Limited-Resource Campaign Design, Take Two

[mhacdebhandia]

I enjoyed my last little experiment with limited-resource campaign design, so here we are again. This time around, I'm going to look at building a setting sketch from three angles instead of two: not only "PC races" and "monsters" but also "character classes". It's not really different from what I've done before, but I'm bored at work (at least, I was when I originally wrote this) and enjoy the exercise for its own sake.

Let's start with character classes. Everyone familiar with Dungeons & Dragons knows that there are four traditional roles:

• Fighter
• Cleric
• Rogue
• Wizard

As a matter of experimental principle, these four classes will not be available in this setting, nor will some of their common stand-ins from the core rules. Instead, I will offer four classes from other sources to replace each, so that the final roster of available classes is a healthy sixteen.

Replacing the Fighter

First off the bench to replace the retiring fighter class is also the newest on the roster, coming from the recent supplement Tome of Battle: The Book of Nine Swords. Some people might, at this point, be expecting me to nominate the warblade, but instead I'm actually going to choose the crusader class. I approve of its focus on defending and promoting a specific cause or ethos - it's a simple but effective hook for characterisation, and I also think the crusader's randomised available maneuvers and delayed damage pool are fun to deal with. Not every player is going to be interested in that kind of bookkeeping, of course, and that's why there are other options.

Second up, another relatively recent class: the duskblade from the Player's Handbook II. While I have a great deal of contempt for the elf-worshipping flavour it's given in that book, mechanically speaking it's a nice "magical warrior" class with which I'm very satisfied. It's a strong archetype that's fun to play, and I'm happy to look at adjusting its spell list to suit the setting if necessary.

Third, also from the Player's Handbook II: the knight. While there is some conceptual overlap between the knight and the crusader, in that both exist in the context of duty and obligation to protect and serve something greater than oneself, I actually appreciate that - there's something pleasingly mythic about oaths and service, so I'm happy to have two warrior classes connected to such an idea. Mechanically, the knight is clearly inspired by "tank" mechanics from massively-multiplayer online roleplaying games, but I'm not bothered by the cross-pollination one bit. It's a solid class which would be interesting to play.

Fourth and finally, I'm not compelled to restrict myself to official D&D sourcebooks from Wizards of the Coast. Monte Cook, one of the original designers of Third Edition D&D, published a "variant Player's Handbook" called Arcana Unearthed, later revised and expanded as Arcana Evolved, and one of the best classes in that book is the swashbuckling unfettered class. With a small amount of tweaking to make it compatible with otherwise standard D&D, the unfettered is a great "light fighter" class that can hold its own amidst its sturdier cousins.

Next: four classes to replace the cleric.

 

[Emirikol]

Those are interesting ideas. It will definately help you focus your campaign.

jh

 

[mhacdebhandia]

Thanks! I'll post the next part in a little while.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

Replacing the Cleric

The first class to replace the cleric is also, probably, the closest to it in terms of mechanics. The favoured soul was originally published in the Miniatures Handbook, then again in Complete Divine; I chose it because its sorcerer-style spontaneous casting and funky thematic ties to the gods are slightly unusual and fairly enjoyable. In many ways it's a safe choice, but I'm comfortable with that.

Second, Magic of Incarnum presents a system of magical powers which can be fairly summarised as "creating temporary magical items powered by soul energy". I think it's an extremely interesting book, and the incarnate is a decent stand-in for the cleric. As written, they are thematically-associated with one pole of a single alignment axis - lawful neutral, neutral good, neutral evil, or chaotic neutral - which will definitely have an effect how they fit into the setting, in a good way.

Third, the binder from the Tome of Magic: Pact, Shadow, and True Name Magic supplement is perhaps a surprising choice, but both thematically and mechanically I'm satisfied with it. Binders make pacts with entities lost beyond the realms of normal existence, gaining supernatural powers in exchange for sharing their physical bodies so those entities can briefly experience the world once more; the flavour of the class is superbly Goetic, and the abilities are solid.

Fourth and finally, the archivist from Heroes of Horror is one of my favourite classes ever published. A scholar of forgotten lore concerning gods and monsters, the archivist learns divine spells like a wizard, creating personal prayerbooks of assorted prayers and rites from multiple religions. The class's flavour is superb and it's very versatile.

Next, replacement classes for the rogue.

 

[Evilhalfling]

I replaced the cleric with a spontaneous caster (UA variant) for a one-shot
It had interesting effects on default D&D society.
its all about limitations of known spells.

Cure disease was far scarcer and medieval style plauges became logical again, when only a fraction of high level clerics had access to the spell. Temples were far less interchangeable and purchasing magic was more difficult, unless the guy with craft feats kept recruiting others to cast the necessary spells. - PCs would be targets for this type of recruiting.

Priests and gods were also more mysterious as they had nowhere near the "standard" list of magical options.

Adventure design also needs more attention, many published adventures, and monsters assume access to defensive and curative magic that a party just won't have. (see above for discussion of replacing missing powers with items)

If archivists are common, they solve alot of these society issues.

I did it to create a more primitive/raw feeling to magic in a world where society was 900's tech, but magic had recently arrived in the world.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

Yes, not only archivists but also favoured souls mean that, really, you're not missing out on clerical magic in the traditional sense. What changes is the "feel" of divine spellcasters.

I think the one that changes the most is the wizard, but we'll get to that in due time.

 

[Giltonio_Santos]

Even with the four slots for the cleric class already taken, I'd look again at the spirit shaman from Complete Divine. It's a different mechanic and seems like lots of fun to play. Though I don't know the archivist, looks like the kind of stuff you could offer as a exotic replacement for the wizard as well, freeing a slot for cleric (which has some nice choices) and offering a good replacement for the wizard (personally, I'm not very excited about the variant wizards I've seen so far).

Cheers,

 

[The Lost Muse]

This is a really interesting thread. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Interesting thoughts here.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

Thank you for all the kind comments!

Giltonio, I considered the spirit shaman, but while I think its flavour and mechanics are very cool indeed, they're not a very good fit for this particular setting. Great class, but it just brings in too much baggage.

As for replacing the wizard, well . . . wait and see.

Replacing the Rogue

The first class I'll use here is the lurk from Complete Psionic. It's a much-maligned sourcebook, true, but the lurk is a perfectly good class - and I like the idea of a stealthy assassin-mentalist archetype in this setting. I find it pleasantly sinister, and I think it fulfills its theme better than, for instance, the ninja from Complete Adventurer.

Speaking of that supplement, the scout class takes the best parts of the core ranger and blends them with the rogue for a non-magical wilderness adventurer. The skirmish mechanic is more interesting than sneak attack - and, incidentally, much less dependent upon surprise or one's allies - and I do like the idea of a skilled outdoorsman class, since I already know there will be large stretches of "uncivilised" territory in the setting.

The next class, in some ways, combines aspects of the first two. The soulknife from the Expanded Psionics Handbook is a martially-oriented class, true, but its class features strongly push it towards being played as a lightly-armoured skirmisher. Soulknives don't manifest psionic powers, but their access to psionic feats is very useful; this choice definitely leans towards replacing the rogue exclusively in its combat role, but I'm happy with that.

Fourth and finally, I turn to the Player's Handbook II and the beguiler, a spellcaster who specialises in deception, illusions, and enchantments. It's a very solid replacement not only for the rogue but also for the core bard, due to its facility in overcoming social challenges through magic and skill. It's a fun archetype which I'm happy to find a place for in this setting.

Next, four replacements for the wizard, and then we move on to a consideration of PC races.