Wednesday 16 May 2012

Still choosing a class


Wednesday May 16, 2012

Character class is a complex subject, but focusing on Cyre preselects two distinct needs that can be addressed by class.  The need for Survival (tied to wisdom) and the need for Knowledge Arcane (tied to Intelligence).  This also predisposes towards high skill point classes, the hallmark of the Rogues.    Below is a shot breakdown of classes that would be appropriate for these competing skills.

The need for Survival Skill
The need for Knowledge (Arcane)
Ranger
Iconic survivors in all settings, the Ranger brings survival knowledge like few others.
He may not choose Mournland as his chosen terrain, as it is at most four years old by the time of the campaign.
Divine healing from a Ranger still means nothing, though the Heal Skill (Wis) is a nice perk!
Track and Knowledge (Geography) are nice ever useful skills to make a Ranger useful in all circumstances.
6+Int skill points for the Ranger.
Wizard
No class needs Knowledge Arcane like the Wizard, or benefits from taking it quite like him.  Wizards openly adventure for knowledge, and the Mournland is an enigma begging to be understood.
Sorceror’s have Knowledge (Arcana) too, but their desire to learn from the Mournland begins and ends as a test to prove themselves, not necessarily heal anything.
With only 2+Int skill points per level, both classes suffer from sever lack of learning potential.
Druid
Druids don’t come from cities or nations, but the Last War touched everybody, so it is possible a druid became wrapped up in a larger conflict.
Druids maintain the Survival and Heal skills.  Divine healing still means nothing, but Goodberries do!
A druid has a readymade reason for focusing on adventuring in scarred, wounded terrain.  Whole prestige classes are built around the idea.
4+Int skill points for the Druid.
Bard
In Eberron, bards are inquisitive knowledge hunters who sometimes turn their ears to performances.  They wind up everywhere there is something to learn.
Knowledge from all categories = Bards can have Knowledge Arcana.
6+Int modifier skill points.
Unique to this setting is the Artificer, who has knowledge Arcana and 4+Int skill points.
Cleric
Includes not only Knowledge Arcana and Heal, but can take the Travel domain and claim the Survival skill (PH 31).
Clerics shepherd the masses, and so a major burning hole in the ground like the Mournland is as good a reason as any to draw one in to attempt to heal it.
Clerics must choose a god to serve (I`m working on reading about them).  Divine spells in Eberron are powered by devotion more than by the god him/herself.
2+Int modifier skill points per level (ew!)  Update from Favored Soul = same!
Q`barra template, Mournland template
I wanted to create a human with the skills needed to address the wounds of the land.  Q`barra was the nation that I chose as the home base for this character, but it is not too late to change it if necessary.  The Campaign setting allows certain classes from certain nations to take on variant skills/feats, provided that they qualify as typical for the land. (ECS pg 24-26)
Mournland template specifies Warforged, with nonwarforged taking the Displaced Cyre template.  You could still be a Warforged with Survival and Knowledge Arcana right off the bat, though loyalty to the wrong type of Warforged might inhibit a quest to heal the land totally.
The Q`barra template can apply to humans, and grants Survival to clerics, wizards, fighters, rangers and rogues.  Bards are missing!  So close! 
While other templates can add survival as a class skill to wizards and sorcerers, I would be remiss to fail to mention the Demon Wastes, whose template can add Knowledge Arcana and Survival to classes that don`t get either, such as Warrior and Paladin.  Downside is that you must be from the Demon Wastes…
The odd paring of skills doesn`t appear anywhere else, forcing one of the skills to come from the above class lists.

Suppose that we just decide on Cleric or Wizard, and take the poor class skill progression on the chin.  I traditionally don`t like Clerics as they have – get this – too many spells.  I always spend too much time selecting spells, then remonstrating against myself for choosing the wrong ones.  Wizard is better, as each spell should be purchased, but that too requires a lot of metagaming. 

I haven`t played a spontaneous caster yet, and wanted to try one.  Well there is still the sorcerer.  Not much recommends itself, but Droam hosts sorcerers, and with survival as class skills even!  With 5% Shifters who have no real presence in the witches of Droam`s plans, could easily choose their own quest – the war is over, the whole of Galifar is rebuilding, Droam is still a dangerous place at its best; is there a place for Shifters out there in the five nations?  You won`t know for sure until you send a scout out there and go looking.  The irony for this plan, is that it puts exactly the skills the humans need, arcane knowledge and survival at their disposal, but it`s not a human who carries them, nor a class that can be taught.  Such a shifter could have little interest in setting out for Cyre, but who knows, if he can help repair the land, there may be a place for shifters there…

Or it could be just as dangerous as Droam.  This character would be amenable to going to the Mournland, and would go there long before reaching Thrane or Silver Flame lands, and could also become caught up in conflicts to do with the Sarlonans or the Demon Waste tribes just as easily.

I`ve put a lot into this question, but I`ve still not got a race/class combo that is ready to be pitched.  This is where I should stop though!  More tomorrow, hopefully.

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