states that are a little less binary, maybe even different ability scores. But changing a pillar of play is a pretty major change to the game.

It's the same pillars. Just in different ratios. A star treck game (I mostly watched next gen) would lean heavy on the exploration and interaction parts. Even their combat moves come off as more improvised solutions rather then set moves. (Combat is often with star ships too so that puts a another wrinkle in it.) A star treck monster manual would include a list an anomalies and extra information about alien cultures rather then just people to kill.

 

[I'm A Banana]

It's the same pillars. Just in different ratios. A star treck game (I mostly watched next gen) would lean heavy on the exploration and interaction parts. Even their combat moves come off as more improvised solutions rather then set moves. (Combat is often with star ships too so that puts a another wrinkle in it.) A star treck monster manual would include a list an anomalies and extra information about alien cultures rather then just people to kill.

That points to different dramatic conflicts. I'm not crazy familiar with Trek (just nerd osmosis mostly), but it's probably worth sitting down with an episode or two where fighting doesn't feature and maybe Spock does and asking yourself what's the risk? What is the source of tension? What do the characters want? What stands in their way? And how do they overcome that?

If personal melees and fire-fights are not where the interesting conflict lies, you should maybe look at considering combat an option, not a pillar.

 

[jayoungr]

Er, I seem to remember that Spock is a pretty amazing fighter. He just doesn't go for it as his first option, usually. The Vulcan Neck Pinch alone takes out most low-level opponents immediately.

 

[Sunseeker]

That points to different dramatic conflicts. I'm not crazy familiar with Trek (just nerd osmosis mostly), but it's probably worth sitting down with an episode or two where fighting doesn't feature and maybe Spock does and asking yourself what's the risk? What is the source of tension? What do the characters want? What stands in their way? And how do they overcome that?

If personal melees and fire-fights are not where the interesting conflict lies, you should maybe look at considering combat an option, not a pillar.

The later series (TNG, Voyager, DS9) were I think, better for that sort of tension than TOS. Lots of good episodes that revolved around "conflicts"(I use the term loosely) that could not be resolved by punching things.

Also: it's worth noting that Vulcans are crazy good martial fighters.

 

[nomotog]

Er, I seem to remember that Spock is a pretty amazing fighter. He just doesn't go for it as his first option, usually. The Vulcan Neck Pinch alone takes out most low-level opponents immediately.

I mentally ruled that as a race ability rather then a class ability, so the idea still stands. (Then again it could be a science ability. Giving the class one or two combat abilities doesn't turn it into a combat class.)

 

[nomotog]

The later series (TNG, Voyager, DS9) were I think, better for that sort of tension than TOS. Lots of good episodes that revolved around "conflicts"(I use the term loosely) that could not be resolved by punching things.

Also: it's worth noting that Vulcans are crazy good martial fighters.

The problem was normally some strange anomaly or a political issue that the crew has troubleshoot with different bits of techno babble. Even the combat tends to play out the same way. Like they are fighting a cloaked ship and they have to think up a way to disable the cloak.

(Trying to think up a way to convert an episode into a adventure is a little tricky)