Topic: Class Adjustments

We are set to kick off our LotFP campaign (The Path to Priour) with the new year, and we're very excited about the weird feel of the system.  We want the 'weird' to stand out as much as possible, so we are altering the classes accordingly.

There will be no demi-humans.  Barbarians and rangers will replace dwarfs and elves as other people have recommended on this site.  Magic-users and clerics are changed as well:

STRENGTH IN WEAKNESS
Clerics are blessed with supernatural authority, but Providence chooses its servants to show its own power, not the power of man.  Therefore, clerics are chosen from among the powerless.  You may only play a cleric if your ability rolls are deemed too low to be acceptable. 

SEED OF CHAOS
Magic-users are umbilically connected to the unpredictable forces of Chaos.  Being a living extension of the essence of pandemonium has consequences; their very bodies have been affected by these strange energies. 
Each magic-user must roll on the table below to discover what deformity has grown in his bent flesh.

Roll (d12)    Deformity
1    "King (or Queen) of Clubs"  One or both of your feet are clubbed.  Your movement is cut by 10’ per round.
2    "Who loves you, baby?" Your body is absolutely hairless.
3    "I’m not dead yet!" An incurable disease of some sort has plagued you since the day you came into your arcane power.  This malady weakens you, granting a -1 to your Con modifier. 
4    "Jump if you feel froggy" Your hands and feet are webbed, making you unable to wear gloves or gauntlets.  If the webbing is cut away, it grows back within 24 hours. 
5    "Small hands…" You suffer from dwarfism.  Your movement rate is cut by 10’ per round and you suffer a -2 to attack rolls with two-handed weapons. 
6    "…smell like cabbage." Your body odor is powerful, odd and disturbing, reminiscent of cabbage, brimstone, rancid meat, etc.  This causes a -1 on all reaction rolls to anyone within 10’ of you. 
7    "Tails, you lose!"  You have a small tail (6+d6 inches long).  It has no mechanical effect, but for God’s sake cover that thing up!
8    "It’s not paranoia if they are really out to get you." Ever since you gained your mystical power, you feel as if someone – or something – has been watching you.  This might possibly be all in your head. 
9    "Do you sleep in a hammock…?" You have a large hump on your back and are unable to wear shirts, coats or armor that are not specifically designed for you.  Item tailored to your odd anatomy add 10-20% to the cost.
10    "A deeper shade of pale."  You are an albino: chalky pale skin, pink eyes and all.  This makes you very sensitive to light and you suffer a -1 to all rolls in bright light. 
11    "The evil eye"  Your eyes are two very different colors, possibly inhuman.  One of them bulges a bit. 
12    "The shakes"  Your hands shake with a significant palsy.  With concentration you can keep this under control, but it does affect your reaction time, giving you a -1 to initiative rolls. 

I'm hoping that this will add flavor to the campaign as well as reduce the number of PC playing magic using classes.

Re: Class Adjustments

I LOVE THIS!

Re: Class Adjustments

I love the general idea, but has this actually been an issue?

Kev wrote:

the number of PC playing magic using classes.

Re: Class Adjustments

Kev wrote:

I'm hoping that this will add flavor to the campaign as well as reduce the number of PC playing magic using classes.

I'm all for flavor, especially one of ash and decay, but if you don't want magic-using classes, don't allow them.  I'm not keen on the "here's this class, but it sucks" method of design.  (Non-humans in LotFP do fill their own niches, even if they're sub-optimal compared to the four "human" classes.)

BTW, there's also Akrasia's "Magician" class, which combines both spell-casting classes into one, and makes "grey" and "black" magic cost more than spell slots.  While written for Swords & Wizardry, it should convert over fairly easily.

Frank Mitchell
"The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread." -- Anatole France

Re: Class Adjustments

We've considered disallowing them.  But a cleric, even with low abilities, doesn't suck.  Their powers make them - literally -miraculous and much sought after.  It should all work within the context of the campaign.

Re: Class Adjustments

I do like the Magician class.  I may work that in.

Re: Class Adjustments

Personally, I think a reskinned halfling actually makes a better ranger than a reskinned elf. Mechanically, the elf class is more like a fighter/mage, whereas most of the halfling abilities have something to do with the wilderness or ranged combat.

Re: Class Adjustments

untimately wrote:

Personally, I think a reskinned halfling actually makes a better ranger than a reskinned elf.

Yep. They're called Vagabonds in my game and, being human, can use full sized weapons. Works pretty well.


Mechanically, the elf class is more like a fighter/mage, whereas most of the halfling abilities have something to do with the wilderness or ranged combat.

Elves I reskinned as changelings - not the sort presented in the sample adventure but faceless creatures swapped with human infants that grow to resemble the person they've replaced. They're biologically human but soulless, prey to inhuman dreams and vulnerable to the usual elven stuff. Part of the challenge of a changeling is figuring out why they were placed where they were and by whom, which will vary from character to character.

Re: Class Adjustments

I actually meant to type halflings instead of elves.  Mea culpa.

Re: Class Adjustments

Ed Dove wrote:

"Vagabond"!  That's perfect!

Glad you like it.

I also made Dwarves human and called them Highlanders - replacing Architecture with Climb was enough, mechanics-wise.

Re: Class Adjustments

I like the idea of replacing demi-humans with human variants.   My game is still in the planning phases but I think I'll perform the following substitutions:

Dwarves - > Barbarians ( Think Leiber's Cold Waste Barbarians )  +1 Str instead of Con.  Swap Architecture with Bushcraft.
Elves - > Decedents ( Think Moorcock's Melnibonians ) Swap Search with Languages
Halflings - > Savages ( Think Howard's Picts ) Swap weapon size limit with technology limit.


-Brendan

Last edited by BrendanP (2011-12-30 02:03:02)