Inspiration from the 'Classic 4 D&D Classes'

[takasi]

Anyone have any world building tips for using the four iconic D&D fantasy classes (cleric, fighter, rogue, wizard) as the foundations of the game world?

Starting with a traditional medieval fantasy theme of 'the now fragmented fallen empire', here are four different nations, each based on the iconic classes that now exist in the world.

Cleric Country (Theocracy). This is the foundation of the original empire and holds the oldest records of leadership. 'Gods' choose rulers, through oracles and in some cases avatars. Leaders are celibate so families have no power. This is a generally peaceful nation that uses allies to shield them from harm in exchange for the spiritual blessings of the gods.

Fighter Country (Monarchy). This is a relatively young nation of rowdy, short-tempered rulers who are only really loyal to each other based on family ties. They tend to get into fights often and use very few tactics other than sending in lots of troops with brute force.

Rogue Country (Oligarchy). This loose alliance of mercantile experts has a great deal of money and exports at their disposal. Using their wits and silver tongues, this nation strikes bargains while playing sides against one another. This nation is often trusted with secrets despite being the least trusted. Success in battle has often been the result of outside of the box strategies and luck despite the odds.

Wizard Country (Magocracy). This pious nation is ruled by a very select and very old group of experts in the esoteric. This nation is often most upset with the illogical actions of the Fighter Country. Though relatively small and weak, this nation is the most feared. They are rumored to have ambitions of summoning (and in some cases becoming) undead and consorting with demons.

Using this setting, each player chooses one of these four core classes and then hails from that nation. The party is the result of an alliance of youthful idealists who want their nations to work together and help protect themselves from 'insert-campaign-problem-here'.

For an alternate take on this with a 4th edition spin you could sub each of the above with 'Divine Power Nation', 'Martial Power Nation', 'Arcane Power Nation' and 'Make-up-some-source-name-that-means-out-of-combat-advantages-because-unlike-previous-editions-4th-edition-rogues-are-essentially-fighters-IMHO Power Nation'. Since 'roles' have become distinct from 'powers' in 4th edition, someone can be a 'defender' (classically the role of the fighter) and hail from Cleric Country or whatever. Since there is no power source that IMHO mimics why people played rogues in older editions (for out of combat advantages more so than in combat) you could make a ruling that only DMPCs in the party would hail from this nation. DMPCs IMO give the DM a little more fiat, allowing for special connections, successes, plot devices and general out of combat advantages.

 

[Alikar]

I think it could easily work. I actually rather like the idea of countries based on classes. I think that works really well.

 

[WalterKovacs]

In the 4e concept it's quite possible to have a Primal society (a nature worshiping society), an Arcane society, a Divine/religious society (presumably the setting has something similar to Eberon in terms of a pantheon of gods that is the 'standard' for that society) and a martial society.

The "problem" with countries based on classes is that presumably they'd need to rely on each other to survive. A party exclusively made up of one class wouldn't really work out to well, so how would an entire society like that work? On the other hand, its possible to cover most of the bases with a single power source (martial lacks a controller option). While party's may not form the basis of society, it would make sense that any military would require people the fufill the basic party roles to succeed.

In terms of out of combat skills ... each society would need general ability to various degrees in the non combat areas, but there could be a sort of Switzerland that excels in the non-combat areas to a degree where it can remain neutral to the more militarily powerful nation by being indispensible in their ability to bridge the gap between the other nations, free trade, etc, etc, etc.

The racial make up of each area would therefore be tied in part to the prefered class/race combinations. Humans would be everywhere, but the 'smart' races, and charismatic ones, would be arcane. Wise races would be primal and/or divine. Dextrous races would be martial. Strong and tough races would mostly be martial or primal, etc, etc, etc.

 

[jmucchiello]

The "problem" with countries based on classes is that presumably they'd need to rely on each other to survive. A party exclusively made up of one class wouldn't really work out to well, so how would an entire society like that work?

I think he meant the nature/society of the country is dominated by the stereotype of the class. Not that only one class type exists in the country.

Still, in 4e, as you said, power sources would be a more natural point from which to base country stereotypes.

 

[takasi]

Wild Country (Anarchy). A significant number of people live outside of the boundaries of the core four nations. Despite lacking a great deal of clearly defined power and strength, these small groups have the freedom to travel the world without following the rigid laws of the other nations.

In a classic game of iconic D&D that uses the core four there may be a 5th player who wants to try 'something else' (barbarians, bards, druids, monks, paladins, rangers, sorcerers). Within the game world these characters would hail from some very small clan outside of the core four nations. The four youthful idealists would probably find the new adventurer as they venture into the wild.

In 4th edition you could sub this with classes that use the primal power source.

 

[Remathilis]

I always though Eberron's "Five Nations" were based strongly off the four classes (+1).

Thrane is a theocracy that the people willingly accept. The whole nation revolves around the Silver Flame and its dedication to destroying supernatural evil. Its archetype is Cleric.

Karranth (ignoring the undead thing for a minute) is a nation with a strong military tradition, a military draft, and martial law. Its also home to the best military academies in the world. Its archetype is Fighter.

Aundair is a nation of enlightened thinking and magical innovation. While the peasants don't differ a whole lot, the gentry class has embraced magic and learning and Aundair's war-wizards were rightly feared for their prowess. Its archetype is Wizard.

Breland is a monarchy, but its a land with a strong streak of individualism and freedom. Its known for its valor, but also its spies and sabatours. Its also home ot Sharn, THE largest city and meeting point in all of Khorvaire. Its a city teaming with trade and commerce, learning and exploration, and a hearty sense of "rugged individualism". Heck, even Breland's primary educational academy is rough-and-tumble-to-make-a-profit. Its also the gateway to Xen'drik, the ULTIMATE dungeon crawl. Its archetype is Rogue.

What about Cyre? Well, before it blew up it was about art, culture, innovation and creativity. It seemed to blend each element in turn; Brelands creative spark, Thrane's dedication, Karranth's warrior spirit and Aundair's magical aptitude. No wonder it go blown up; its archetype was Bard. ()

 

[Dykstrav]

I did exactly this with a continent of my homebrew back in the 3.5 days. I noticed how many homebrews based nations around particular character races so I did it for classes instead. Most of the players really got into the idea of representing a particular nation by their choice of class.

I had one major nation based on each and every character class in the Player's Handbook. I then added a brand-new nation every time a new basic class came out, although I did eventually start blending in provinces with the new classes when the list of basic classes got bloated. I interspersed these major clusters of nations with vast stretches of wilderness to explain why they hadn't been seen before.

 

[The_Fan]

Basing them off of stereotypical ancient cultures, in a 4e "Power source nation":

Divine is based off of Egypt, removing the pharoah. It's ruled by a collective of various gods' cults, with the most powerful god's priest as the de facto ruler of the country. The cults have their various rituals and rules, and vie against each other for temporal power by preaching to the faithful and sponsoring public works to display their god's might.

the Martial empire is based off of Rome. It's a realm with a strong martial tradition where the leader is not only supposed to be a strong warrior (most of the Caesars were also generals), but also a very adept politician and an inspiring leader. Gladiatorial games display martial strength, orators inspire the people, thieves and assassins skulk in the shadows, and the legions constantly try to expand the influence through conquest.

The Arcane nation I see as being vaguely Arabian Nights. Spires and minarets, advanced science and math, studies of the stars and planets. Its arcane colleges are renowned for their learning, and their moral ambiguity. Artificers provide complex workings that aren't seen in the other nations, wizards serve as viziers, bound demons and djinn guard the palaces of warlock-princes.

The Primal nation is really a loose confederation of tribes opposed to the others. Vaguely Celtic or possibly Amerindian, this region has a lot of forests and rolling hills, natural features with the manmade structures being menhirs and the like. Ruled by a circle of druids who control the primal spirits of the earth, and defended by beastriding barbarians and wardens. Probably the most mysterious (read: The one I spent the least time thinking about), the other nations slander the barbarians with cannibalism and blood rites, but death is just as much a part of nature as anything...

As you can see, my take on this concept is kinda dark.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Could also base them vaguely on European archetypes, since you're going with a heavily "medieval" flare.

Cleric country can be modeled after the Mediterranean nations: Italy, France, and Spain, vying to be the seat of the internationally mighty Church.

Fighter country might be modeled after the Nordic Barbarian archetype: frigid lands and animal skins.

Magic Country could be sort of Arabic/Middle Eastern: at the edges of the known world, where ancient lore is still kept by strange foreigners in palaces of learning.

Rogue Country might be a little Russian/Slavic/Eastern European in flavor: dark mountains and forests breeding an archetype less mercantile, and more like the Raven/Loki/Coyote archetype: opportunistic, subversive, chaotic, rebellious -- a countryside of slave-takers and slave-kings, of barely unified tribes and separate valleys that can't help but in-fight (but would confront an outside force strangely united).

Leaving the middle nations around the Germany/Brittish kind of atmosphere, which meshes with traditional D&D trappings hilariously stereotypically.

Francesco the Cleric, Baldurson the Fighter, ibn-Arfad the Wizard, and Yuri the Rogue?

I'd run with it.

Just be careful not to end up with a Planet of Hats. Yes, the Desert Lands are famed for their wizards of learning, but that doesn't mean that they don't know what a sword looks like -- they have fighters, too, they're just defined by magic in a way that the rest of the nations aren't as much.

If you can dodge that bullet, you've got as solid a plan as any idea for a nation.

 

[The_Fan]

Don't have to worry about that in my world. The Magic Country knows a LOT about swords. After all, they have elite Swordmage Janissaries. I figure the Ranger Legion of the Martial Empire was created in response to and to deal with the challenges presented by the Primal Lands. Etc.