OSR Let's make Shadowdark classes!


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Legend
Hope I'm doing this right - haven't played Shadowdark yet!

marcellus-the-elder-laroon-the-infallible-mountebank-or-quack-doctor-1688-1705_u-l-q1pnld50.jpg

Mountebank

Charlatans with elixirs rattling beneath their cloaks, tricksy scoundrels with hidden wands, or barely remembered guests solving the rat problem but leaving the inn's coffers dry and the staff hungover.

Weapons: Club, crossbow, dagger, shortbow, shortsword
Armor: Leather armor, mithral chainmail

Hit Points: 1d4 per level

Elixir Craft. Mixing together commonly available ingredients, you can create a puff of smoke obscuring a small area for two rounds, a spark of cinders from a nearby torch or campfire blinding a nearby creature for 1 round, a nearby flame to change color, or a simple image to form in smoke. Alternately, you may present a false remedy appearing to be antivenom or a potion of healing, requiring a Charisma check (DC 10+the creature's Hit Dice or level).

Forgotten Face. After interacting with creatures who you tricked, but neither you nor your companions caused damage to, you may choose to magically make it hard for them to recall details about your identity. The creatures must roll a Wisdom check (DC 10+your level) to recall details like your name, your attire, facial features, what you said, etc.

Charm and Illusion Magic. You know 1 Tier One spell, chosen from: Charm Person, Detect Magic, Hold Portal, Light, or Sleep. At every odd level (3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th) you learn one more Tier One spell. At 6th level, you learn 1 Tier Two spell, chosen from: Alter Self, Detect Thoughts, Invisibility, Knock, or Mirror Image. At 8th and 10th level you learn one more Tier Two spell. These spells are cast as Wizard Spells (1d20+INT, DC 10+the spell's tier), but on a critical failure use the Mountebank Mishap table instead.

Mountebank Talents (2d6)
2 Gain advantage on initiative rolls (reroll if duplicate)
3-5 Learn one additional spell
6-9 Learn a bonus Common Language and gain Advantage on checks to convince native speakers to be friendly or to disguise yourself as a native speaker of that language
10-11 +2 to Intelligence, Dexterity, or Charisma stat
12 Choose a talent or +2 points to distribute to stats

Mountebank Mishap Table (d6)
1 Charlatan!
A witnessing NPC recognizes you as a charlatan and ne'er-do-well from a previous encounter (even if you've never met them in-game) and calls you out.
2 Who am I? You forget your identity for 10 rounds; if you were attempting to disguise yourself as someone else, you fully believe you are that person instead.
3 Shazam! You cause light within a near distance from you, including fires and magical light and sunlight, to sparkle blindingly and belch forth smoke, for 10 rounds.
4 Whoopsie Daisy! You cast a different spell you know instead, determined randomly.
5 Wardrobe Malfunction! Your current clothes magically transform into a completely different set of clothes of the opposite sort with a wildly different color scheme. Any magical or personal clothing items are hidden in nearby containers, vessels, drawers, or root burrows.
6 Latent Notoriety! Though no one realizes it at the moment, 1d100 rounds later every witness of your attempted magic remembers you distinctly (thwarting Forgotten Face) and negatively, including your companions. You suffer Disadvantage on all checks to convince such witnesses to be friendly, and your companions don't want to lend you things or cast magic on you, until you make nice.
 


Libertad

Hero
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Digger

Mechanized creations of an advanced civilization braving the lightless tombs of their forebears.

Weapons: Club, crossbow, dagger, mace, shortbow, shortsword, staff

Armor: leather armor, chainmail

Hit points: 1d6 per level

Languages: You know one rare language of your choice.

Mega Buster: You have a crossbow welded to your arm that can be loaded and fired with one hand.

Artificial Being: You don’t need to breathe or eat. You still need to sleep via “undergoing maintenance.”

Integrated Weapons System: Cast magic as a wizard, but you know a single tier 1 spell chosen from the Digger spell list. You learn a new spell at every odd level, and can pick from tier 2 spells at 5th level and tier 3 spells at 9th level.

Digger Spells

1st:
Burning Hands, Magic Missile, Sleep, Turn Undead
2nd: Acid Arrow, Blind/Deafen, Hold Person, Web
3rd: Fireball, Lay to Rest, Lightning Bolt, Protection From Energy

Digger Talents

2d6Effect
2You ignore disadvantage on stealth and swim checks due to armor (reroll if duplicate)
3-6+2 to Dexterity, Constitution, or Intelligence stat
7-9Gain advantage on casting one spell you know
10-11Learn one additional spell
12Choose a talent or +2 points to distribute to stats


Design Decisions: For those who haven't played the game, Megaman Legends is a 3d action game with pseudo-RPG elements. Civilization is set among a series of islands whose primary source of energy, crystalline refractors, are harvested from underground ruins populated by dangerous traps and constructs known as Reaverbots. Megaman is a Digger, that setting's dungeon-delver equivalent.

Megaman is very much a mobile character who primarily attacks with ranged weapons. I decided to reflect this by giving him some proficiencies closer in line to a cleric and a limited set of mostly-offensive spells. Given his robotic nature I was struggling a bit to not edge too heavily on Shadowdark's resource management; he doesn't need to eat rations, but sleep and light sources are still important. I wanted to avoid stepping on the Fighter's toes so I limited his armor and weapon proficiencies, but being able to use a ranged weapon one-handed via Mega Buster is hopefully a nifty enough feature in freeing up a hand to do other things like holding a torch. When it comes to spells, Priests and Wizards have more non-offensive and utility options, while Thieves still have Thieving Skills to fall back on. Not as squishy as a Wizard, but still wants to keep to the back row during fights.

Regarding the language choice, different settings may have different kinds of "ancient, advanced civilizations," so the Rare Language is representative of the original civilization that built the Digger in question.


I'm still relatively new to Shadowdark, so if my class is unbalanced or I acted in error, please let me know!
 
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Whizbang Dustyboots

Gnometown Hero
Is there a wiki for tracking 3PP/Homebrew classes for Shadowdark, or do I need to wade into Discord?
I thought the Shadowdarklings site also had a link to a (partial?) list of them, but there's so many of them on DriveThruRPG and itch.io, to say nothing of individual websites, it feels like a near-impossible job. (Then again, someone has a website tracking all dice ever made, so maybe.)
 

Scribe

Legend
I thought the Shadowdarklings site also had a link to a (partial?) list of them, but there's so many of them on DriveThruRPG and itch.io, to say nothing of individual websites, it feels like a near-impossible job. (Then again, someone has a website tracking all dice ever made, so maybe.)

I see some options on Shadowdarklings, but I guess I was hoping a more text based wiki. A few of the options do point to Discord...I'll have to figure out my password and all that again.
 


Split the Hoard


Split the Hoard
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