Campaign specific classes

[Elf Witch]

After reading the swashbuckler thread and remembering that several people feel that monks don't belong in most DnD settings it crystallized to me one of the problems I sometimes have with the flavor of a lot of DnD settings. There seems to me a mish mash of fantasy elements.

Take the swashbuckler for example I have a hard time seeing one in a setting with heavily armored fighters and I can say the same for monks. I have also sometimes wondered about druids and clerics being in the same party they both cast divine spells but their source is and beliefs are not usually anything alike.

I played in a game once where sorcerers were feared and burned at the stake and elves praticed psionics as opposed to any arcane magic. There was no such thing as half races ,no druids but there were beastmasters who could communicate with animals but not do any other kind of magic.

So I was wondering what others have done to give their games a more unique flavor. What classes or races have you eliminated or added?

 

[Desdichado]

I've tended many times in the past to eliminate any class that has a spellcasting progression of any kind, because I dislike D&D magic. Of course, that leaves me with only four classes, and if I disallow the monk, as I also often do, than I'm down to three.

I like more options than three, so I'm left with finding alt.classes for concepts like rangers, martial artists, any kind of spellcaster, etc.

 

[Gothmog]

My homebrew has only humans for PCs. No elves, dwarves, gnomes, halflings, half-elves, or half-orcs for PC races. Elves and dwarves do exist, but they are supernatural creatures (basically fey). All PCs are humans, although they can be from one of 14 different cultures, each with its own stat mods, special abilities, and region-specific feats.

As far as classes go, there are no monks, bards, or sorcerers as described in the PHB. Paladins and rangers are PrCs. I divided magic use into 8 different traditions of magic, each with its own spells list and unique abilities. A quick rundown:

Alchemist- spellcaster who specializes in item creation, potions, scrolls, etc.
Cabalist- ritual spellcaster with long casting times, but the only spellcaster who can summon creatures using circle magic and power words
Classicalist- spellcaster who best understands magical theory- the only casters who can make spells up "on the fly" and masters of metamagic feats
Diabolist- spellcaster who has made a pact with demons or devils for his powers- hellishly powerful, but with some BIG flaws
Romari- gypsy-like spellcasters who use many curses, charms, and illusions
Runecaster- semi-priest rune users (ala Norse myth) who invoke the power of runes to achieve effects.
Sorcerer- spellcasters specializing in necromancy, dark arts, mental domination, and destruction. Not beholden to any party, but often as nasty as diabolists.
Witch- spellcaster who bargains with spirits for her powers. Resemles a cross between a cleric and a wizard.

 

[barsoomcore]

Barsoom has no spellcasting classes, much like JD's. I also took out the monk, which left me with two -- fighters and rogues.

Psions have been added, and magic on Barsoom is a function of the Spellcraft skill, and I have a new core class called the Scholar, which is basically a class that gets lots of skill points and not much else -- to model the studious type learning about sorcery and gaining enough skill points that they can keep their Spellcraft and other magic skills maxed out.

I have a host of prestige classes including a summouner-type and a sewing-needle-kung-fu class (Swordsman II). I find that I don't really need a swashbuckling class since the campaign has that feel to it anyway (I have a bunch of feats for improving AC without armour, and armour itself kind of sucks, so, buckle yer swash).

 

[Kweezil]

My own home-brew uses variations on the standard races. Mostly flavour and background variations, but some rules differences too.

• Elves are much more fae in nature with a permanent dream-like vision that, among other things, grants their bonuses to sensory checks and saves against Enchantmant (and Illusion IMC).
• Gnomes are basically hobbits mixed with a dash of Dr Who/The Great Egg Race - bonuses to Craft etc.
• Orcs are the creations of the god of war, his chosen soldiers. Unfortunately, the war they were creatd for is long since over. They're very hardy 2HD Humanoids with no mental stat penalties and a talent for greatswords.
• Gnolls are wolf-men raiding out of the arctic in longships. Cold Resistance, and huge bonuses to Spot etc. in low-light conditions.

As for classes, I recently decided to use AU with a few changes (eg. no Greenbond, it doesn't fit the cosmology) as the class flavour fits my world more than the core. In addition, I've a couple of specific classes. Overall, there's 15-odd classes, 5-6 of which are very location specific within the world, and 4 of which can cast spells, only 1 can cast 8th or 9th level spells.

• Wanderer - Basically Silk from the Belgariad etc. A roguish character who lives by wits and luck, who always seems to know someone in the area, which might not be a good thing...
• Godsworn - A paladin-style class (chosen serant of one of the gods) that gains a range of unique abilities based on the god he is devoted to.
• Bard - A combination of the alt.Bard from Book of Eldritch Might and the Basirian Dancer from Kalamer PHG.

 

[Silveras]

What I do

I still have all of the classes and many of the races, but I use geography to enhance flavor. My world is a collection of flat-earth "plates" connected by natural vortices ("Stormgates"). Traveling through the Stormgates is risky, but it can be done, and the ShipMages (a PrC) have long researched them (thus, they can make the passage easier). This separation means that Gnolls, for example, are only rarely found outside the warm jungles of region "A" -- usually, only as mercenary guards for a diplomat or merchant from region "A". Likewise, Monks are from the far eastern region of my world.

I would allow a Monk in the "West", if the player were interested enough in the class to accept that getting training will be difficult (there are no appropriate places) in the "West" and could give me a suitable explanation of how this person got there. So far, the players who wanted to play a Monk have failed to try on that last part. Most just wanted "a level or two" for the front-loaded saves and "free" Improved Unarmed Strike.

 

[s/LaSH]

No changes, per se, but for the fact that I don't really let arcane casters ascend beyond level 4 or 5. (Except for the PCs, who are supposed to have a say in the world's fate. Or the Arabs, who are technologically superior at that time. Or the Chinese, who are freakishly advanced compared to everyone else and can cast Fireball.) I took out gnomes, though, and relegated halflings to a tropical rainforest where they hunt elephants.

I did, however, make some sweeping changes to the characters at a certain point in the campaign, which were very story-oriented and somewhat bizarre. Not really prestige classes, not really templates, I don't know what to call 'em aside from 'things wot make game more like wot I want'.

I campaign in an altered medieval Europe, so monks are going to be pretty rare. They are, however, just a few thousand miles away in the Far East, so it's concivable that someone could have one if they wanted...

 

[Brennin Magalus]

So I was wondering what others have done to give their games a more unique flavor. What classes or races have you eliminated or added?

No halflings and gnomes, aasimar and tieflings exist but are rare, elves are sorcerers, no monks (unless they hail from the far east), Monte Cook's champion class, Monte Cook's alternate sorcerer, paladin, and ranger (but not bard), star elves (from the Unapproachable East) are standard, as are high (=sylvan) elves and wild elves.

 

[Desdichado]

Hey, barsoomcore, I've never heard you specifically exclude barbarian, but you seem to not include it as well. What's the story there?

 

[AeroDm]

In my homebrew I am working on I pulled halfings, gnomes, and half-orcs and rationalized a better existence for elves and dwarves. A lot of classes are being altered to mesh better (mostly casting classes) and I will most likely remove the monk and replace it with a different form of some sort.