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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 9459582" data-attributes="member: 6750502">In New School news, Frontiers of Eberron is coming out tomorrow. Given that it takes place on the borderlands of that setting’s monstrous nation of Droaam, that product’s been on my mind. I started thinking of how to go about making an OSR campaign where all of the classes are monstrous, but wanted to do an additional challenge of using resources that are free or Pay-What-You-Want. I was able to do so with 10 diverse classes for a Monster Nation, drawn from a variety of zines and blog posts. More than that, I wanted to find monstrous classes that played differently enough from each other to feel distinct.<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Arenea <a href="https://blog.d4caltrops.com/2021/11/monster-character-class-options.html" target="_blank">(d4 Caltrops)</a></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Drow (Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy Player’s Tome)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">The Extras <a href="https://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2016/09/bx-class-extras.html" target="_blank">(Against the Wicked City)</a> or Grimps <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/123665/btl003-brave-the-labyrinth-issue-3-pdf" target="_blank">(Brave the Labyrinth Issue 3)</a></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Eye Tyrant (d4 Caltrops)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Gnoll (d4 Caltrops)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Goblin (Carcass Crawler Issue 1, <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/237995/black-pudding-4" target="_blank">Black Pudding Issue 4,</a> or Brave the Labyrinth Issue 3)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Harpy (d4 Caltrops)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Kobold <a href="https://ac-luke.itch.io/the-kobold" target="_blank">(Itch.io Class)</a></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Medusa <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/216896/black-pudding-3" target="_blank">(Black Pudding Issue 3)</a></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Norg <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/465427/black-pudding-8" target="_blank">(Black Pudding Issue 8)</a></li> </ol>If I were to sum them up by role, here’s how they’d look:Martial: Extras, Gnoll, Goblin (Black Pudding, Sniper or Goon Path), NorgStealthy: Goblin (Black Pudding Sneak Path, Carcass Crawler), KoboldGodly Magic: DrowArcane Magic: AreneaUnique/Hybrid: Eye Tyrant (pseudo-caster), Grimps (martial/stealthy), Goblin (Brave the Labyrinth, martial/stealthy), Harpy, Medusa (arcane/godly magic)Of the 10 listed here, only the Drow is a core option, existing in the Advanced Fantasy Player’s Tome. It is close enough to the Cleric/godly magic archetype, but with dark elf features. The Arenea is another caster class, with access to spells along with spider-like abilities like a poisonous bite and great climbing skills. The Medusa is our third class with access to outright spells, both Magic-User and Cleric along with the ability to summon serpents and trademark gaze attack and snake bites, although they’re limited in that the latter two abilities risk them becoming an uncontrollable NPC monster if used too much.For magical yet not technically spellcasters, the Harpy is a one-note yet pretty strong class, with flight and an entrancing song. The Eye Tyrant is a copyright-friendly beholder, who learns new ways to use their central eye and eye stalks as they increase in level.Gnolls and Norgs represent our general-purpose warrior classes. The gnoll is more of a pseudo-ranger with abilities specialized in wilderness survival, while the Norg is basically a big beefy warrior with frost giant blood.The Extras are inspired by the Grimps, and they both represent the general “horde of weaklings” that overcome foes with sheer numbers. While the Grimps represent imps specifically, the Extras can represent a wider variety of races and generic minion archetypes.The Kobold is a pseudo-Thief but can wear armor as heavy as chainmail, can detect non-magical traps like an elf detects secret doors, and has a limited number of Thief skills.As for Goblins, I figured to outline 3 different takes on them, given their popularity across fantasy media. Carcass Crawler is basically Halfling-esque in being a small stealthy fighter, but can speak with wolves and sense changes in a dungeon like a dwarf can. Black Pudding’s Goblin is similar but is actually braver than the cowardly archetype with a bonus against fear effects, and is able to choose from one of three “paths” that grant bonuses on different actions. The Sneak adds to stealthy stuff, Sniper enhances aptitude with ranged weapons, and Goon for melee attacks. Brave the Labyrinth’s class is actually called the Goblinoid, and includes hobgoblins and bugbears as well as traditional goblins. This class is the most unique in that it starts out as a goblin but grows in size, power, and type as it gains levels. At 8th level becomes an ur-goblin that gains a random supernatural power. Additionally, during character creation, the goblinoid rolls a d12 to determine a random subclass that grants a single ability reflecting some knack or specialization.I should note that Carcass Crawler is the only supplement that’s a paid one, which technically breaks my rule, but I wanted to include it for completeness’ sake and diversity of options.</blockquote>

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