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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jack7" data-source="post: 4020708" data-attributes="member: 54707">Oh, we use em. Most every game usually.But only when really necessary or somebody chooses to for one reason or another.However the way you said this, made me think of a very old joke, and so I laughed when I read it.Appreciate the compliments too and I hope it helped somebody think of something worthwhile. We use something like that, called the Warrior monk, which is modeled on the Byzantine Western Monk (which is where my campaign takes place) and later Catholic monks and priest who would go into combat. This isn't an Eastern monk, unarmed combat, but the Western historical (as a model) fighting monk.In our campaign the Cavaliers (since you mentioned them) were originally a knightly order derived from the Western Roman Empire equestrian knights who later became body-guards to the Pope. The Paladins served under Charlemagne, and the Rangers were roman scouts who protected the borders of both the Western and Eastern Roman empires. As the Western Empire fell the anti-popes began to arise and one of them corrupted some of the Cavaliers who overnight tried to wipe out the loyal Cavaliers and tried to help assassinate as many Paladins and Rangers as they could locate (for both spiritual and political reasons), driving the Pope into exile.This led to the almost extermination of the Cavaliers, and to many of them being absorbed in the Paladins and Palademes (the Eastern Empire Paladins) and to the Rangers going into hiding. The Cavaliers with the anti-pope got the nickname of the anti-Paladins because they seek to huntdown and assassinate the remaining Paladins (for both military and political reasons) and because they thought they had wiped out all of the Cavaliers.So a handful of Cavaliers exist, in secret, usually given spiritual and political sanctuary, the Paladins are constantly hunted by the Anti-Paladins and their agents, and the Rangers operate indpendendently and secretly along the frontiers or in foreign or enemy nations, usually as spies, reconnaissance, scouts, frontier's law, and even as vigilantes.It makes for very interesting NPC scenarios and sub-plots because the Anti-Paladins act as both a corrupt warrior and spy and assassin class, the Rangers hate and despise the Anti-Paladins (the anti-Paladins don't consider them much of a threat because the Rangers have mostly disappeared form sight and the Anti-Paladins seek political and urban power, they are uninterested in the frontiers and the wilds), the Paladins must guard against attempts at secret assassination, both against themselves and against their lords and spiritual leaders, and the Cavaliers are secretly up to their own agenda. Eventually the anti-pope was driven out and many of the Anti-Paladin Cavaliers were purged, but some few dozen or so escaped and now plot a return to power with a new anti-pope. So they plot revenge against the pope, assai against the Paladins, seek new political sponsorship, and unknown to them, the Cavaliers also plot a return to serving the pope and the Rangers plot to exterminate the Anti-Paladins.I mention all of this because it shows how you can slightly alter the historical background of a class (or a profession to be more accurate) in both histrionically and game terms and completely change how that profession is played, and how the player and the character relates to the world he or she finds themselves in. In time, because he has had to, the Paladin has become a master of security and defense. The anti-Paladin a master of assassination, and ambush, and espionage. The Ranger has become a master of ambush as well, and make for the most excellent frontier scouts and spies. But they have also become acute political operators in foreign lands and in enemy territory (where they are often employed by local rulers for secret missions) as the Paladins have become acute political operatives at home. the cavalier has become a master of stealth, espionage, and disguise. What was once a brash and headstrong organization is now crafty and cunning. Secretive and patient. The Ranger, once a lone operative has developed secret alliances and a network of contacts spreading far and wide, awaiting their opportunities to hunt down and abolish the anti-Paladins. They often act as double agents. The Paladin has become as much an agent of the state as the church, as pragmatic in many ways as idealistic in others.In other words the Paladin is not "stuck in his ever unchanging background and role" and neither is the Cavalier, the Anti-Paladin, the Ranger, or others. Things can not only constantly change in the world, they can also constantly change for entire classes or professions of people, for both external and internal reasons, sometimes for good, and sometimes for ill. What I'm really saying to make a long story short is that Medieval worlds are often, because in many respects they are so different from our modern world (which we think of as constantly changing, and in many respects it is), seen as static and unchanging, and this includes character types and classes and professions.  But a huge amount of Byzantine intrigue was going on everywhere, not just in the Courts of Constantinople. The world was in a constant state of dangerous flux, and that includes nations, races of peoples, classes and professions of people, and sometimes this flux was apparent to everyone and oftentimes it was secret and covert but nevertheless had far reaching consequences. And can for the players too. So over time I like to see character classes change, become different things, as an engineer of today is in some ways the same as an engineer of my grandfather's age, but in some ways also, a very, very different animal altogether.So I'd like to add that one I guess, though I had never really thought of it in that way til you mentioned it.13. Character Class and Professional Change - classes and professions change over time, gaining new motives and discarding old ones, and gaining new abilities and maybe discarding some old ones.Anyways, gotta go.Teaching class today.See ya folks.</blockquote>

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