FoxWander
Adventurer
Has anyone thought of (or found, or designed) a system to build customizable classes that can accurately and fairly build the core classes? Perhaps to use as quick templates? I have the beginnings of an idea to start with a large pool of skill points (since SP represents what your character has taken the time to learn) and "buy" your basic class features with them. So you get your BAB & saves then get special abilities like rage, extra move, WP, spell use and such. That makes your "class" and whatever you have left over is your skill points per level. Or something like that. As I said it's just the beginning of an idea.
See, I like the idea of classes- they not only give you a quick "concept" of the character to start up quick but, especially for a medieval fantasy type world, with appreticeship and guilds as the basic learning institutes, they make sense structurally in the society. But I don't like the limitations of the core D&D classes. What I mean is, some of the "core" classes are great concepts on their own but, they're essentially just a mix of the four basic classes (fighter, cleric, wizard, rogue). Barbarian, druid, and sorcerer are really just specialized versions of one of the 4 basics. Paladin, ranger and bard are a mix of two classes. There's a lot of variety but not really. And if you go too far beyond these concepts, for a core class, you get reactions of "well that's what multi-classing is for" and "how about a PrC". But multi-classing and PrC's just give you a nightmare of not only figuring out all your bonuses but also in just describing your character (Well he's a fighter/monk/arcane archer/loremaster :\ )
There are suggestions in the books for swapping out X aspect of your class for Y instead, as a way to make a custom class. But there are NO guidelines on how to do this in a balanced way. (Is limiting my weapon selection really equal to a boost of this many skill points? Does dropping heavy armor equal getting a feat?) What I'd like is a balanced, and much expanded version, of that sidebar "custom class" bit in the 2E DM's guide. The one where you picked your class features and that defined your XP table. (You could make an uber-everythingist but you'd advance slower than a speeding glacier, or build "guy who swings sword- really hard!" and advance like the wind.) Of course in 3E there's only one XP table, so that wouldn't work. And it's not like that old half-arsed 2E system really made balanced characters anyway. But it could- an all skill point system could do it- in theory.
So after this long ramble- has anybody made such a system? Or seen one? Or maybe would like to work on one?
See, I like the idea of classes- they not only give you a quick "concept" of the character to start up quick but, especially for a medieval fantasy type world, with appreticeship and guilds as the basic learning institutes, they make sense structurally in the society. But I don't like the limitations of the core D&D classes. What I mean is, some of the "core" classes are great concepts on their own but, they're essentially just a mix of the four basic classes (fighter, cleric, wizard, rogue). Barbarian, druid, and sorcerer are really just specialized versions of one of the 4 basics. Paladin, ranger and bard are a mix of two classes. There's a lot of variety but not really. And if you go too far beyond these concepts, for a core class, you get reactions of "well that's what multi-classing is for" and "how about a PrC". But multi-classing and PrC's just give you a nightmare of not only figuring out all your bonuses but also in just describing your character (Well he's a fighter/monk/arcane archer/loremaster :\ )
There are suggestions in the books for swapping out X aspect of your class for Y instead, as a way to make a custom class. But there are NO guidelines on how to do this in a balanced way. (Is limiting my weapon selection really equal to a boost of this many skill points? Does dropping heavy armor equal getting a feat?) What I'd like is a balanced, and much expanded version, of that sidebar "custom class" bit in the 2E DM's guide. The one where you picked your class features and that defined your XP table. (You could make an uber-everythingist but you'd advance slower than a speeding glacier, or build "guy who swings sword- really hard!" and advance like the wind.) Of course in 3E there's only one XP table, so that wouldn't work. And it's not like that old half-arsed 2E system really made balanced characters anyway. But it could- an all skill point system could do it- in theory.
So after this long ramble- has anybody made such a system? Or seen one? Or maybe would like to work on one?
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