Classes

Classes

Classes are somewhat variable; in principle, they represent either some association or experience that your character has (or had). As such, they usually grant you either access to some group's resources, or to some unique talent or training.

In practice, though, classes can become something of a catch-all — a very diverse type of feature that represents things that are not innate properties (like traits) or discrete actions (like powers).

• Artisan of the Dead

  • Requirements: 30 Ranks in Spellcraft, the Corpse-Herder class
  • You can modify your corpse companion. Such a modification requires time, raw materials and an appropriate Spellcraft check. Possible modifications are listed below:
  • Armored: your companion gains 4 armor. Requires: 1 hour task-action, a corpse, scraps of armor.
  • Monstrous: you heavily strengthen and reinforce your companion, which gains +5 STR and +10 DUR. Requires: 1 hour task-action, two corpses.
  • Hulk: your companion is a heavily-armored hulk capable of shrugging off massive damage. Its gains 6 more armor (so that it has a total of 10 armor). Requires: 2 hour task-action, one corpse, armor scraps; companion must have Armored and Monstrous traits.
  • Fast: you carefully craft your companion to be lean and quick. It’s walking movement is increased to 5/15. Requires: 2 hour task action, a corpse. Cannot have the armored or monstrous options.
  • Flight: you attach great wings to your companion, allowing it to fly. It gains flying movement 4/12. Requires: 2 hour task action, large amounts of hide. Cannot have the armored or monstrous options.
  • Claws: you graft ferocious claws onto your companion’s hands and feet. It gains claws that do 1d10+4+DB DV damage, and have AP -2. Requires a thirty-minute task action, claws or scrap metal.

• Attendant of the Mourner

  • Requirements: 20 Ranks in one Combat skill, 20 Ranks in Research, the Cleric class.
  • You are a devotee of the Mourner, and you have pledged yourself to the pursuit of history and (enlightened) justice.
  • In a site holy to the Mourner (a library, museum, court-house or similar), or while pursuing a perpetrator of cruelty or injustice on a great scale, before making a Combat skill check, a Research check, an Intimidate check or a check to Resist Fear, you may spend 1 Luck Point to gain +WIL to your check.

• Channeler

  • Requirement: 20 ranks in Control, two Sleights
  • You have such long experience with your sleights that maintaining them is almost automatic. You reduce the penalty for sustaining Sleights by 10. (So, for example, if you are sustaining 4 Sleights, you take a -20 penalty to all checks, instead of the normal -30.)

• Corpse-Herder

  • Requirement: 20 Ranks in Spellcraft, 10 ranks in Knowledge: Theology
  • You can create a powerful companion from the remains of the dead — and you can heal and modify your companion with more remains.
  • You can create a companion as a one-hour Task Action requiring a Spellcraft check; you need access to at least one corpse (of medium size or larger) to provide raw material.
  • When you create your companion, it has DUR 30, STR 30, and a movement of Walking 4/12. It only a very rudimentary intelligence: it has SOM 15 and WILL 20, and a score of 5 in its other attributes. (You create this basic intelligence, it does not come from the corpse you used.)
  • Your companion will obey any simple command you give it; absent orders from you, it will follow you and defend you.
  • When you create your companion, you may distribute 200 ranks among its various skills. You cannot assign it more than ten ranks in any Knowledge skill, and you cannot assign it more ranks in a skill than you have.
  • Your companion has the Supernatural tag, and does not need to eat, drink, sleep or breath. It is unaffected by poison and disease (though it can carry diseases).
  • Your companion doesn’t heal naturally, and Medicine is useless on it. However, you may attempt to repair it if it is damaged. If you have a corpse to work with, you may attempt to repair it; this is a thirty-minute Task Action requiring a Spellcraft check. If you succeed, one wound is removed, and your companion recovers 1d10 DV. (Note, the wound is removed, not bound.)

• Daredevil

  • Requirements: 5 or more Luck
  • You have a history of taking extraordinary risks, and a habit of succeeding.
  • Before a check, you may spend 1 Luck to get a +20 bonus on that check.

• Duelist

  • Requirements: 20 Ranks in one Melee Skill
  • As a Quick Action, you can designate one other Creature as your Rival. You gain a +10 bonus to checks to combat skills that your target is opposing (that is, to your attack when attacking them, and to your defense when defending against them). However, you take -10 to combat skills that your Rival isn’t opposing (that is, when attacking other characters, or when defending against other characters).
  • Thaaaaaats basically a power, hmmm.

• Familiar-Bound Mage

  • Requirements: 20 Ranks in Spellcraft
  • You have crafted (or attracted) a familiar.
  • Familiars are small magical assistants, bound to the mage that they serve.
  • Familiars vary widely; some are small animals to which a magical intelligence has been added; others are small golems, sophisticated clockwork creations that function as living things; still others might be small spirits in their own right, conjured and bound to the mage.
  • Nearly all are small, intelligent creatures; though they are of little use in combat, they can be a great help in a laboratory or shop — and some can have other skills.
  • You may choose one creature that has the Familiar tag; you gain this creature as a familiar.
  • Alternatively, you may design your own familiar, but your GM must approve of your selection.
  • Your familiar gains a COG of 10 (unless its COG is already higher).
  • You can distribute +15 points to the familiar's aptitudes.
  • You may spend up to 200 CP on your familiar.
  • Your familiar is magically linked to you; it can understand you when you speak, and you can understand it (regardless of the language that you use, even if it doesn't speak a language), and
  • you and it can exchange simple telepathic messages (like simple ideas or flashes of images).

• Gang Member

  • Requirements: 20 Ranks in Profession: Smuggler , Profession: Thug or a similar skill.
  • You are a member of one of the criminal gangs that operates in the Commonwealth’s large cities.
  • This gang has an assortment of other smugglers, thugs and operatives whose services you can call on, and may have facilities (like chemistry labs) and assets (like illegal goods or smuggling routes) that you can exploit.
  • Conversely, you have obligations to the gang, such as performing smuggling runs, intimidating targets or crafting drugs.
  • Of course, your gang might become another enemy if you get caught, especially if they suspect you of talking to the authorities.

• Guild Member

  • Requirements: 20 Ranks in one Profession Skill
  • You are a member of a trade guild.
  • You can call on other members of your guild for professional assistance (this is useful while traveling, as other guild members might be willing to provide you with the use of their facilities).
  • However, you have obligations to your guild, including dues (requiring one Medium cost per year), the expectation that you aide other guild members in need, and the requirement that you maintain a respectable professional reputation.

• Intuitive Fighter

  • Requirements: 20 Ranks in one Combat Skill
  • You may make a SOM+COO check in place of an Attack Skill that you don’t have. Exceptional and Critical results are ignored.
  • You can also use SOM+COO to attack with something that is not normally a weapon (like a chair or bottle).

• Investor

  • Requirements: at least Level 3 Wealth
  • You start the game with a single Investment of a level equal to your wealth level.
  • This doesn’t cost you one of your wealth dots, since you’re not depleting a dot to create it.

• Jack of All Trades

  • Requirements: 20 Ranks in one Craft Skill and 20 Ranks in one Profession Skill.
  • You have dabbled in a wide variety of jobs, giving you a little bit of insight into quite a lot of trades.
  • You can make a COG+INT check in place of a Craft or Profession skill that you don’t have. Exceptional and Critical results are ignored.

• Leader

  • Requirements: 20 ranks in Protocol
  • You have attracted a follower.
  • Create your follower using the rules for a Follower (see Character Creation), using 450 CP.

• Mage

  • Requirements: 20 Ranks in Spellcraft
  • You are familiar with a wide variety of useful spells. You can crate simple magical effects (as a Standard Action), including mending a simple object that you touch, restoring spoiled food, sparking a fire or producing lights and sounds.

• Noble

  • Requirements: 20 ranks in Protocol, 20 ranks in one other skill with the Social tag
  • You are a lesser noble – the Lord of a manor, or a Duke in the Dragon-Shire.
  • Your word will not be obeyed as law, but members of the community will be predisposed to you.

• Officer

  • Requirements: 20 Ranks in Protocol, the Soldier class
  • You are an officer in the Commonwealth’s army or navy, giving you authority over those in your command (with some limits on what you can order them to do, and some obligations from you to the Commonwealth military!).

• Paladin of Lyn

  • Requirements: 20 Ranks in two combat skills, the Cleric class
  • When you are Bloodied and you have at least one wound (that you have not negated), you gain +TT to your armor and your melee damage, and you gain +WIL to checks to resist fear.

• Priest

  • Requirement: 20 ranks in Knowledge: Theology (or a similar skill), 20 ranks in Protocol
  • You are an attendant at a shrine or temple. The shrine likely has other acolytes and priests, a Superior (to whom you may be directly responsible), and worshipers (who may be predisposed to help you). You should work out these details with your GM.
  • You have experience with calling up and dealing with the Spirits in the region where your shrine is located.

• Rat Queen

  • Requirements: 20 Ranks in Protocol, Gang Member
  • You are the leader of the Rat Queen’s Crew, a gang operating in Kareku Aer, in the Dragonshire.
  • The Rat Queen’s Crew are mostly smugglers, although they do command a handful of thugs (who protect their facilities) and a few chemists (because sometimes it’s easier to make the drugs yourself).

• Scholar

  • Requirements: 20 ranks in a Knowledge skill, 20 ranks in Research.
  • You have devoted your life to learning, and you have broad experience and study.
  • You may make a COG×2 check in place of a Knowledge skill that you do not have. Exceptional and Critical results are ignored.

• Soldier

  • Requirement: 20 ranks in two Martial skills
  • You are (or have been) a soldier, trained to fight as a member of a team
  • You may assist others when they make Martial skill checks (e.g. while in combat). (Normally, you cannot assist someone else with a martial skill while in combat.)

• Transcendant

  • Requirement: the Master power, 20 Control
  • You have permanently integrated magical energies into your own life processes.
  • This has several effects:
    • If you have the natural tag, you loose it, and gain the Empowered tag instead;
    • you receive a +10 bonus to tests to Endure Physical Hardship;
    • you only need to eat and sleep half as much; and
    • you gain +1 Armor.

• Warrior

  • Requirements: 20 ranks in Intimidate, 20 ranks in one Martial skill
  • When you attack an opponent and score an Exceptional Success, you may attempt to intimidate your opponent (this does not require an additional action).

• Wildlander

  • Requirements: 20 Ranks in Handle Animal, 20 Ranks in Spellcraft.
  • You have an animal companion.
  • Choose one Creature that has the Companion tag; you gain that creature as a companion.
  • You may also design your own companion, although your GM must approve of the creature you create.

Drilled Fighter

You have drilled some set of combat maneuvers to the point that they have become wrote. On the plus side, this allows you to perform complex chains efficiently and powerfully; on the down side, however, this means that someone who is familiar with these chains — possibly because they've fought you before, or because they're familiar with the school or unit you learned them from — can reliably predict what you're going to do.

• Requires: 20 ranks in two Combat skills.
• Effect: You can learn a number of chains; each chain provides bonuses that build with each successful step.
• Special: When you acquire this class, you get two chains. You may purchase more chains for 5 CP (during character creation) or 5 Rez (while leveling) per chain. You may have up to 6 chains.
• Chain Basics
  • Each chain consists of between 3 and 5 individual steps, or links.
  • Each link has an associated bonus; when you successfully complete a link, you gain its bonus. (The last link doesn't have a bonus, because there isn't a following link for it to apply to.)
  • The power of a chain lies in your ability to carry through it rapidly and precisely; you must proceed from link to link without interruption, or the chain is broken and the benefits are lost. A chain is interrupted if you take an action that is not part of the chain, or go through a turn without performing a link.
  • Some actions by other characters may also interrupt your chain; it does not necessarily interrupt your chain if you are successfully attacked, but it would interrupt your chain if you where knocked down as a result of an attack.
  • Taking a Reaction interrupts the chain. Since defending with Fray isn't a reaction, you can do that without interrupting the chain; since parrying is a reaction, parrying will break the chain, unless you're fulfilling a Defend link.
• Creating Chains
  • to create a chain, simply pick between 3 and 5 links from the list below, and then pick a bonus for each link (except the last).
  • You must specify the details of each link. For a strike, for example, you must specify the weapon you're using and the angle of the attack; for a motion, you must specify the movement mode, and how far you're moving. You don't have to go into exhausting detail, you just need to provide enough information so that you and the GM can tell what has clearly satisfied the requirements of the link and what has not. (For example, "I step back a space," "I thrust forward with my sword," "I make a rising block," and so on)
  • Some bonuses have special restrictions or requirements.
• Clarification: chains take several actions and will usually span several turns; a chain doesn't allow you to shoot through all the links in one turn.
• Special: Players may propose their own links and bonuses, although these require the GM's approval.
• Flourishes: You don't pick a bonus for the last link, since there's no following link for it to apply to; you can, however, pick a flourish for it. A flourish is represents some minor movement that completes the chain — a return-to-ready motion, a specific stance, a weapon twirl, or some other minor touch. Mechanically, flourishes provide a minor benefit for completing the chain. Sample flourishes are given in the table below.

Missile-Hurler

Through long practice and physical conditioning, you have developed an excellent stance and strong throwing arm.

• Requires: 20 ranks in Ranged Weapons, with the Thrown Weapons proficiency
• Effect: Range and damage when throwing projectiles is improved.
  • Your range is improved:
    • When throwing a small object — about the size and weight of a brick, or smaller — you add 20m to each range increment.
    • When throwing a larger object, you add 10m to each range increment.
  • Your damage is improved:
    • When attacking a target in your short range, you gain +DB DV and +2 AP.
    • When attacking a target in your medium range, gain +1 DV and +1 AP.
    • This does not apply to weapons that don't do damage through impact — like fireballs or scour canisters.

These effects are summarized in the table below. These are only the "base" ranges; they may still be adjusted by the nature of the object and the situation, as normal.

Challenger

Through a mixture of persuasion and intimidation, you are able to make yourself the focus of whatever situation you find yourself in.

• Requirements: 10 ranks in Intimidate, 10 ranks in Persuasion
• Effect: You gain a +10 bonus to Social skill checks related to challenging others, focusing attention on yourself, and boasting. Those who refuse a challenge may be demoralized, and will suffer a -10 penalty to checks related to the challenge.

Member

You are a member of an organization, like one of the ones listed in Organizations. This gives you access to the organization's resources, but also imposes obligations to the organization on your character.

• Effect: You are a member of an organization, gaining access to the organization's resources, but also accepting an obligation to the organization.
  • Players and GMs should work together to detail the player's organization; the GM's final approval is required.
  • Organizations generally shouldn't be so powerful that they trivialize the game or make it impossible to threaten the characer — that's too powerful. However, the player should also gain some benefit from being in the organization — they're paying CP for the class, after all.
  • Membership in an organization should also impose some obligations on the character — for example, a commercial guild might require its members to pay dues, and to maintain a good reputation (so as to not tarnish the reputation of other members of the guild).

Ideas:

• Duelist
• Explorer
• Sailor
• Survivalist
• Swashbuckler: spend luck for bonuses (or Daredevil / Stuntman)
• Tinker
• Thief
• Wizard
• Attach motivations to classes?