New Classes Discussion

ODA wrote:Our task is to select just those TWO, that are the right match to make our world SHINE. Hence these have to have some serious discussion - I'm sure many will be "thrown out there" to be discussed. Which are YOUR TWO FAVORITES (everyone)?

Lets hear from you on your choices - and lets all discuss those candidates some to weigh the pros/cons of each. Sooooo many. *gasps and squeals*  SHINEY!

Champion of Torm, Harper Scout and Purple Dragon Knights are being axed and are to be replaced with three new classes, one of which is going to be a Psionist   "(unknown or generic type atm not yet determined)".

If we start a discussion in this thread, I can edit this first post to add a poll (Poll can't be changed, oops, I'll just add to list here) as people add suggestions, so we can keep easy track of the top ten classes (We can only have ten classes in the poll at a time, so if a class is vetoed or too unpopular it will be taken from the list and replaced with another one.). In the end only two can be chosen and the final decision is down to ODA.

This might also be a good place to discuss the psion class, although that might also be kept for another thread.

A class might be vetoed if it cannot be scripted, is too similar to an existing class or depends upon requirements that are too narrow (Allowed for only one race or gender for example) or are based on non-arg-reg lore (Eg, a faerun god, a guild, location. Although some guilds might be reimagined and 'started' in Arg-reg).



Nominated Classes:
DragonKith          [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Warlock                 [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Truenamer             [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Wild Mage             [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  (Already scripted in as a possible affect )
Mage Killer             [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Arcanopath Monk   [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Apostle of Peace    [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

DRAGONKITH
Dragonkith are creatures that serve and aid dragons. They
live with or near a dragon or a group of dragons, acting as
servants or peers (depending on the individual dragon and
the dragonkith). In return for service, over time, the dragon
bestows upon a dragonkith special abilities—and even
physical changes—using complex rituals known only to
their kind.

Although sometimes they are humans, elves, dwarves,halflings, or gnomes, dragonkith are just as often membersof other intelligent species, such as lizardfolk, giants,troglodytes, lammasu, pseudodragons, titans, ragonnes,beholders, lamias, and others—even, rarely,other dragons. Thus, dragonkith are a diverse group; no one class is more likelythan another to become one, and many dragonkith do not have classes at all (they are monsters). NPC dragonkith are usually found in the company of their dragon companion. Sometimes they are alone, completing some errand for the dragon. Occasionally they work in small, tight-knit groups of dragonkith, all pledged either to the same dragon or to allied dragons.

Okay, here's the start of my list- And I really can't choose  

Truename Speakers
One thing I noticed pops up a lot is 'Truename' classes. Like there's a few classes based on things like psionic powers, arcane powers and the like, there are a whole group of classes based on the idea of 'truename' wielding- where you learn the true name of a thing or person, and then control it by saying there name. If anyone has read the Inheritance cycle or know about the Thu'um in Skyrim, I imagine it like that.

This is the 'base' class:
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There are other more 'specialised' truenamers as prestige classes (some are pretty damn scary, such as [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] )
I'm thinking with the unique spell script and research methods that this class could be very interesting to RP.  -You- the player have to learn the names and remember them, rather than just being handed a bunch of premade spells and skills by the game.


Arcanopath Monk
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Class type: Prestige
Base Class: Monk (Monk levels aren't required, but 'Deflect arrows' is, which makes it restricted to monks anyway afaik)
Level amount: 10 (But remember ordinary DnD levels only go up to 20, so this can be altered for NwN to be 20)

With all these powerful mages in Arg-reg I think a few 'anti-mage' classes might be interesting   
To be honest, Monk's are already pretty good at taking down spellcasters, and this class really only gets 'powerful' later on in it's development, but I don't think that's a bad thing.

Another issue might be it's lore requirement: "Must find the Monastery of Finithamon amidst the Ever-Changing Chaos of Limbo, successfully petition the sensei for membership, and have slain an arcane spellcaster."

Now, the skills aren't dependent on this, and hypothetically Arg-reg could have a Monastery that is similar (Even Cholla run, or in agreement with, to take out unruly mages outside the Cholla >.> ), but if people feel that such requirements aren't congruent with Argreg lore than this class can be vetoed. Also, as this is a 'monk' only class, unless deflect arrows is not made a requirement or is open to more classes, so I can understand if that makes it unpopular.

Apostle of Peace
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Class type: Prestige
Similar too: Cleric (Requires Vows of poverty, nonviolence and so on- I think those can be taken by any class in DnD?- Not available in NwN, but possibly could be scripted to penalise for being broken and rewarded for being followed (Like how divine favour works now?))

I like the idea of this class because it's an RP class- it's not a 'who can be the strongest and kill the quickest' but a class that enforces the character to work in a team and aid others. (I do know Valerion already has a Cleric like this ).


More to be added XD



DragonKith, eh?

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With how powerful (and important) Dragons are in Arg-reg, it's fully plausible that there'd be cults and followings dependent upon them. And it's different enough to Dragon Disciples in a way, although similar in others. I'll add it up.

Okay, having done more research on truenamers:

It's an interesting concept, derived from the 'Tales of Eathsea' books, which is unique enough from arcane and divine magic (Although boths forms use truenamers in spells such as 'power word' and 'command').

However, first of all, it will be either harder or easier to use scripted. In PnP games you basically made up gibberish: There's a rampaging orc running towards you? Quick, shout " I rebuke thee, thura'mickanolang"! And then you roll a DC to see if you got it right. Doesn't matter if you shout something different at the next orc. Truenames can be different for every individual thing, so it's cool. But script wise, you'd have to be exact. So we'd have to script, for example, the word for orc and the word for stop and then script all the different possibilities of combinations (Not impossible, but still hard).

Secondly, the stats are apparently broken. Eventually rolling to get the truename right is near impossible. The creature is too high a level, there's too much going on with bonuses and other dc checks. To say your OWN Truename you have to pass a check with a DC equal to 15 + (2 × your Hit Dice) + 2. You get a +4 bonus on this roll, because it's your own name. Lucky you. And to say the truename of a creature? 15+ (2x creature rating). A pc? 15+ (2x their hit dice). And they get harder and harder. So unless we use alternative builds to the official build, the class might be a little unplayable.

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I still love the concept, but it might not be doable.

Also, here's a few similar classes for comparison and ideas- Note that all come from the same sourcebook, so all are based on the same flawed DC checks:
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On Arilith I saw the warlock class added in a very stable & interesting way.. I think this could be an interesting addition here.

Elgate wrote:Okay, having done more research on truenamers:

It's an interesting concept, derived from the 'Tales of Eathsea' books, which is unique enough from arcane and divine magic (Although boths forms use truenamers in spells such as 'power word' and 'command').

However, first of all, it will be either harder or easier to use scripted. In PnP games you basically made up gibberish: There's a rampaging orc running towards you? Quick, shout " I rebuke thee, thura'mickanolang"! And then you roll a DC to see if you got it right. Doesn't matter if you shout something different at the next orc. Truenames can be different for every individual thing, so it's cool. But script wise, you'd have to be exact. So we'd have to script, for example, the word for orc and the word for stop and then script all the different possibilities of combinations (Not impossible, but still hard).

Secondly, the stats are apparently broken. Eventually rolling to get the truename right is near impossible. The creature is too high a level, there's too much going on with bonuses and other dc checks.  To say your OWN Truename you have to pass a check with a DC equal to 15 + (2 × your Hit Dice) + 2. You get a +4 bonus on this roll, because it's your own name. Lucky you. And to say the truename of a creature? 15+ (2x creature rating). A pc? 15+ (2x their hit dice). And they get harder and harder. So unless we use alternative builds to the official build, the class might be a little unplayable.

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I still love the concept, but it might not be doable.

Also, here's a few similar classes for comparison and ideas- Note that all come from the same sourcebook, so all are based on the same flawed DC checks:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

It would be interesting but yes i could see it being near impossible to realisticly add in game... Truenames are also near incomprehencable to most mortals as they are the language of "the first gods" as descrribed in some places and hold an almost unimaginable power (imagion being able to speak as if you were god and have reality simply obay... that is the idea behind the class after all). There are even references in D&D lore of "The word of Unmakeing"..

This actually fits into AR lore as Void being one of the primal gods "Unmakes" the wolds that he enters and could easily be a tempting force for truenamers. But trying to script this as an actual system would be mind blowing even for erinal...

On the other hand

This could be done as a Magical style class... The true-names become spells, you would simply cast a spell and it would say the word while casting. That could unlock a very real way of makeing such a class and give very unique effects along the way as things could be added as erin feels like it.

Just my thoughts... but love the idea..

Eeep- kay, it looks like I can't actually edit the poll   

I thought I could edit it after, seeing as I could edit it in >.> I guess I'll need a moderator. But I think Warlock has a lot of interest, so I will be adding that up. Or someone else with the power to do so will.

Friends,
I think there is no editing the poll - best ignore it for now, use one thread to nominate candidate classes and when done nomination process, then make new thread with poll to vote.

Mage Killer
Class Type: Prestige
Base class: Any Spellcaster, Arcane or Divine.
Level Amount: 10

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I really like the idea of an anti-mage class okay >.> So either this or Arcanopath. Then again, it's possible to build a 'mage hunter' with other classes.... I'm not sold on either class though, to be honest, so I don't mind. But this one might make more sense RP wise in the world of magocracy- with a type of mage used to control other mages.


Wild Mage.
Class type: Prestige
Base class: Arcane caster
Level amount: 10

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With how much fun wild magic is, perhaps a mage designed to work with and use wild magic (to chaotic extents) might be rather interesting

I think that's it for me. Nothing else jumped out at me, and I've already suggest 5 classes XD

I'll be updating the list in the first post rather than the poll (ignore the poll for now >.> I can't change it.)

Wild Mage is already in works, just haven't got any Guinea pigs
Though it does automatically happen for those born in wild magic zones who become wizards... So it would auto select for natural born lycons if the mother happened to be in a wild magic zone when she gave birth.

Otherwise to select it would have to be via, ask a DM method...

I volunteer, I have a female wizard who was born outside of Valerions tower! Which is a wild magic zone....well...a 1 percent zone but still!

Musing....

This is not official D&D, but a little something I conceived of that might help Team Evil a bit.

UNDEAD as a class. This generic UNDEAD CLASS would be defined to award FEATS and other level-based enhancements to the PC with choices unique to the UNDEAD form (e.g. vampires and ghouls would be offered different FEAT choices).

With certain flags set on the PCs Runestone, an UNDEAD PC would get custom skin to empower them much the same as the standard monster form. XP would be modified to only give XP if the monster makes the kill 'properly' e.g. by level drain. As an example, a vampire would have to level-drain successfully one or more times on the victim before killing them (either by level-drain or more traditional method), the PC vampire would earn XP based on the number of levels consumed, the level of the victim and other factors, but would gain NO XP for kills performed that did not involve level-drain (for a vampire, this means drinking blood).

UNDEAD forms might include:
Lich
Vampire
Ghoul
Spectre
Ghost
Wraith
Wight
(feel free to suggest others)

In this way, using one CLASSES allows us to portray many different types of Undead PC. Would this be something that interests the player-base?