Unique Twists On Classic Classes
Elrandir
Member Posts: 1,664
I know the name of this thread is a little vague, but I've been thinking a bit about classic classes that everyone role-plays the same way, and how to change it to be very different. I've only got a few ideas so far, but I'm sure others have some really unique ideas. I've found it's somewhat hard to make traditionally evil classes good, since romanticizing evil is already done so much, so the ones I've thought of are more traditionally good or good-intentioned classes going evil. Here's the (good, as opposed to average) one I have right now. I've thought of a couple others, but none of them are good enough to warrant posting here.
Wizard Slayer:
The Wizard Slayer is a class that most people role-play very similarly. (for good logical reason) A strong wizard hating (for some reason, whether it be they lost family to them, believe they are beings of chaos that endanger the world, or even jealousy of the wizard's powers) warrior, generally of Good or Neutral alignment. Now meet my twisted WS...
Wizard Slayer/Mage Multi Class: (I'm ignoring legality in deference to how interesting it is)
This Wizard Slayer is no hater of magic, but rather a hater of other mages. He took up the art of wizard slaying as a way to further his own power, to "be the best" whether by talent or by eliminating the competition. He would probably be Chaotic or Neutral Evil, and would slaughter another mage as soon as he met them. He is a truly merciless killer, bent only on his own success.
Wizard Slayer:
The Wizard Slayer is a class that most people role-play very similarly. (for good logical reason) A strong wizard hating (for some reason, whether it be they lost family to them, believe they are beings of chaos that endanger the world, or even jealousy of the wizard's powers) warrior, generally of Good or Neutral alignment. Now meet my twisted WS...
Wizard Slayer/Mage Multi Class: (I'm ignoring legality in deference to how interesting it is)
This Wizard Slayer is no hater of magic, but rather a hater of other mages. He took up the art of wizard slaying as a way to further his own power, to "be the best" whether by talent or by eliminating the competition. He would probably be Chaotic or Neutral Evil, and would slaughter another mage as soon as he met them. He is a truly merciless killer, bent only on his own success.
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Comments
Would it be possible to reframe "evil" classes from a good/neutral perspective? When you mentioned "romanticizing evil", I was actually thinking about the glorification of evil by making evil look "cool", "hip", "fashionable", or something along these lines.
@jacobtan That's exactly what I mean. While giving into our natural human traits of power and domination can be fun (in the game world), it's "romanticized" too often. What would in real life be considered a horrible evil person (or at least a law-breaking thief) is instead portrayed to be cool or even, as you said, fashionable.
That said, trying to "reframe" the evil classes is a nice idea, but one that I haven't been able to produce something with as of yet.
A list would include Assassin and Blackguard, and probably Bounty Hunter (seems that there are quite a few bounty hunters in BG who are antagonists).
I find Wizard Slayers relatively unaligned in outlook. There are spellcasters of all kinds, so they need not gravitate to any particular alignment. Since they are unaligned, I do not feel compelled to RP them in a way that makes them gravitate towards any particular alignment. Also, @Elrandir has already offered his take.
For Dark Moon Monks, if they are worshippers of Shar who is the oldest and most powerful evil goddess, I find it unlikely that they would be favored for promoting the cause of neutrality and not outright evil. Even in Faiths and Avatars, none of Shar's clergy is even neutral.
Talos is a slightly different matter. He does have CN clergy, but with his CE dogma, and as most of his clergy are evil (80% speciality priests of CE alignment, with the rest being clerics of CN/LE/NE/CE alignments), it is unlikely that any CN cleric would be able to rise very far in his priesthood.
That said, priests are not candidates that I would consider prime material for reworking, since RP-wise, they are tied to their deities who are already described in detail in sourcebooks.
Vice versa I like the idea of inherently good classes, paladins and rangers, who somehow fall, either due to becoming corrupted or as a result of unfortunate events. A fallen Ranger who loses his class abilities and turns to Talos for guidance. He duals into a Cleric of Talos, and becomes a kick a$$ Fallen Ranger/Priest.
For my upcoming thieves-only run (or maybe rogues only to include bards) I've been thinking of creating a TN charname with high CHA (and probably low WIS). The high CHA manifests itself in charname's physical appeal, conflict-averse nature, and general likeability. But he/she will have zero leadership skills. Depending on how the story develops, which NPCs end up in her party, (s)he might become good-aligned or evil-aligned. I think I'll allow for one turning point in late BG1, then the Hell Trials in BG2 and maybe one more plot point somewhere.
Obviously the character would still be lawful good, and Id roleplay accordingly, but my understanding of LG isnt super-narrow. A guy who goes around doing good stuff in the name of his god, but who also gets drunk and who is generally skeptical - maybe finding an appropriate diety might help develop the character? Anyone got suggestions?
Edited spelling
He still deserved a better fate then to be slain and forgotten, though.
Ad: character twisting. There's one particular twist I like a lot and I'm often tempted to create characters with at least some echo of it. See: Planescape's Doomguard, M:tA Euthanatoi. Usually Neutral, all kinds of assassins, bounty hunters, necromancers and such qualify. Now when I think of it, some version of Blackguard might work too, but that would be pretty extreme and wouldn't work in BG RP-wise. In the world metaphorically full of doctors, they are surgeons, removing rotten limbs when there's nothing else one can do; entropic blade-runners. That's a risky path, both personally and in terms of relationship with the community and I think that such worldview would suit a Bhaalspawn pretty well. He/she's an outcast this way or another.
And I'm all like "..." He then he be all "SWING FIRST BRAH! SWING FIRST!!!!!!!!!" Then he tries to bash the air near may face with his dumb racially-confused sword, and I'm like "MAGIC MISSLE, B*TCH!" And he be all "ow." "SAVE ME HEEELLLMMMMM!!" And then helm is all lawful neutral.
But in vanilla BG1, he's... a paladin. Who detects evil everywhere. And attacks and randomly kills any evil people in his presence.
Wizard Slayer: Maybe you were trained in the ways of the Wizard Slayer, yet ony target specific types of spellcaster. Perhaps from a rival organisation or religion? Your benefits apply to all spellcasters, but you are still a Lawful Neutral Wizard Slayer who was trained in destroying the Cult of Baphomet below your city's sewers.
Maybe your abilities developed "overnight", some divine gift, or the result of magical experimentations. It could be that your father's seed or mother's womb was saturated with anti-magic at some point in pregnancy (then what's up with the item restrictions...?).
Wizard
I... The Specialist Wizard descriptions in The Complete Wizard's Handbook sort of bother me. I mean, broad and general statements as a whole bother me, but yeah.
Abjurer: Your whole schtick is protective magics, and a little bit of anti-magic. So naturally, you're a rabbit-eared, simpering mageling in robes of gold and white! ...right?
What if you were apprenticed to a sorceress whose lich master heads a local devil-worship cult? Maybe she saw something in you early on, and trained you to specialise in abjuration magics? So that summoning rituals go off without a hitch (just try to summon something from the Lower Planes without the proper wards, I dare you. ;'D That's what got that boy who summoned Errtu killed.), and so that mages from rival cults or other places are a bit easier to handle.
Priest
If Clerics could be Clerics of Forces or Philosophies in this setting you'd all be treated to a Wall of Text, but.
Rogue
Blade: Well the splatbook they came from said that some Blades can be pretty cool Bardic assassins. I mean in Pen & Paper they can climb walls and stuff.
Thief: Even a True-Class Thief can be meaner than other Thieves! Freelance and undermine the local Thieves' Guild.
Seeing Tiax and/or Viconia: "Heeey, you two are bad apples!"
-"Hey, Sir Bucket-Head, why don't you put a bucket on your head and say that again?
Seeing Dorn: "...I give up. Bye.
Ajantis: ZOMG, Kaigan! YOU ARE EVIL.
Kaigan: I like money.
Ajantis: SMITE!
Dorn: I made a pact with a demon and carry out massacres and slaughters in his name. And in my name, come to think of it.
Ajantis: ZOMG, Dorn! YOU ARE EVIL.
Dorn: Yeah, duh.
Ajantis: ...I just can't take this, guys. I'm going to the Friendly Amn Inn. Pick me up later, k? Will romance good aligned female Bhaalspawn! I is a Keeper!
Dorn: Whatever. Bye!
I remember my Swashbuckler -> Magic-User constantly messed with his head until he was like "Well, you should stop stealing!" and she was like "Well, you should go [REDACTED] a mimic!". Then he got all sulky.
Oh, we were talking about new spins on classes. Ooh, shiny!
On any roll of 1) He/She donates at the first opportunity 10% of Party's Gold to the nearest Temple. If any Evil NPCS are in the party they leave during rest period after the donation, taking with them the party's most valuable possession/weapon. You could also then roll 3-D6 to determine whether the absconding NPC makes off with the good stuff, is caught red-handed and deadly battle ensues or escapes more or less empty-handed. That second roll could be keyed to Charname's Intelligence.
On a roll of 20) Charname disbands the entire party and goes on retreat at the Temple of Helm in Nashkel . The only party-members that he would then infallibly re-recruit would be Ajantis and Imoen. Not sure how major Weapons/Items would be handled. I suspect that Good-Aligned NPCs would obey and Neutrals could go either way.
Evil NPCs of course would scoff at the whole idea..."~Evermemory~, is MINE !!!" but could probably be re-recruited normally. They might find Charname's religious manias hilariously funny!!