Which noble PC class

[Desdichado]

Oh, it's interesting. Just not helpful!

 

[Tsyr]

I've got all the ones mentioned, and the Sov Stone one... and I still toss my vote to the Courtier. The Sov Stone noble just doesn't hold a candle to the Courtier. Though, granted, Courtiers are suited for... well... court life. It's not as useful in a dark-ages type feel with less court life, really.

And I agree... If you want a noble that can hold his own, mix in a couple levels of fighter, paladin, ranger, or even rogue or bard. Barbarian would work from a rules perspective, but the concept of a barbarian courtier seems off

 

[Tsyr]

Truth be told, I like how Fading Suns does it, but you don't have Fading Suns I guess

In Fading Suns, noble is a class, but it's also a feat chain. Noble the class is sorta a social version of the fighter... TONS of bonus feats, but they can only select "social" feats, a new type of feat introduced in Fading Suns. There are tons of social feats, but one specific chain is "rank"... there are actualy a few ranks, really... church rank, noble rank, etc... The rank feats can be taken multiple times to increase your rank in that orginization. If you decide you don't wanna progress any higher (Which is perfectly fine... after a few ranks, your into the position where you couldn't reasonably be expected to have any free time anymore), you still have tons of OTHER social feats to customize your character with... Some of them are very cool and flavorful, too... Withering Insult, Rabble Rouse, etc.

I love the Fading Suns system, though... If you can find the D20 book cheap, I HIGHLY suggest picking it up. A ton of stuff in there is useful for non-FS games, even most/all of the classes, once you remove the energy weapon profficiency and knowledge: technology type things ... also has a pair of really cool new magic systems (Yup, that's right, you get TWO new magic systems), both of them partialy skill based.

I actualy use a number of the fading suns classes in my normal games...

Beastfriends I allow as sort of a spell-less druid, that focuses more on animals than normal. Hard to explain without know the class.

I replaced Paladins alltogether with The Brother Battle class... much cooler than the PHB paladin.

I also replaced monks with the Living Weapon class... again, I think it's better than the PHB version.

I also allow the Noble, Priest, and Guilder classes... they are all similar classes, almost identical really, except for their starting abilities and a couple other tiny details.

I've considered swapping Starwolves in for Barbarians... very tempting, havn't done it yet though.

 

[Desdichado]

Hate to hijack my own thread, but can you tell me a little more about these two systems?

 

[Brisk-sg]

The Courtier and Noble classes from AEG's Swashbuckling Adventures are excellent choices for PC Noble Classes.

Another Option is to overhaul the DMG Aristocrat class with Bonus Feats every other level like the fighter.

 

[Tsyr]

Hate to hijack my own thread, but can you tell me a little more about these two systems?

Well, they aren't that different, exactly... it's more like saying the Cleric and the Wizard are two different magic systems, I sorta spoke in error... though there ARE differences aside from just what "spells" you can use... anyhow...

The two new magics are Psi and Theurgy.

Psi is psionics, sorta. Theurgy is the priestly invocations.

Both have a similar structure... Groups of powers, in a way. For example, take Theurgy.

There are nine theurgic canons... Mystery, Piety, Protection, Restoration, Revealings, Sendings, Wrath, Zealotry, and Benedictions. Each of these is then broken down into three or four degrees, or rites. For example, Protection is broken down into: Cleanse (First degree), Banish (Second degree), Sanctuary (Third degree), and Armour of the Pancreator (Fourth degree). Psionics is structured similar, though devided differently (Into Prana... Bedlam, Omen, Far-Hand, etc).

Each class that has access to the powers gains them at certain levels... For example, the Brother Battle gains his first Theurgic Canon at level 5, along with his first rite. At seventh, he gets his second rite in his primary canon, etc.

Spellcasting involves what are called "wyrd points", but you can sorta think of them as mana points. Each canon or prana is assosiated with a stat... For example, the psi prana of "Bedlam" is assosiated with STR. Whatever you select as your primary canon or prana, that is to say the first one you ever choose, determines your "casting stat"... the stat that determines how many wyrd points a level you get. Kinda-sorta-almost like how 3E psionics are assosiated with different stats. If you multi-class into a non-spellcasting class, you only get 1 wyrd point per level of the other class, regardless of what your primary ability is.

Each rite is also a skill, which becomes a class skill when you gain it. You can put skillpoints into it, just like any other skill. When you cast a spell, you roll 1d20 + the bonus from whatever stat is assosiated with the power you are trying to use + skill points in said power. It's perfectly possible for spell use to fail, I should point out. The amount you succed the DC by determines how well your ability worked.

I really like that, in a way... it allows for some level of "mystery" when using magic.

 

[Tsyr]

Both systems also have a sort of "paradox" table, if you are familiar with mage... basicly a table of bad things that can happen from doing certain things... also ways to lower it. It builds up over time if you don't lower it, with the effects getting worse and worse. In a DnD type game, the highest level effects would have to be toned down, esp for Theurgy... It's called Urge for Psi and Hubris for Theurgy. For Psi users, Urge is actualy sort of a "second self" or "shadow self" that the over-use and bad-use of powers causes to slowly form inside of you. As you get more and more ability, it slowly gains more control over you.

For example, at level 1 psi Urge, the GM gets the ability to make you "mis speak" at awkward times... GM makes a DC, and every so many points he passes the DC by, he gets to change one word you say a bit. The example in the book is "We cannot stand against them because of your marital shortcommings, sir... Errr, I mean, martial shortcommings."

Hubris is a lot darker... Urge is (basicly) just irritating... Hubris gains you all sorts of fun things like plague, boils, flagulation marks, faithless (Your sermons are so tainted they turn people away from your faith, not towards it), etc. The highest level Hubris is bad though, and would have to be changed for a DnD game... Dead World. The name more or less explains it. It's almost useable in a system with tons of planets and starships and stuff (still reallllllly bad though), but unless you want players to be able to destroy your world...

 

[Green Knight]

Only one on the list aside from the DMG Aristocrat that I've seen is the Star Wars Noble. Like the class alot, though. Next time I get my hands on my friends' copy I'm gonna see about grafting the classes special abilities onto the Aristocrat. See how that works out.

 

[Eosin the Red]

One of the Classes in the WoT Netbook is the revised noble. Much better than the previous version with fire and forget abilities.

Web site in the sig....