No longer a lurker on this site..

I am writing on a  fantasy game and I would like some input about which 10 classes to include in the basic book.

Two three sentences to describe a class will be enough..
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And hello from snowy Norway

Over at rpg.net they needed more info so i could at least post it here to.

-It is a high fantasy setting recovering after a "mage war".
-Magic are well known, but wielded by few. (at least after the war)
-The setting/world are trying to cope with the side effects of a magic war
-I am looking for archetypes(fighter,priest,mage etc) but also archetypes with a
twist (mentalist,paladin,necromancer,knight,ranger etc)
-The system are based on opposed rolls or task difficultys.
-Spells are based on level and skill.

-I am not looking for race specific classes(at least not now)
-I am not looking for classes that makes other obsolete(super thief vs thief)

-The reason why i chose to have classes in my game are to make sure(at least try to) that each character serves its purpose. To some degree..
-There will be possible to dual class and multi class
-There will be a mechanic to gain exp for usage of skills.. Its my goal atleast.

It kinda sounds as the average fantasy game huh?  Well well
If there are anything else you wonder about please ask me here or pm me.

10 might be too many, if you are looking for archetypes.  The standard four and combinations of them (if you aren't going with multi-classing) should give you more than enough to start with.  The combo classes will need to be somewhat carefully worked out, though, or no one will touch the standard classes.

By classes and archetypes i should have specified more.

The classic four(priest,fighter,thief,wizard) and variations of them are what i am looking for.  Not ten Arch-classes to spin other classes off.

In my game i will have standard template that every single class will be created out off.  
The hard part are to make all of them interesting and unique. And yet somewhat balanced.

Quote from: Uff;283269By classes and archetypes i should have specified more.

The classic four(priest,fighter,thief,wizard) and variations of them are what i am looking for.  Not ten Arch-classes to spin other classes off.

In my game i will have standard template that every single class will be created out off.  
The hard part are to make all of them interesting and unique. And yet somewhat balanced.

Ok, then it sounds like you already have the classes picked out.

it sounds like i have picked them.. but i haven`t..

might just be me being strange(not uncommon at all) but i really am interested in what people would like to have as classes..  

archetypes or not..

Honestly, I'd rather look what classes I need and then decide how many it are... And for that purpose, I'd start with the core story. What do the characters do? What are the typical adventures?
What tasks do they have to perform usually to drive the adventure to successful completion? What abilities are it that help them to solve them?

Only after the first two questions are nailed, the last two questions can be nailed. And only if these last two questions are nailed, we have a list of abilities typically needed and can begin to divide them sensibly among classes, so everyone serves an about equal purpose.

For me? In a fantasy game I can see: Fighter, Magic User, Skill User.

The difference in anything beyond those three are flavor-you can implement with rules or just fluff. After all a Magic User could be a fantasy Priest, a dedicated psychic, or someone who utilizes arcane knowledge. While a Fighter can be a sword wielding knight, a martial artist monk, or an elegant elfish archer.

Examples:

Fighter: Knight, Barbarian, Monk, Martial Artis, Archer, Soldier, Lancer, Dragoon, Gunslinger (in fantasy settings with firearms)

Magic Wielder: Mage, Wizard, Psionicist, Cleric, Druid, Illusionist, Necromancer, Sorcerer, Warlock, Shaman, Seer

Skill user: Thief, Bard, Assassin, Ranger, Sage, Apothecary, Spy, Jester, Merchant, Face

Assuming a D&D-like setup, I disagree with Silverlion here with the Fighter, Magic-User, Skill-User split.

Don't use it.

There's no real difference between a Fighter and a Skill-User. They're both mundanes, beat things with sticks, and use skills to get around obstacles. Therefore, you should be able to swap out a face for a knight and still go to town on the mundane stuff both in combat and out of combat.

Seriously, the idea that a character's sole contribution to a party's success should be his combative skills is laughable especially when another party member (the Magic-User) can cover that and more.

Use the Magic-User, Skill-and-Magic-User, and Skill-User split instead. With Magic-Users representing Wizards, Rogues and Warpriests representing Skill-and-Magic-Users, and Warriors representing Skill-Users. Therefore, even in a party of one, a character can get somewhere by himself.

I rather liked the three class split by Silverlion when I saw it in True20 (Blue Rose) though I will admit that DU's description of the problem with that split (and his proposed, elegant solution) cropped up when looking at the feats. Why did Skill Users get to deflect arrows while fighters (the guys who we expect to be shot at with arrows get diddly? Oh yeah, fighters are nothing but big dumb lugs who kill shit... right....).

It further breaks down when you consider everyone needs to be able to play a role in combat in typical RPG's... if for no other reason than the way combat tends to occupy the game space (potentially hours long encounters, no reasonable way for weak and helpless characters to escape/survive unless the GM is merciful... you know...), thus the dude that is only good at combat becomes somewhat useless. Everyone's good at that PLUS something else.


Uff: You have to work on presenting this idea better.  Seriously, I want to be constructive and helpfull but all you've given me is enough to make me want to say 'why not just freaking make it a setting for D&D'? which... honestly... isn't that helpful.

Quote from: Spike;283295I rather liked the three class split by Silverlion when I saw it in True20 (Blue Rose) though I will admit that DU's description of the problem with that split (and his proposed, elegant solution) cropped up when looking at the feats. Why did Skill Users get to deflect arrows while fighters (the guys who we expect to be shot at with arrows get diddly? Oh yeah, fighters are nothing but big dumb lugs who kill shit... right....).

.

Oh I don't think of it like that--I consider the fighter skilled, just that in a class based system, he's the one whose class gets most of the combat features--like arrow dodging, leadership, etc. (Mind you I think Magic and Skill users just alternate between both classes anyway..) if you use classes.


Can you tell I prefer skill based games?

Yeah but note that in Blue Rose its not the fighter (and only not the fighter, as I recall) who can 'dodge arrows'.

But yes, I prefer skill based systems as well.

Barbarian, Peasant, Townsfolk, Noble.

In my "Free 20" game which I was working on, sort of a free D20 using game where class (class levels) and stats are pretty much all you "measure", I was going to have Combat Class, Magic Class, Stealth Class, and Knowledge Class--essentially. Your typical D&D style PC would not be 1st level in the system--but probably 3rd.  A D&D Fighters is three levels of Combat Class, a Paladin 2 Combat and 1 Knowledge at the outset, and so on and so forth. If you wanted to attack AT all with anything but a random d20+stat to beat the target number you picked up a level or two of combat class.  It was a design to keep it simple. (This was before I saw Blue Rose, True20, or anything like that.)

I still have my notes for it somewhere. May need to finish it to show the more elegant way of doing "classes" (pretty much all they boil down to is skill packages.)

I will try to clarify what my ideas for the classes are a little better.

-Each class will be based on the same default template class regarding             skills and magic.

-No class will be unable to use magic. If the player chooses to not use magic it will be the players choice. Not the game saying his class cannot use magic

-No skill,magic,abilities or other special bonuses will be restricted to one class.
A thief might get a "special" for free due to being a thief as a class, but other classes can purchase that special with skillpoints(or what i end calling them).

what i am after are really what kind of classes you think is cool.. i do not want a game that is just based on what i find cool. Cause my cool can be others shit.

I will fill in more later, i need to work.  Sling questions at me i will answer the best i can.