A Watchman's Class?

[Maester Luwin]

Hey everyone! Upon further thinking I thought we might just rearrange the Fighters skills to better suit a member of the Watch.

A Watchman's skills are: Diplomacy (Cha), Gather Information (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Str or Cha), Listen (Wis), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), & Spot (Wis).

They are trained in Light & Medium Armor only as well as Shields (not Tower Shields).

Otherwise they are like Fighters in the PHB. Well what do you think?

 

[Nifft]

Otherwise they are like Fighters in the PHB. Well what do you think?

Fighters have too few skill points to make effective use of any number of useful class skills.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Phlebas]

I'm with Nifft & Dannyalcatraz, i can't see straight fighters being the base class that will be as interesting to play as an expert / rogue mix for a skill heavy campaign without a lot of house rules.

I DM a city based adventure and we don't have any straight fighters in that - mainly as its difficult to tank up in plate armour in the middle of a city. The rogue / fighter is definitely the most effective mix.....

I do like the idea of the game by the way - nice idea to get the PC's in a team from the start and always ways to keep the adventure rolling forward.

 

[Thanael]

Random Watchmen related thoughts:

There's a (3.0) Watchman PrC in Song & Silence. Iirc it is accessible at either CL5 or CL3.

Mongoose Publishings Quintessential Rogue has the Inspector character concept for Rogues. (loose 1d6 sneak attack but gain some inspector related bonuses to skills).

Regular watchmen are probably Warrior/Experts.

 

[Maester Luwin]

Random Watchmen related thoughts:

Regular watchmen are probably Warrior/Experts.

I agree totally. They may well should have their own class. Maybe a combination of rogue & fighter. Maybe as follows:

HD d8
Attack progression of the Rogue;
Saves as a Fighter;
All simple & Martial weapons;
Trained in Light & Medium armor;
Skill/ lvl 4 + Int mod.
A Watchman's skills are: Diplomacy (Cha), Gather Information (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Str or Cha), Listen (Wis), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), & Spot (Wis).
Bonus Feats every even level & to be taken from the Fighters bonus feats but including Investigator, Alertness, Hard to Fool, & Good Listener.

Well any suggestions? Thanks for comments dyx! Maester Luwin

 

[Phlebas]

I agree totally. They may well should have their own class. Maybe a combination of rogue & fighter. Maybe as follows:

HD d8
Attack progression of the Rogue;
Saves as a Fighter;
All simple & Martial weapons;
Trained in Light & Medium armor;
Skill/ lvl 4 + Int mod.
A Watchman's skills are: Diplomacy (Cha), Gather Information (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Str or Cha), Listen (Wis), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), & Spot (Wis).
Bonus Feats every even level & to be taken from the Fighters bonus feats but including Investigator, Alertness, Hard to Fool, & Good Listener.

Well any suggestions? Thanks for comments dyx! Maester Luwin

nice idea, and if your looking at this as a NPC class then its a simple mix of warrior / expert and would work well for the rank / file (Knowledge (local) & use rope are missing from the watchmans skills but other than that it looks ok).... but as a PC, if i take alternate levels of rogue and fighter i end up with 2+8/2 skill points per level, better BAB, better proficiencies and better skill options. i lose out on feats but more than compensate with rogue abilities.

so i'd suggest you use (urban) ranger as base (full bab, light armour, martial weapons, decent saves), change the skill set to focus on urban skills, leave the rest of the abilities as written if you want or tweak them -

eg For a watchman (PC) class using the ranger as a baseline I'd give a bonus to non-lethal damage instead of animal companion (use sneak attack progression but it applies only whenever striking to subdue with an appropriate weapon rather than with surprise) and bonus feats instead of spells (one feat whenever you'd gain access to a new level of spells is the variant i use) - probably change the weapon styles to crossbowman or shield wielder and use the urban ranger variants of track, wild empathy & woodland stride.

 

[Maester Luwin]

Hey Phlebas! I really like that idea. More skill points etc. The only thing I would change is make them trained in Light & Medium armor. Otherwise I like it very much! I thank you & everyone for all your suggestions! Maester Luwin

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

OTOH, if you want to divorce the "Watchman" from the baggage of Fighters or Rogues, try one of the NPC classes, like Expert or Warrior (again, depending upon the particular Watchman's "required duties").

 

[Thanael]

Correction: It's not Song & Silence but Masters of the Wild that has the Watch Detective PrC.

 

[Maester Luwin]

Thanks again dyx! I actually have that one but I have to dig around to find it. Thanks again for all your help in this everybody! Maester Luwin