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General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Designing Base vs. Prestige classes
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<blockquote data-quote="ValhallaGH" data-source="post: 2948681" data-attributes="member: 41187"><p>Thank you. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin :D" data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /></p><p></p><p>And I think that that is the core of my problem with D&D class design. So many of the archetypes don't need to be very different, mechanically, especially since they limit the creativity of the players.</p><p></p><p>Pretend for a moment that you wanted to have a D&D party that resembled a typical anime ninja team.</p><p>Fast deadly guy.</p><p>Huge deadly guy.</p><p>Powerful ninja mage.</p><p>Deadly infiltration specialist.</p><p>All four of them need to be very sneaky and the last two are probably weak in a stand-up fight when compared to the first two.</p><p></p><p>With D&D class design you'd need four new core classes and probably a brand new magic system to make this very simple and cool archetypal team; the Ninja core class covers the fourth archetype but not the others, all of whom are equally ninja. If one could be a stealthy Barbarian then we wouldn't need a core class for the second archetype, but alas that can not be. The third archetype might be doable with a sorcerer if they could be stealthy and sneak attacky. The first archetype <em>might</em> be able to get by with a Swashbuckler but I am skeptical.</p><p>With some other systems you just need to have the characters pick up a few weapon proficiencies and various stealth skills and you would be ready to roll.</p><p></p><p>I prefer the approach of other systems, as it provides a simple tool kit that can guide me down the path the designer envisioned but still leaves me with the option to twist it to my own archetypes and inspirations. The guidance is the advantage of a classed system over a classless one, and the advantage of about ten classes instead of three, while the flexibility is the advantage of allowing classes to be flexible enough to cover concepts and archetypes beyond the original vision without having to write tomes of new rules. I like that I can use the IH Berserker for a cool and focused samurai as easily as I can use it for a savage and uncontrolled wilderness warrior; extremely different archetypes with very similar rules mechanics allows me to get a lot done with very few rules books.</p><p></p><p>However, that's my personal preference. I understand that some people would faint at the very suggestion of using a single class to cover a wide variety of archetypes. I understand that some people can't differentiate between a character's concept and the name of his class. Those people are free to do as they please with my blessing, support and occaisional help. I just don't want them to tell me that I'm playing the game the wrong way. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f60e.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":cool:" title="Cool :cool:" data-smilie="6"data-shortname=":cool:" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="ValhallaGH, post: 2948681, member: 41187"] Thank you. :D And I think that that is the core of my problem with D&D class design. So many of the archetypes don't need to be very different, mechanically, especially since they limit the creativity of the players. Pretend for a moment that you wanted to have a D&D party that resembled a typical anime ninja team. Fast deadly guy. Huge deadly guy. Powerful ninja mage. Deadly infiltration specialist. All four of them need to be very sneaky and the last two are probably weak in a stand-up fight when compared to the first two. With D&D class design you'd need four new core classes and probably a brand new magic system to make this very simple and cool archetypal team; the Ninja core class covers the fourth archetype but not the others, all of whom are equally ninja. If one could be a stealthy Barbarian then we wouldn't need a core class for the second archetype, but alas that can not be. The third archetype might be doable with a sorcerer if they could be stealthy and sneak attacky. The first archetype [i]might[/i] be able to get by with a Swashbuckler but I am skeptical. With some other systems you just need to have the characters pick up a few weapon proficiencies and various stealth skills and you would be ready to roll. I prefer the approach of other systems, as it provides a simple tool kit that can guide me down the path the designer envisioned but still leaves me with the option to twist it to my own archetypes and inspirations. The guidance is the advantage of a classed system over a classless one, and the advantage of about ten classes instead of three, while the flexibility is the advantage of allowing classes to be flexible enough to cover concepts and archetypes beyond the original vision without having to write tomes of new rules. I like that I can use the IH Berserker for a cool and focused samurai as easily as I can use it for a savage and uncontrolled wilderness warrior; extremely different archetypes with very similar rules mechanics allows me to get a lot done with very few rules books. However, that's my personal preference. I understand that some people would faint at the very suggestion of using a single class to cover a wide variety of archetypes. I understand that some people can't differentiate between a character's concept and the name of his class. Those people are free to do as they please with my blessing, support and occaisional help. I just don't want them to tell me that I'm playing the game the wrong way. :cool: [/QUOTE]
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