As part of the Destiny-inspired fantasy/sci-fi blend game I’m building, (a)Risen, I’m in need of two more classes to round out my base roster — one rogueish, the other mage-ish.
So far I’ve:
the Oathkeeper, something like a Paladin Jedi;
the Astromancer, a hexing, math-of-the-universe tinkering intellect;
the Slinger, a sneaking, hacking, robo-buddy having ranger;
the Helix, a flowing martialist warrior ascete;
the Battledancer, a berserker who uses an angry trance to ride the knife’s edge of destruction without losing themselves to it;
the Catalyst, a not-quite-bardic arcanist socialite with powerful incantations for buffing and deadly hidden weapons for stabbing and/or shooting;
and the Sin Eater, a weird patron of the Deep (aka space) with necromancy and Dungeon World Immolator vibes.
So, I want 9, three of each of the kinda classic archetypes (warriors, rogues, mages), and I’m short one more mage and one more rogue.
Any thoughts as to archetypes or classic tropes I’m missing? I’m trying to maintain some while subverting others, but I’m not quite sure where to go with the last two.
What about a playbook where the character is 3 people, each a different aspect of a person, none whole or as powerful until or if they somehow combine? That’d make for a nifty assassin.
Thoughts?
the Thing-Speaker: a charismatic, shamanistic technomancer who convinces things to do their bidding and sends machine-spirits to do their bidding
the Venture: an explorer, risk-taker, and scoundrel with a penchant for leaping and a tendency to drag others with them
Propitiatory Errata: A memetic familiar of a lost arisen. Bound by a compact, a guilt or a compulsion to pay for a great crime or failure, it will wander the earth to atone for its past even as it’s petroprogramatonic sigil frays and corrupts.
The Antidularian: A delver in places lost, a singular appraiser of the technologies from before the earliest days of the reawakening, a name known in the circles of urbane collectors, grave robbers and black market regulars alike.
Not quite what you asked for, but I really like all your existing ones with a BIG exception of the Oathkeeper. It sounds like one of those playbooks that would derail the game and make it all about them (like the Chosen in Monsterhearts and Monster of the Week). I have a longstanding rule in my D&D games that no Paladins are allowed; they’re just used by groggy players to get focus and make things difficult for everyone else.
Oli Jeffery
Here’s a look at the first draft of the oathkeeper class sheet. The vibe I shot for, and that I have so far had in my test games, is less, “all about me” and more “I am not the most important, but rather the glue that can help hold us together.”
However, I’m very interested in your interpretation — do let me know if you still get that feeling after looking at the sheet, and of course I welcome alternative ideas.
(page 1) https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BwF75bfO6_4LYkE0NC1TeDcyWkk
(page 2) https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BwF75bfO6_4LVl9GZllpS2w3bWM
Brian Reynolds The actual playbook looks good. My issue is Paladins and to a lesser extent Jedi are holier-than-thou when most rpg characters are kinda skeevey. They spend most of their time arguing with the other players to try and bring them to the “right way”, so they tend to be played by people who want to hijack the limelight.
To put it another way, they pull all the other characters with them rather than glueing them together. And characters shouldn’t need to be pulled. Paladins are the hall monitors of character classes.
That’s a really cool point that I hadn’t really considered.Thanks! Maybe I can try to adjust the context of their vows a little to make them a little more culty? That could encourage players to be less self-righteous with them. Or perhaps they’re more mercantile, like they have a stiff code they work under but it’s because they’re being paid, or because their work supports their living arrangements (i.e., “you oathkeepers get room and board and rep and privilege so long as you uphold you end of the deal.”).
The main crux of the class is definitely a selfish one, when you think about it — do the thing in order to have a good roll. That’s tempered with some tanky, protective abilities and innate healing, but players of oathkeepers are definitely going to be most interested in upholding their vows for self-focused reasons.
Regarding last two class ideas: for the roguish one, I’m leaning toward somebody who is a viable assassin. More of an outsider, a nomad. First pass is that they astrally project a digitized version of themselves, good for passing through walls, spying, scouting, infiltrating — and, with the right advanced moves, the assassination part. Also has some dreamwatching and scrying abilities, while leaving the body vulnerable.
Alternate pass has them being permanently in this digitized, astral form, with a basic move being to possess things: bodies, machines, etc. If they die in that form, they still suffer real consequences, and then there may be unique dangers to their digital form, too.
Brian Reynolds I actually wrote a playbook for The Sprawl which is exactly that – it’s appearing in next month’s Codex.
Oli Jeffery That sounds super cool. Can you tell us more about it? (not because I want to gank it, I’m just curious)
It’s ghost themed (because it’s the Halloween issue), and it’s all to do with using holographic projections to induce supernatural seeming effects.
The full version’s released November 1st. http://www.gauntlet-rpg.com/codex.html
That’s awesome! Definitely checking this out.
A rough-spun, I-should-be-going-to-bed idea, not at all complete or balanced:
The Hackist
Starting Moves: 1. You are incorporeal. Your astral form cannot be Harmed but neither can it deal Harm. You can be seen and, with effort, heard. Describe how, and what it looks like. You are still bound by worldly constraints, like gravity and doors.
2. Body Hack: When you possess the living frame of another being, Roll(stat) and hack the operational subroutines of whatever flesh you covet. If the target is willing, take Advantage. If unwilling, Disadvantage. If unconscious or otherwise incapacitated, roll normally.
Host bodies do not heal normally, and cannot be healed by normal methods. You must find another way.
On a 10+, choose x. On a 7-9, choose
*It’s easy. Your new hosts’s mind is not too alien or doesn’t put up a fight.
*It’s quick, like a whispered secret.
*It’s painless, like waking from slumber.
*It’s impermanent. You can abandon your host whenever you like.
On a 6-, pick none. The overwrite is brutal and to the bone.
3. Disembark/System Restore: When you cut the puppet strings, Roll(stat). On a 10+, you’re a ghost, leaving behind only a vague itch. On a 7-9, the GM will offer you a choice: leave something behind, or take something with you. On a 6-, you’re trapped, for good or ill.
Racial Move: if your host’s racial move is already established, use it. If not, the GM will establish one. Beggars can’t be choosers.
Advanced moves:
1. Corpse Hacker: your body hack can be performed on corpses, even ones centuries dead. Your aura rewrites the flesh, knitting it back into a recognizable form. Treat the Roll as though on a willing host, unless the corpse’s soul has yet to vacate the premises.
2. Digital Hacker: your body hack can be performed on nonliving entities possessing sufficient AI operating systems.
3. Sins of the Flesh: When you consume the flesh, blood, or life force — you pick — of another to sustain your injured host body, Roll(stat) and recover Harm you’ve been dealt. On a 10+, the cost is 1:1 — they suffer as much Harm as you choose to heal. On a 7-9, it costs them twice as much. On a 6-, their flesh is forfeit — but you’ll live on.
4. Psychopompous: You act as a font for other nonphysical entities. (Ask them questions? See what they see/know what they know?)
5. Astralogist: simple doors, obstructions, and walls are no longer an impediment to you in your astral form. If you could cross them in the span of a step, they’re not even there.
Need 3 more Moves to round it out (all the classes have 8 advanced moves). But I think it’s pretty rad so far.