For the next campaign, Sean and I have been discussing terms for a new character class that fits the mold he wants to play. The 2e FR accessory Warriors and Priests of the Realms provides a write-up for a class called the "Crusader," which matches Sean's idea thematically (a combat-oriented missionary priest with ties to the goddess of magic) but comes with some mechanical baggage that we're struggling to get past. As a result, we turned to the 2e DMG (pp. 22-23) which describes a framework for creating a new character class from the ground up. Here's our current working model. Each trait listed below has a corresponding modifier; the modifiers are aggregated to determine the XP advancement table.
Crusader (work in progress)
Crusader (work in progress)
- Must be human (modifier: 0)
- Priest combat values (0)
- Priest saving throw table (0)
- d8 hit dice (+1)
- All armor allowed (0)
- All weapons allowed (0)
- +2 hp per level beyond 9th (+1)
- Cast three spheres of priest spells (+6)
- Learn and cast one school of magic (+3)
- No ability to turn undead (0)
- Use magical items allowed to priests (+1)
- Must be good-aligned (-1)
- Has particular ethos that must be obeyed (-1)
- Cannot keep more treasure than can carry (-0.5)
- Cannot own more than 10 magical items (-0.5)
Modifier total: 9
Experience levels (mage and cleric listed for comparison):
| Level | Crusader | Mage | Cleric |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | 1,800 | 2,500 | 1,500 |
| 3 | 3,600 | 5,000 | 3,000 |
| 4 | 7,200 | 10,000 | 6,000 |
| 5 | 18,000 | 20,000 | 13,000 |
| 6 | 36,000 | 40,000 | 27,500 |
| 7 | 72,000 | 60,000 | 55,000 |
| 8 | 135,000 | 90,000 | 110,000 |
| 9 | 252,000 | 135,000 | 225,500 |
The crusader's XP advancement begins much more favorably than the mage and only slightly worse than the cleric, but over time requires greater totals at higher levels of play. I think this is fair and appropriate for a character with multiple types of spellcasting (for anyone concerned about balance with other classes).
One major facet of the class that we need to figure out is how wizard spellcasting should be implemented. The reason for the ability to cast a single school of wizard spells (Sean is choosing conjuration/summoning) is the character's devout ties to Mystra. As such, I think there are two main approaches to consider:
Creating a new class isn't something I've dabbled in before, and it's important that the end result is reasonably fair and balanced (at least, as balanced as anything in AD&D). Interested to hear anyone else's take; the class as constructed seems relatively strong and versatile at low levels, but suffers from a slower rate of advancement the longer the campaign goes on.
One major facet of the class that we need to figure out is how wizard spellcasting should be implemented. The reason for the ability to cast a single school of wizard spells (Sean is choosing conjuration/summoning) is the character's devout ties to Mystra. As such, I think there are two main approaches to consider:
- The crusader casts priest spells as a priest and wizard spells as a wizard. That is, the crusader's priest and wizard spell slots are independent (the character effectively gets both); bonus spells apply only to the priest spell slots; wizard spells must be learned through study as opposed to prayer; and armor cannot be worn when casting wizard spells (same as a wizard or bard). This treats the character as a multi-classed cleric/mage in terms of spellcasting.
- The crusader casts all spells as a priest. That is, all spells are gained through prayer, using the character's single set of priest spell slots; the wizard spell school is treated as just another priest sphere; no spellbook is needed and no armor restrictions are applied.
I'm not sure that I have a preference, yet. Mechanically, there are trade-offs, mainly that option #1 gives the character more total spell slots, while option #2 removes the wizardly armor and spellbook restrictions. I think either approach can be justified in-game.
Creating a new class isn't something I've dabbled in before, and it's important that the end result is reasonably fair and balanced (at least, as balanced as anything in AD&D). Interested to hear anyone else's take; the class as constructed seems relatively strong and versatile at low levels, but suffers from a slower rate of advancement the longer the campaign goes on.
I would have him cast all spells as a priest, for a couple reasons. Giving full spell progression for both classes, but tracked separately seems too good. The only precedent for something like that would be a multi-class demihuman, but they have essentially double the XP requirement to level up.
ReplyDeleteTreating his conjuration spells as magic-user spells wouldn't necessarily preclude armor--the bard is an example that bends this rule already--but considering that all armor is allowed, thematically it seems to make sense (to me) to just treat it as a priest sphere, just an extension of normal cleric spell ability.
If you do that, it's basically a priest that gave up a wider selection of spheres and turn undead to add conjuration/summoning as a sphere and opened the class up to all weapons. Or a paladin that gets earlier spell progression and worse fighting.
All in all, it seems like a really fair build, as long as it doesn't get both spell progressions.
Thanks for the insight, I've been leaning that way as well. For what it's worth, the bard *is* subject to the "no casting wizard spells while wearing armor" restriction (we specifically checked on this last night).
ReplyDeleteMy concerns with option #1 are the additional spells slots for a character not bound by multi-class XP advancement, and the logistics of "wizarding" without access to spells like read magic. We talked about how the character might only be able to research new spells on his own, and not be able to learn them from scrolls or other spellbooks.
My only real concern with option #2 is opening up an entire school of wizard spells when other classes would need to learn each spell individually (for example, a 5th-level invoker does not immediately gain the ability to memorize fireball and lightning bolt, as would a crusader having evocation as his chosen school). In the end, though, it doesn't feel like a big problem; I think a greater number of daily spell slots is a more powerful mechanic than added flexibility in which spells can be memorized. As you say, it feels like a fair trade.
You should look at the 5e Warlock class. It combines some of the mechanisms that you are working with in a workable way. One specific thing they do is that they have spell slots that are just a total number of spells that can be memorized and a maximum level for those spells. A high level warlock can use a spell slot for a 5th level spell or a 1st level spell.
ReplyDeleteThey also have a much smaller set of spells they can memorize than a mage or cleric would. Since these spells are granted by a deity, they don't research spells and build a huge spellbook over time, but they can trade out spells when they level up. So a 10th level warlock can only have 10 spells to choose from and only has 2 slots for spells. You would probably need to modify these numbers a bit because cantrips are handled separately in 5e and are about as powerful as 1st level spells in 2e.
The "Vancian" spell systems have definitely evolved since the AD&D days - at least, various editions have introduced classes (sorcerer, warlock) that modify the "classic" implementations, usually for some kind of added flexibility. If Sean does choose to go with a custom 2e class as described above, option #2 (treating conjuration spells as another priest sphere) is a pretty clean way of going about things, and still keeps the character in line with the other, core classes. Not looking to go too far off the AD&D rails, here.
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