D&D 5E What if everyone in the setting had a [Class]?

[TwoSix]

Narratively, any character who has a class either has fought in war or has been training to fight in war, such as in a military academy.

Wizard schools are combat training centers, such as training Wizards in self defense or − as in the case of the High culture Elves − Wizard schools are military institutions that are part of the town militia.

Hmm, I like that, it does give a stronger diegetic identity.

Is class something that's detectable within the fiction, or is it more something that's demonstrated by ability? ("That guy can cast fire bolt and shatter, he must be a wizard.")

Assuming class identity is primarily identified by ability, how do non-magic classes assert their class? Is it able to be recognized?

 

[Yaarel]

Hmm, I like that, it does give a stronger diegetic identity.

Is class something that's detectable within the fiction, or is it more something that's demonstrated by ability? ("That guy can cast fire bolt and shatter, he must be a wizard.")

Yes. Both.

In the past, I tended to define a culture by means of which classes were prominent in it. Example, Lolth Drow were mainly charismatic Paladins and Warlocks, female academies and male academies, respectively. At this point, there was a one-to-one between specific classes and cultural narratives. The inworld might have alternate names, but the class features were explicit, and recognizable.

For 2024, the species dependence on a specific ability will be gone. Instead, each culture has its own sample of prominent backgrounds that might promote any of the six abilities. The backgrounds may relate combat training (such as a specific kind of Soldier or Veteran, or so on), but most backgrounds are noncombat professions and interesting origins. A background can be specific to a culture, such as High Elf Griffon Rider, who utilizes and cares for Griffons, for combat or noncombat.

Most cultures have some kind of combat training, whether the warriors of an extended family or a town militia, or a national army. These combat institutions will continue to cohere with actual D&D class mechanics. Again for the sake of example, the High culture Elves typically have two military institutions depending on individual aptitute, Eldritch Knight and Bladesinger. In some towns, military special units are also known, such as Moon Druid or Evoker Wizard or Diviner Wizard, but these tend to be part of the Bladesinger academy.

Assuming class identity is primarily identified by ability, how do non-magic classes assert their class? Is it able to be recognized?

In all my worlds, the martial power source is nonnative to the Feywild. If a Fey culture has any form of Fighter or Rogue, they necessarily learned it from the Material Plane, almost always from a Human culture. The High culture of Elves are competent at Fighter (Eldritch Knight) because of living nearby Human cultures for millennia. There is no such thing as an Eladrin culture Fighter institution. Any Eladrin Elf Fighter learned it from somewhere else, often from a High culture.

 

[Chaosmancer]

D&D is a combat game, and D&D classes represent fighting styles.

It is what the D&D rules are.

Meanwhile, translating every nonplayer character into a class, defacto means every nonplayer character is competent in combat.

Or, the DnD rules don't accurately represent the totality of reality. Only the combat section.

The question, to me, is aimed far more at "building a world with classes" and far less at "make DnD combat classes a real thing" because if everyone has to be good at fighting, the world strains far more than if you allow non-combat classes. Which DnD has had in the past and make sense for building this sort of world.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Alternatively, if one makes most of the nonplayer characters be "zero level", then:

Dont add class levels. Do add background (including abilities, skills, tool, languages, and feat).

I want to focus here for a second. Because this I think is a fundamental problem with your approach to this question.

The question is "What if everyone in the setting had a [Class]?" And your answer is "Not everyone in the setting would have a class, classes are special."

You are fundamentally altering the premise of the question. And yes, you would get a positive response from those in the thread who do not like the idea of a setting where everyone has a class, but you are not actually answering the question. And secondly, your approach of "just give them backgrounds" fundamentally creates a massive amount of tension. Because you would have some people with a "class" that grants them these abilities, something they can point to. And other people, people who are usually far weaker, not having a "class" but something else that does not give all the benefits of the "class". And since you can be born with a class, which is a necessity for Sorcerers to be a thing, then you have some people who are born more special and more powerful, in a demonstrably objective way.

One of the fun things, as a person who enjoys stories where classes are a real concept within the world, is not seeing what a level 20 fighter can do, but what a level 20 Farmer or Barkeeper can do. In asking the question "what does it look like to be a practical demigod in THIS field or THIS specialty." But by separating them out and declaring "anyone who isn't doing combat and going to combat schools to get real classes can't do that" you are taking out a big element of what makes the exercise worthwhile in the first place.

 

[TwoSix]

I want to focus here for a second. Because this I think is a fundamental problem with your approach to this question.

The question is "What if everyone in the setting had a [Class]?" And your answer is "Not everyone in the setting would have a class, classes are special."

This. I, personally, do not run my games with everyone having a class. I don't run with class really being anything in the world at all, I use class purely as a metagame tool to make PCs.

But, I'm interested in understanding how people who do like to use [Class] as a real thing in the setting, that an NPC can recognize another NPC (or PC) as belonging to, utilize that concept in their own fiction.

The ideas I posted in the OP are just something I thought of as one of a thousand different ways to implement [Class] in the fiction in a way that felt consistent to me.

I do like @Yaarel's posts because there is a well thought-out implementation of the fictional positioning of class, which is what I'm interested in.

 

[jmartkdr2]

Actually, I'd push back on the idea a thieves' guild is all thieves. Maybe some are, but I dare say successful thieves guilds have plenty of diverse classes and races.

They even addressed this back in the 2e book for Complete Book of Thieves. The guild is for getting rich - you absolutely need people with various skills, especially magical skills to mask your hideouts.

In a setting like this, I think [class] guilds would be a thing, possibly even [subclass] guilds, such as thieves. They'd control access to training, but need new members at a consistent pace to stay relevant.

But other organized crime groups could exist, who would be more like what you're describing.

 

[niklinna]

Boop. Now you've got me all nostalgic for Erfworld.

 

[jmartkdr2]

Oh, absolutely. Class availability would generally be a function of both culture and biology.

I think monster classes (ie Flammis is a 7th-level dragon) would make a lit of sense and help keep things reasonable.

What about pets/companions, though? Could we add a leader class that gets a set number of minions by level?

 

[TwoSix]

I think monster classes (ie Flammis is a 7th-level dragon) would make a lit of sense and help keep things reasonable.

Definitely doable. Although I do like the idea of Dragons becoming Sorcerers or Fighters; they just level fairly slowly because few things actually challenge them.

What about pets/companions, though? Could we add a leader class that gets a set number of minions by level?

I have a few leader/minion type classes in my game, personally.

 

[Voadam]

I do a lot of reskinning of classes, I have played a LG noble duelist swordsman playing a straight 3e rogue, I am playing a nonmagical paladin in a 5e game right now where my smites are anime super blows and my paladin aura is just that it is awesome to be around me. I have had players use the 5e druid and barbarian to represent werewolf the apocalypse werewolves and werebears in my 5e game.

But I really see a lot of classes as things in the world. Wizards are arcane spellcasters who learn magic and prepare spells using spellbooks. NPCs can be different and the NPC mage archmage, conjuror, and enchanter statblocks are generally slightly different versions of wizards with different techniques that PCs cannot learn, but wizards as a concept with discrete features exist that encompasses both PC and NPC build options.