Unknown PC classes/level

[Emerald]

I was reading another thread about class/level makeup and realized I could not post about two of the games I am playing in because it is unknown for sure what the others are playing or what there levels are. And I was wondering if others have had experiences in games where the class/level of the other PCs were not generally known? And what your experience has been.

So to answer my own question:
In one, I would say we are stealth heavy, several multiclassed rouges, multiclassed with what I am not sure, I think one has levels of assassin, one might have sorcerer levels, fighter levels maybe???? I just don't know. The other game just started and is a rather dark underworld game and I am keeping my class a secret, but it would not have occured to me if the other game I play in had not been so secretive. Also, we do individual quests, lots of sneaky stuff the other player may not know about, so level is impossible to know either. I assume the DM is keeping us relatively close but who really knows.

I was just struck with this when a new character joined last month and he said "I am a Bard" I cannot remember a time when someones class has been announced so openly.

 

[Lord Ravinous]

I was reading another thread about class/level makeup and realized I could not post about two of the games I am playing in because it is unknown for sure what the others are playing or what there levels are. And I was wondering if others have had experiences in games where the class/level of the other PCs were not generally known? And what your experience has been.

So to answer my own question:
In one, I would say we are stealth heavy, several multiclassed rouges, multiclassed with what I am not sure, I think one has levels of assassin, one might have sorcerer levels, fighter levels maybe???? I just don't know. The other game just started and is a rather dark underworld game and I am keeping my class a secret, but it would not have occured to me if the other game I play in had not been so secretive. Also, we do individual quests, lots of sneaky stuff the other player may not know about, so level is impossible to know either. I assume the DM is keeping us relatively close but who really knows.

I was just struck with this when a new character joined last month and he said "I am a Bard" I cannot remember a time when someones class has been announced so openly.

That was kinda supposed to be how our game was gonna go, atleast i think that was the DM's idea, it just sorta fell out and were back to our regular ways (in respect to knowin lvl's and classes atleast, the rest is still pretty fresh)

 

[Nifft]

I was just struck with this when a new character joined last month and he said "I am a Bard" I cannot remember a time when someones class has been announced so openly.

Perhaps the "Bard" is trying to trick you... Bards tend to have high Bluff modifiers, after all... er, wait.

-- N

 

[Zerakon]

Perhaps the "Bard" is trying to trick you... Bards tend to have high Bluff modifiers, after all... er, wait.

LMAO. Very nice logic. <-- you've brought out my first "big grin" smilie, an impressive feat.

 

[Voadam]

In my longtime Greyhawk ravenloft campaign that started in 1e any class and race were open as options. Characters only were told what other characters looked like and went from there.

Two of the PCs were assassins but convinced the party they were thieves, even though they used shields and weapons that thieves could not use, and did not have any thief skills until third level. Nobody else really knew the rules about thieves and assassin class restrictions so they got away with this cover for a number of years until the whole party shifted evil and they had established bonds of friendship and trust. Then things got ugly as only an entire group of evil elves could.

 

[takyris]

A Bard/Assassin can be a GREAT character.

And I'd love to play in a game where I didn't know what class my buddies' PCs were. It'd have to be one where every player knew the rules really well, and where the DM trusted them a lot. You can almost always figure out somebody's class by listening to whether they're trying to sneak attack or hit a favored enemy.

 

[Flyspeck23]

Anything that reduces the amout of metagame-thinking is fine by me
Sadly, I won't see this happen in my current campaign. Some of my players (the least experienced) even compare skill ranks from time to time...

 

[Emerald]

Yes, It is more difficult this way. We have lots of note passing, and other room adventures (in the the DM and one or two players have to go into another room to discuss stuff that the PCs are doing that are not known by the rest of the group). My character now is a spell caster (the other PCs know this) but to keep them from knowing if I am arcane or divine I have a list of spells with numbers next to them and the DM has a list of the spells I simply say. I cast #4 and the other PC only get to see the result. (See the story hour here for more info on this game).

 

[Voadam]

Yes, It is more difficult this way. We have lots of note passing, and other room adventures (in the the DM and one or two players have to go into another room to discuss stuff that the PCs are doing that are not known by the rest of the group). My character now is a spell caster (the other PCs know this) but to keep them from knowing if I am arcane or divine I have a list of spells with numbers next to them and the DM has a list of the spells I simply say. I cast #4 and the other PC only get to see the result. (See the story hour here for more info on this game).

Have you come up with codes for metamagics? "I throw him a number four with a twist." or "I cast a number 17 on the rocks." or even "Red 23".

 

[Czhorat]

Yes, It is more difficult this way. We have lots of note passing, and other room adventures (in the the DM and one or two players have to go into another room to discuss stuff that the PCs are doing that are not known by the rest of the group). My character now is a spell caster (the other PCs know this) but to keep them from knowing if I am arcane or divine I have a list of spells with numbers next to them and the DM has a list of the spells I simply say. I cast #4 and the other PC only get to see the result. (See the story hour here for more info on this game).

Is it really worth the effort? Eventually even the least attentive players will have enough clues to figure out eachother's classes as they use class abilities. You'll eventually have to cast a spell wearing armor or cast a healing spell, at which point they'll know that you're a divine caster. Or you'll throw a magic missile or lightning bolt or something and they'll know you're a arcane. The idea is intriguing, but the amount of note-passing and speaking in code seems to me to be too much effort for what I see as a minimal gain.

Also, if you're working cooperatively as a group (which D&D really is about IMHO) you ought to know something about eachother's abilities so you can plan accordingly. It'd be nice to know that one character is the group's only healer, or that the group needn't overworry about the harpies they're expecting to encounter because the bard can use a countersong. Could you imagine trying to tackle some kind of obstacle with the assistance of a group and NOT know what the others are capable of?