Starting feats

[Erebus]

Nothing new here, I'm sure, but these are some (untested) house rules I'd like to use in my d20/D&D fantasy-type game (relatively low magic -- think WoT d20 -- but I'm not sure how it will work quite yet).

Basically, as in Star Wars d20, each 1st-level character starts with a certain grouping of "starting feats" depending upon his starting class. For example, a 1st-level fighter begins the game with the following "starting feats" package:

Shield Proficiency
Tower Shield Proficiency
Armor Proficiency (light, medium, and heavy)
Simple Weapon Proficiency (all)
Martial Weapon Proficiency (all)

A 1st-level wizard who multiclassed into fighter at 2nd level would actually need to purchase the above package, albeit perhaps at a discount. I was thinking of using 2 different feats:

Armored Combat Training [General, Fighter]
Prerequisite: At least one level of Cleric, Fighter, or Paladin.
Benefit: You gain proficiency in all types of armor and shields, with the exception of tower shields.
Special: 1st-level characters who start as Clerics, Fighters, or Paladins receive this feat for free as part of their starting feats.

Martial Weapons Training [General, Fighter]
Prerequisite: At least one level of Barbarian, Fighter, Paladin, or Ranger.
Benefit: You gain proficiency in all simple and martial weapons.
Special: 1st-level characters who start as Barbarians, Fighters, Paladins, or Rangers receive this feat for free as part of their starting feats.

So, a Fighter's starting package would actually look like this:

Armored Combat Training
Martial Weapons Training
Tower Shield Proficiency

The drawback, of course, is any character who multiclasses into Fighter from another class would have to buy as many as 3 feats just to catch up to the character who started his career as a Fighter. I happen to like this approach since it represents the idea that a character who starts as a Fighter has spent a great deal of time in training with armor and weapons "before" 1st-level. It doesn't really make much sense to me that a Wizard could suddenly wake up one day and start wearing full plate and swinging a greatsword with ease. IMHO, at least, feats do a good job of representing the sacrifice one has to make to realize these abilities. YMMV, of course.

I was also thinking of using such an idea to extend to spellcasting classes, as well. For example, Clerics would begin with a Divine Caster starting feat, Wizards would begin with a Arcane Caster starting feat, etc.

-E

 

[Tywyll]

INteresting but...

First let me say I HATE the idea of weapon and armor prof as it is in 3e. I dislike the idea that a person, after one level, can just pick up a (insert random alien culture martial weapon here) and use it like they have known what it did since birth.

I've considered trying to come up with some system to mitigate that, but nothing as of yet.

Now, as for your idea, remember one thing that your suggested change would do... imbalance the character.

The system is (supposedly... and I can't stress this enough) balanced so a 2nd level fighter is roughly equal to a 2nd level mage is roughly equal to a 1st fighter/1st mage. Now, with your proposed system, that will certainly no longer be the case, especially if you spread out magic with feats or something.

If you do go through with it, make certain you take the imbalance into account when calculating CRs and such (such a handicapped character would take several levels to be useful, and in that time would be a drain on party resources).