Dropping the Fighting Man

[norse]

Bear with me, because this concept sounds insane.

What if you dropped the Fighting Man?

Told you it would sound insane. But think about it for a while. This could result in a very interesting campaign. What sort of effect would it have on the game-world?

We can postulate a world where the gods are a central part of most peoples lives, where many people are capable of producing miracles and the gods themselves communicate with much of the population. Because of this connection however, they also control much of peoples lives and society almost like a divine dictatorship. These are the Clerics.

You also have a class of people who have rejected what they see as the overpowering control of these gods in favour of a power that comes from the self and their own knowledge of the universe. Their saving throws are less because they don't have a god watching over them, and they are incapable of wielding most weapons and armour because of the divine nature of their construction. On the other hand, as their power comes from themselves they don't have to rely on the fickle and often selfish natures of the gods that control most peoples route to power. These are the Magic-Users. Whether these people are seen as rebels, or tolerated as an occasional eccentric, depends on the nature of the gods and society in your world.

If you are using the Thief class, these could represent the followers of the Trickster god. Their pitiful initial thief ability chances can then be explained as being divine powers granted them by their god that have a greater chance of success when they become more noticeable to the Trickster (i.e. go up levels) rather than being skills and techniques that the character has learned.

Thoughts?

[aldarron]

Heh, why not. For that matter, why not drop both the fighting man and the Magic User, for such a game. That would kinda give you a "jedi/sith" like world, no?

[norse]

You could do, and the result could be interesting. But then there would be no character choice at all, which might work or might not. Besides, I like the idea of having rebel magic-users in such a world.

[Mushgnome]

Reminds of Piers Anthony's Xanth series, where everyone is born with a spell-like ability. (I actually tried to run a Xanth campaign once, but couldn't find interested players, all my friends were heavily into LotR at the time...]

[geoffrey]

I like the idea of dropping ALL character classes for NPCs. Each NPC is either a 0-level nobody, or someone unique.

Then let the PCs play whatever they want. ;D

[norse]

I like the idea of dropping ALL character classes for NPCs. Each NPC is either a 0-level nobody, or someone unique.

Then let the PCs play whatever they want. ;D

Other Character Types: There is no reason why players cannot be allowed to play as virtually anything, provided they begin relatively weak and work up to the top,

They already can! I always encourage people to make the best of this rule.

[Finarvyn]

I think that dropping the fighting man would be an interesting world. You'd have a bunch of experts instead of soldiers.

Actually, I think that "fighting man as a default" has some philosophical issues. There really ought to be an "everyman" class. A fighter ought to represent a professional soldier and not a "well, I'm not a cleric, thief, or wizard..."

[norse]

Apr 20, 2012 9:37:37 GMT -6 Finarvyn said:

Actually, I think that "fighting man as a default" has some philosophical issues. There really ought to be an "everyman" class. A fighter ought to represent a professional soldier and not a "well, I'm not a cleric, thief, or wizard..."

Hit Dice: d6
Saves as: Ordinary man
Fights as: Ordinary man (possibly advances in this as a cleric?)
Weapon and Armour Restrictions: None? Or: May not use plate armour, long bows or any 2-handed weapon other than axes or staves.
Profession: An ordinary man must choose their profession, such as butcher, baker, candlestick maker, beggar, locksmith, blacksmith, alchemist, second hand magic salesman and the like. When attempting any task related to their profession they have a chance of success equal to 40 + the scores of 2 appropriate attributes (or two times one of them + their level. This applies only when under pressure or there is some chance of failure of course, many profession related tasks will succeed automatically.
Income: An ordinary man will receive an income per day spent working depending on a task roll as detailed above. A failed roll will earn them 1gp. A successful roll will earn them 2gp. A roll beneath the total of the 2 attributes used for the task will earn them 3gp.

[Finarvyn]

Apr 20, 2012 8:53:34 GMT -6 geoffrey said:

I like the idea of dropping ALL character classes for NPCs. Each NPC is either a 0-level nobody, or someone unique.

Then let the PCs play whatever they want. ;D

Been reading DCC again, eh? Except that the character funnel would be for higher level characters as well as zeroes.

[talysman]

Apr 20, 2012 8:53:34 GMT -6 geoffrey said:

I like the idea of dropping ALL character classes for NPCs. Each NPC is either a 0-level nobody, or someone unique.

Then let the PCs play whatever they want. ;D

Maybe drop experience points and make HD and combat ability separate "skills" improvable using the magic research rules. Make max spell level improvable the same way, too. You start at HD 1, Combat Level 0, and Spell Level 0. You have to get HD 2 before you get HD 3, or Combat Level 4 before you get Combat Level 5; each level costs twice as much gold as the previous one. Increasing max spell level doesn't give you more spells, it gives you the ability to learn spells of that level, which requires separate research.

Talents might be allowed, too. The "spell level" of a talent is the # of chances in 6 on a d6 roll. Most mundane talents start at either Level 2 or Level 0.

[Azafuse]

That's a really nice idea, and I've thought about the following solutions:

• Polluted World: post-industrial polluted environment, scarcity of food means malnutrition, malnutrition means no muscles to wear heavy gear; some are blessed by gods (Clerical Caste), some (Magic Users) are helped by alien entities, many survive as scavengers (Thieves among them); you can easily change the pollution theme with an undead theme (zombiepocalyspe is pretty self-explaining), an eclypse theme (feeble light -> bad vegetation -> bad meat -> bad health), a cannibal madness theme and so on
  
• Leech World: in the recent past the world has been struck by a Magical Plague, and since then people's life energy has been constantly drained by an unknown source; Clerics are the standard preachers (worship God and you'll be safe), MUs are arcane scientists trying to find an answer to this, Thieves are employed as handymen in expeditions (or are simply classical Thieves)
  
• Brave New World: utopian society where Clerics and MUs are Alpha, Thieves are Beta renegades or outsiders and lower castes are just a bunch of brainless brutes to be playable
  

[norse]

Nice ideas there Azafuse! Might be worth coming up with a few one or two page campaigns out of this sort of thing.

If you were to make Create Food and Create Water lower level clerical spells, there need be no agriculture. Everyone's drinking ambrosia or something. This, with my suggestions above, could make for a primal world, one within a few generations or centuries of it's creation. Could be an interesting campaign.

[DungeonDevil]

Dropping the F-M?!
Poppycock! Balderdash!
How are we to battle the darkly surging waves of the Forces of Woe? With poufy, weak-wristed slapping? Crying for sympathy? Are we to cringe like mewing whelps in the corner sobbing? Hells, no! Pick up that broadsword, my son, and swing it like a man! If we discard the martial arts the legions of the Egg of Coot will overwhelm Blackmoor yet again, and we certainly don't want that! To arms! Let the anemic spell-slingers and mitred clergy hide with the womenfolk!