doctorbadwolf
Heretic of The Seventh Circle
Another way to go would be to assume adventurers are apprentice level, and either out to prove themselces or called to adventure by some catastrophy that has made it so their mentors cannot take on the tasks they are given.
So
Acolyte - divine or primal chosen at level 1, holy order at 2, subclass at 3. Basically a priest with either cleric or druid spell list
No armor, simple weapons, a spellcaster and scholar, mechanically more like the Bard than the cleric or druid, except that they learn and prepare spells like a wizard.
Destreza - adept master of martial arts and the esoteric secrets of a rarified martial tradition.
Gains a couple weapon masteries, and Martial Arts, with unarmed strike focus replaced with Martial Arts Strike (does martial arts damage regardless of weapon.
Add a bunch of discipline features you choose from at various levels rather than them being locked into specific ones
Add some swordmage type stuff as optional discipline features, and some stuff that is more battle master fighter manuevers type stuff. Primarily a melee combatant.
Jack Like a rogue/bard without any magic bard stuff, and cunning strike at level 2 along with cunning action. Skill utility, combat utility/single target control, relatively light damage dealing with mixed range. The main thing I would add to the rogue framework would be a class feature that leans into using skills in combat, possibly using cunning action as the vehicle.
Hermeticist Like warlock if Pact of the Tome flavor was a big part of the thematic basis of the class, rather than a secondary optional thing. You're a ritualist, occultist, alchemist, and scholar of the forbidden and lost. A direct foil to the Acolyte.
Ritual spellcasting, some crafting themed to alchemy, summoning, binding, and curses. Alistair Crowley meets Paracelsus meets John Constantine. No Patron, just Pacts, with your subclass being Greater Pacts and being themed more like 4e, which is a subtle difference but an important one. Main Greater Pacts would be Fey, Shadow, Hell, Stars, Draconic, and Primal. The idea being you make many pacts, many of which involve you just binding something, not any sort of trade or deal.
Slayer Basically the Ranger plus Assassin, but dropping any focus on melee combat, primarily a stealth oriented highly mobile shooter, with banes, kit, and knacks, as I described upthread. Some low level option can give you a pet, and you can spend knacks and kits on upgrading the pet if you want, and the pet focused subclass gives you further buffs you can give the pet. You can also choose Tools, and get poisoners kit and a hidden weapon, or Deception and get disguise and forgery kit plus a certain number of false identities you can adopt quickly, or Primal Magic and fully be a half caster like 2024 ranger but with more shadow spells.
Inventor Similar to the Artificer, but a full spellcaster via prepared items, with the ability to change during any rest what they have prepared, and your subclass gives you a special device that you can upgrade, similar to the current artificer but you gain upgrades, and I'd add a vehicle based one with a medium sized vehicle that can function like a support pet whether you ride it or not (imagine if the artillerist pet was medium and you could ride it and it had a 40ft speed and an upgrade option is making it fly), and split the artillerist into a wandslinger and a gunsmith.
Knight Paladin without (or with few) spells, as described upthread.
Each class would have hook mechanics, like things that can trigger complication rolls that have potential results unique to the class, and class specific contacts and resources, etc.
So
Acolyte - divine or primal chosen at level 1, holy order at 2, subclass at 3. Basically a priest with either cleric or druid spell list
No armor, simple weapons, a spellcaster and scholar, mechanically more like the Bard than the cleric or druid, except that they learn and prepare spells like a wizard.
Destreza - adept master of martial arts and the esoteric secrets of a rarified martial tradition.
Gains a couple weapon masteries, and Martial Arts, with unarmed strike focus replaced with Martial Arts Strike (does martial arts damage regardless of weapon.
Add a bunch of discipline features you choose from at various levels rather than them being locked into specific ones
Add some swordmage type stuff as optional discipline features, and some stuff that is more battle master fighter manuevers type stuff. Primarily a melee combatant.
Jack Like a rogue/bard without any magic bard stuff, and cunning strike at level 2 along with cunning action. Skill utility, combat utility/single target control, relatively light damage dealing with mixed range. The main thing I would add to the rogue framework would be a class feature that leans into using skills in combat, possibly using cunning action as the vehicle.
Hermeticist Like warlock if Pact of the Tome flavor was a big part of the thematic basis of the class, rather than a secondary optional thing. You're a ritualist, occultist, alchemist, and scholar of the forbidden and lost. A direct foil to the Acolyte.
Ritual spellcasting, some crafting themed to alchemy, summoning, binding, and curses. Alistair Crowley meets Paracelsus meets John Constantine. No Patron, just Pacts, with your subclass being Greater Pacts and being themed more like 4e, which is a subtle difference but an important one. Main Greater Pacts would be Fey, Shadow, Hell, Stars, Draconic, and Primal. The idea being you make many pacts, many of which involve you just binding something, not any sort of trade or deal.
- Fey would be mostly like the 2024 archfey patron
- Shadow would involve a mode change, turning into a shadow for damage resistance, movement boost, and stealth boost
- Hell would be much like 2024 fiend
- Stars would be based on the 4e Star Pact
- Draconic would be very elemental, with fear auras and flight, and eventual dragon summoning
- Primal would also be elemental but in a different way, with nature stuff and benefits against creatures from outside the Material Plane
Slayer Basically the Ranger plus Assassin, but dropping any focus on melee combat, primarily a stealth oriented highly mobile shooter, with banes, kit, and knacks, as I described upthread. Some low level option can give you a pet, and you can spend knacks and kits on upgrading the pet if you want, and the pet focused subclass gives you further buffs you can give the pet. You can also choose Tools, and get poisoners kit and a hidden weapon, or Deception and get disguise and forgery kit plus a certain number of false identities you can adopt quickly, or Primal Magic and fully be a half caster like 2024 ranger but with more shadow spells.
Inventor Similar to the Artificer, but a full spellcaster via prepared items, with the ability to change during any rest what they have prepared, and your subclass gives you a special device that you can upgrade, similar to the current artificer but you gain upgrades, and I'd add a vehicle based one with a medium sized vehicle that can function like a support pet whether you ride it or not (imagine if the artillerist pet was medium and you could ride it and it had a 40ft speed and an upgrade option is making it fly), and split the artillerist into a wandslinger and a gunsmith.
Knight Paladin without (or with few) spells, as described upthread.
Each class would have hook mechanics, like things that can trigger complication rolls that have potential results unique to the class, and class specific contacts and resources, etc.
