Shadowdark Western Reaches Stretch Goal: New Classes

[DarkCrisis]

I almost see the Mount/Lance as superfluous.

The relationship or bonding to a Weapon.
The removal of Morale immunity.
The 'get back up' ability.

All touch on things Paladins have been known for but in a new (to me) way.

The Mount is a another Paladin check box, but I dont see this as a Mounted Character at all.

Not to mention SD is really a dungeon crawler. Even in D&D how often does mounted combat come up? It’s just a nice extra for the Paly that will rarely see use (mostly in random overland travel fights)

 

[Bill Zebub]

I almost see the Mount/Lance as superfluous.

The relationship or bonding to a Weapon.
The removal of Morale immunity.
The 'get back up' ability.

All touch on things Paladins have been known for but in a new (to me) way.

I agree! I really like all those class features.

The Mount is a another Paladin check box, but I dont see this as a Mounted Character at all.

On the one hand you are right that it is kind of a "ribbon" feature. On the other, it takes up a lot of page real estate, which makes it feel like better features would be there in its place. But maybe not. So maybe I should stop worrying about it?

I think the changes I would make to Paladin would be:

• Drop the mount and lance
• Subtract Cha bonus from Reaction rolls with Chaotic creatures
• Add "Chivalric Training: you have advantage on rolls involving horses and etiquette"

I know I could just do that in my own games, but I have this funny resistance to using homebrewed classes. I really like classes (and other character-related things like spells and weapons) to be "official".

 

[Bill Zebub]

Not to mention SD is lately a dungeon crawler. Even in D&D how often does mounted combat come up? It’s just a nice extra for the Paly that will rarely see use (mostly in random overland travel fights)

And while I think SD works perfectly well in a less dungeon-centric setting, it still means that a major class feature (as measured by column inches) is useless if your campaign focuses on dungeons, or other places where mounts are not practical.

 

[Scribe]

Subtract Cha bonus from Reaction rolls with Chaotic creatures

My meetings are about to kick off, but this I think would have been great, especially considering what the Morale immunity removal is impacting, this very clearly is a "LAW" character.

 

[Bill Zebub]

My meetings are about to kick off, but this I think would have been great, especially considering what the Morale immunity removal is impacting, this very clearly is a "LAW" character.

...and not just as a personal lifestyle choice, but with a kind of inner mystical/holy/whatever "fire" that chaotic creatures sense.

 

[Scribe]

...and not just as a personal lifestyle choice, but with a kind of inner mystical/holy/whatever "fire" that chaotic creatures sense.

Yeah, if you are making Undead and Demons/Devils able to feel fear, you got something going on.

 

[Bill Zebub]

Yeah, if you are making Undead and Demons/Devils able to feel fear, you got something going on.

Right?!?!!

Anyway, glad you like it.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I think having a zillion classes is a mistake.

Id prefer a subclass mechanic “swap your next talent roll for this”

I definitely think that swapping out talent tables for custom ones is a much better foundation to build on, although I understand people clamoring for entire new classes.

Note that the upcoming Cursed Scrolls will have the mage, druid and sorcerer -- sort of. They'll be new spells available to lawful, neutral and chaotic wizards, respectively. That's a much more conservative approach than making new classes and probably a lot more easily balanced (tweaking or tossing out a single problem spell is a lot less dramatic than outlawing an entire class).

 

[WanderingMystic]

I definitely think that swapping out talent tables for custom ones is a much better foundation to build on, although I understand people clamoring for entire new classes.

Note that the upcoming Cursed Scrolls will have the mage, druid and sorcerer -- sort of. They'll be new spells available to lawful, neutral and chaotic wizards, respectively. That's a much more conservative approach than making new classes and probably a lot more easily balanced (tweaking or tossing out a single problem spell is a lot less dramatic than outlawing an entire class).

Personally I think that the classes are simple enough that why not just make lots of new classes, as long as they are unique and interesting. I do feel that the fiend and beastmaster are a bit to powerful but I also feel like some of her classes like the horse archer is a little too weak.

What I am really excited for is the new talents you can get from completing tasks from NPCs, this is finally a way to add some depth to some of the more straight forward classes.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I think a fair number of the third party character classes, including ones from people who are extremely good at marketing themselves, are pretty bad. A lot of people just straight converting 5E content instead of paring it down to the essentials, which is what Shadowdark does for class, ancestry and monster design.