D&D General 6 Ability Scores but 4 Classic Classes?

[AnotherGuy]

That almost never works in making an fantasy RPG you can sell.

Hence why you rarely see it

Not enough imagination in design...IMO

 

[Minigiant]

Not enough imagination in design...IMO

More it's impossible to balance without cutting a bunch of ideas that your customers will want.

You'll end up with a product only a niche audience wants and struggle to make your money back.

In the base game I agree, but classes should be made with it in mind,
then for PHB2 or something you can give out "classless" class for everyone to build their adventurer as they see fit.

Classes could be just suggested feat kits for newcomers to the game or for someone that does not want to spend a lot of time in making a character.

See above

 

[Yaarel]

Typically, when people name the traditional D&D or fantasy classes, there are 4:

The Fighter
The Rogue/Thief
The Cleric/Priest
The Wizard/Mage/MagicUser

But D&D the game historical and currently uses 6 Ability scores.
But it doesn't line up. 6 scores but 4 types of characters. And every D&D edition and most D&D adjacent games does this this. 6 but 4. Te Not many games have 6 classe,each wih a different primary or prime ability score.

So just for fun.

If you were going to make your own D&Dspace game for sale and were forced to not only have 6 classes and each tied to a different ability score: What's your Six?

You can choose for flavor or setting reasons for just that game.
You can choose for mechanical reasons for a type of play.
You can choose for combat role, exploration role, or social role reasons because that's your thing
You can choose for personal reason because you hate bards.

What is your Six Classes?

STRENGTH:
DEXTERITY:
CONSTITUTION:
INTELLIGENCE:
WISDOM:
CHARISMA:

Then discuss each other's choices. How you would change them from traditional or current interpretations? Your difficulty in choosing your six. How you fill the one you cant narrow down. Whichedition or game would be your base? Have Fun.

As usual, I wont taint your thoughts with my picks until you've got a chance ta ponder.

Heh. There are only Four Abilities.

Strength (Brute Force + Health)
Dexterity (Precision + Mobility)
Charisma (Sociability + Willpower)
Intelligence (Knowledge + Perception)


The corresponding classic classes are:

Strength: Fighter
Dexterity: Rogue
Charisma: Cleric
Intelligence: Wizard

 

[Andvari]

That almost never works in making an fantasy RPG you can sell.

Hence why you rarely see it

You could just include template character builds and call them “classes.”

 

[Minigiant]

You could just include template character builds and call them “classes.”

I don't think you get it.

If you make everything feats, you have to balance the Wildshape feat with the Action Surge feat and the Arcane spellcasting feat.

I pity the foo' who attempts that.

 

[Horwath]

More it's impossible to balance without cutting a bunch of ideas that your customers will want.

You'll end up with a product only a niche audience wants and struggle to make your money back.

See above

every ability in 5E can be reworked to be worth feat or half-feat. It's really not that hard.

 

[Edgar Ironpelt]

The four classic classes cover Strength (fighter), Dexterity (rogue/thief), Intelligence (wizard), and Wisdom (cleric). Constitution and Charisma are the odd ones out when it comes to ability scores.

Bard as a fifth class based on Charisma would work for me, given the requirement to have six Single-Ability-Dependent classes, but Constitution is a problem because of how it's useful to everyone. I can't think of any one particular class that wouldn't be a stretch and a bad fit as a Constitution-based class. Monk, maybe? Or henchman, follower, or everyman adventurer? I'm not happy with any of those, but I suppose I'd be least unhappy with Monk, as class based on bodily discipline.

 

[Horwath]

The four classic classes cover Strength (fighter), Dexterity (rogue/thief), Intelligence (wizard), and Wisdom (cleric). Constitution and Charisma are the odd ones out when it comes to ability scores.

Bard as a fifth class based on Charisma would work for me, given the requirement to have six Single-Ability-Dependent classes, but Constitution is a problem because of how it's useful to everyone. I can't think of any one particular class that wouldn't be a stretch and a bad fit as a Constitution-based class. Monk, maybe? Or henchman, follower, or everyman adventurer? I'm not happy with any of those, but I suppose I'd be least unhappy with Monk, as class based on bodily discipline.

Con is so useful that the best thing would be is to delete it from the game.
No one will ever take Con as primary stat and no one will ever dump it, and game works much better when everyone has expected HP at certain level or very close to it.

 

[Minigiant]

every ability in 5E can be reworked to be worth feat or half-feat. It's really not that hard.

I didn't said it can't be done.

I said it can't be done in a balanced way that the majority of 5e fans would enjoy the result.

 

[le Redoutable]

The four classic classes cover Strength (fighter), Dexterity (rogue/thief), Intelligence (wizard), and Wisdom (cleric). Constitution and Charisma are the odd ones out when it comes to ability scores.

Bard as a fifth class based on Charisma would work for me, given the requirement to have six Single-Ability-Dependent classes, but Constitution is a problem because of how it's useful to everyone. I can't think of any one particular class that wouldn't be a stretch and a bad fit as a Constitution-based class. Monk, maybe? Or henchman, follower, or everyman adventurer? I'm not happy with any of those, but I suppose I'd be least unhappy with Monk, as class based on bodily discipline.

You mean Shaolin Monk ?
( I would make one as Wis x Dex )
( then looking at 1st ed UA there comes the Barbarian who got special bonuses to hp relative to his Con score , and Warriors who got more hp than the other 3 core Classes )