More Races and Classes please

[Anonymous]

Can we expect rules for new races and classes in upcoming products. One of the things I really liked on the http://hyboria.xoth.net/ site was the racial information when designing characters. I would LOVE to see every possible area given some treatment like this. More classes would be most welcome too.

WW

 

[VincentDarlage]

What additional classes and races are you wanting to see?

 

[Jason Durall]

What additional classes and races are you wanting to see?

Races: Iranistani (how these were omitted from the core book escapes me - I wish I'd caught it during the playtest) and Kusani

Prestige Classes: Nemedian Adventurer, Black Dragon, Nordheimr berserker, Flame Knife, Son of Yezu, Archer of the Order of Kurlat (heh),
Black Seer of Mount Yimsha, Kozaki, Zuagir, Kushite Witch-finder

I know that there are numerous arguments about simple social organizations versus prestige classes, but as a GM, I find that players generally want prestige classes rather than simple social groups - and are willing to do more to "qualify" for them - and thus I'd like to see more PrCs.

 

[Belkregos]

i would really like to see the Tlazitlan template,
i was hopping it would show up on the road of kings but i can wait, maybe in a SOC package?

 

[Jason Durall]

I notice that the upcoming issue of Signs & Portents has a new character class variant: the bandit. Here's the blurb:

The Bandit – A brand new character class variant for Conan the Roleplaying Game. This is the land version of a pirate, but he’s no dashing Robin Hood type. Hyborian bandits steal from the rich, then steal from the poor as well before selling their children into slavery. But what do you care? Think of all the gold you can spend carousing and wenching in the bordellos of Shadizar or the harems of Aghrapur!

 

[JamesMishler]

I've been posting some Wilderlands human races done up "OGL Sword & Sorcery" style on the Judges Guild forums:

www.judgesguild.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi

They are in the Judges Guild Discussion forum, under the "Wilderlands Sword & Sorcery Style" thread. All are still in "playtest" with my current campaign, and more will be listed as time permits.

 

[Odovacar's Ghost]

Why does there HAVE to be PrCs? It is great as is. PrCs mostly imbalance the game. Turns it closer to the rubbish that ADnD now is.

Just my 2 yen.

 

[Sven]

What I really miss in "Conan" are the snakemen, the ancient foes of the human race. They did not appear in the main book, and they did not appear in "Scrolls of Skelos"
I don't know if they are in "The Road of Kings" (I do not have it yet), but if not, they should appear soon. They are the most important nonhuman race in "Conan", and it was Conan who destroyed the last great city of them (as far as it is known)

 

[Judge Walker]

The Kushite Witch-finders are listed in the core book.

Though I don't harbour the same hostility toword PrCs, I personaly like the fact that they aren't in Conan. It makes it a little different then other d20 systems, if only marginally.

 

[Jason Durall]

Though I don't harbour the same hostility toword PrCs, I personaly like the fact that they aren't in Conan. It makes it a little different then other d20 systems, if only marginally.

How do you feel about the prestige classes in The Scrolls of Skelos?

 

[Judge Walker]

How do you feel about the prestige classes in The Scrolls of Skelos?

:shrug:

Don't really know. I've only had occasion to flip through "Scrolls..." not actualy buy it. What do they have in it?

 

[Jason Durall]

Don't really know. I've only had occasion to flip through "Scrolls..." not actualy buy it. What do they have in it?

Prestige classes for:

Lord of the Black Ring
Master of the Black Circle
Sorcerer of the Scarlet Circle

 

[Iron_Chef]

What additional classes and races are you wanting to see?

Races: Iranistani (how these were omitted from the core book escapes me - I wish I'd caught it during the playtest) and Kusani

Prestige Classes: Nemedian Adventurer, Black Dragon, Nordheimr berserker, Flame Knife, Son of Yezu, Archer of the Order of Kurlat (heh),
Black Seer of Mount Yimsha, Kozaki, Zuagir, Kushite Witch-finder

I know that there are numerous arguments about simple social organizations versus prestige classes, but as a GM, I find that players generally want prestige classes rather than simple social groups - and are willing to do more to "qualify" for them - and thus I'd like to see more PrCs.

Iranistani should have been in the core rules, and definitely should have been in ROK, but again, we got shafted. :x

I don't like prestige classes, esp. for Conan. I suppose a few for otherwise impossible to convert (let alone attain within the game) would be okay, such as those given in Scrolls of Skelos --- hardly any player would ever qualify for those evil PrCs, or would even want to!

I prefer the template approach from Bastion Press's Guildcraft. You meet some minimum requirements, spend XP (maybe gold too), and start to move up the guild ladder, gaining a "cookie" or two every rank as well as power within the guild. Each guild imposes various duties upon its members as well (esp. as they move up), so it can be a real give and take situation without too much effort from the player or GM. FFG's Path Of... books had various training schools you could learn from at a cost in time, GP and XP. Some of these were very cool. My main point is, there needs to be something for non-spellcasters to spend their XP on. Spending XP slows down level advancement which keeps the game fun and mopre challenging longer, IMO, but if you're using your XP to buy skills/feats or guild ranks, the players feel like they're still gaining in power without feeling "ripped-off." :wink:

 

[E Nicely]

Why does there HAVE to be PrCs? It is great as is. PrCs mostly imbalance the game. Turns it closer to the rubbish that ADnD now is.

Just my 2 yen.

I kind of fell the same way. But I think prestige classes for area specific (Nemedian Adventurer, Kozak, ect.)NPCs would be good.

 

[Qjedi]

Don't really know. I've only had occasion to flip through "Scrolls..." not actualy buy it. What do they have in it?

Prestige classes for:

Lord of the Black Ring
Master of the Black Circle
Sorcerer of the Scarlet Circle

And they were all pretty overpowered, yet still lame. One of them was a prestige class that can only have ONE person in it, the others have no more than a dozen people in them.

We were thinking of doing Monk as a prestige class off of soldier, and then realized that with a couple of small changes to skills, feats and to the "Formation" ability, it was easy enough to make your soldier into a monk


Get rid of medium and heavy armor and shields. Add 2 skill points per level (x4 at 1st level). Use the thief's skills list with heal and all knowledges added. Require Improved unarmed and Brawl at first level. Instead of the "Formation" abilities increase unarmed combat damage by 1 die type. 1d8 at 3rd, 1d10 at 7th, 1d12 at 11th, 2d8 at 15th and 2d10 at 19th levels.
I also let them trade any bonus feats in for 2 skill ranks if they want.


The reason I require the Imp Unarmed and Brawl at first level is that the Monk represents someone who has spent years attaining this level of proficiency in fighting and it removes a lot of time fom their lives. To me, that is well represented with the use of their first level feats (if soldier is a favored class for them, they even gain a favored class bonus feat, it's not that rough!)

At any rate, it isn't a PrC, it's just a very minor variation to what is already in the book. No biggie, but the guy who got to play it has had a blast so far. He doesn't miss the armor and he loves all of the "kewl ninja feats" and the ability to dish out "staff damage without the reach" with his bare hands.

At any rate, take a look around, find a couple of alterations you would like to make. Make them, these are almost like "Kits" from second edition, and just as easy to use. Just make sure it is written down ahead of time, and don't go bonkers.

Later!

 

[Judge Walker]

Actually the the Monk being an off shoot of the Scholar would work better , IMO. Especially a Monk from Khitai, whenever he becomes eligible for a new style he can chose a feat, and if he knows Calm of the Adept he can choose from brawl, Def. Martial Arts, Improved Critical (staff/unarmed strike), stunning attack or weapon focus (staff/unarmed strike.) Pretty much describes your average Shaolin style Monk.

 

[argo]

Monk = mid-level Scholar with appropriate spell and feat choices. And believe me, if done right it can be prety sick, good DV and the ability to finesse your way past most armor. It really captures the "1000 lightweight punches - Fists of Fury" kind of motif.

I worked up an example monk a while back. I'll have to see if I can't dig it up.

 

[Judge Walker]

What exactly would make up a Nemedian Adverturer PrC? Wouldn't any Nemedian PC be considered an Adventurer?

 

[E Nicely]

What exactly would make up a Nemedian Adverturer PrC? Wouldn't any Nemedian PC be considered an Adventurer?

Nemedian Adventurers are warriors that are somewhere between mercs and knights, they fight for Nemedia's glory.

 

[Qjedi]

Actually the the Monk being an off shoot of the Scholar would work better , IMO. Especially a Monk from Khitai, whenever he becomes eligible for a new style he can chose a feat, and if he knows Calm of the Adept he can choose from brawl, Def. Martial Arts, Improved Critical (staff/unarmed strike), stunning attack or weapon focus (staff/unarmed strike.) Pretty much describes your average Shaolin style Monk.

Our whole goal with the Monk writeup was to get rid of the scholarly magic. There just seemed to be no reason that a fighting monk would learn to shapeshift.
We did check things out with going that route and did have a couple of characters going that road from the scholar class, but being an old fan of the comic, I had fun with the idea of a plain old brawler with fists like steel or a martial artist who could leap about and fight as well as any warrior and didn't use armor to hide behind. The idea seems to be balanced and the player who is using it is having a blast while he hated going through levels as a scholar. It just comes down to enjoying what you play and the scholar monk wasn't it.
The problem we found with going the scholar monk or crimson circle route was that any fighter with a greatsword is going to stomp you into paste because your defense kinda sucks, so do your HP and your attack bonuses. You can't kill someone by fighting on full defense and no monk that I ever saw on Hong Kong action theater could explode in a 10' radius.
Check out what I have written up there and see if it's unbalanced. If it looks like it, compare to a standard soldier or a barbarian or borderer. If you are going to compare to a scholar, compare it to a magic based scholar because the contemplative ascetic style of monk wasn't reknowned nearly as greatly in combat as a standard guardsman or warrior unless he was "higher level" or whatever you want as an equivalent.
Anyhoo, gonna run.
Later!