Hey Patrons, let's talk the special classes I made for Floating Fortress.
ScopeCustom cleric class for 2 charactersCustom sorcerer class for 2 charactersStarting, HP, NWPs, and WPsStat boostsClass synergy with players
Custom ClericsOnce upon a time, I wanted to rework clerical magic. I felt that having wizards and clerics have essentially the same system with different spells didn't differentiate between the two super classes. I wanted (and still do) them to feel very different at multiple levels. So I built and tested a cleric class in Akuban Knights that worked totally differently.
Instead of having spell slots that are filled with specific spells, they should have some at will blessings, some larger rituals that are more involved, and the ability to call down the very occasional miracle. I really loved the idea, but it wasn't fully developed through the course of Akuban Knights. It was too much based on the idea of a temple priest. So I'm trying it again.
One of the problems is that 2e is inherently low magic, and any power that can be called upon at will must be fairly tame to avoid being game breaking. Giving clerics really weak at will abilities turned out to be... less exciting. It makes sense for the priest who chills in a temple all day serving the people, but it's not great for the adventuring cleric.
The cleric class is similar to certain religious orders of knighthood of the Middle Ages: the Teutonic Knights, the Knights Templars, and Hospitalers. These orders combined military and religious training with a code of protection and service. - AD&D 2e on Clerics
With the concept of a cleric as a holy warrior in mind, I fleshed out the concept of the "chant" - a verbal only power that can be channeled on your turn and has a persistent effect until the chanting/channeling ends. Clerics can still perform melee or missile attacks while chanting, so now they can get their full round of normal combat and aid their allies, hinder their enemies, or shape the battlefield in some way with at will powers. For example, we've got a low level chant that gives any adjacent allies +1 AC. The spell "bless" gives +1 to hit but takes a round to cast and must be cast before combat begins. Giving clerics the option of giving allies +1 AC while still being able to perform attacks is much nicer. Add to this the fact clerics will have many chants and they can switch between them on their turn, and I think we'll find our new cleric class really underscores the "support" character role.
Custom SorcerersLet's shoot from the hip: This class is a lot less custom than the clerics. We're using mostly default wizard and cleric spells, but picked the ones that fit the two subtypes of sorcerers we're using and arranged their abilities into tech trees. I'm not going to share the tech trees, because I want it to be an act of discovery as the players advance in level.
Some spells we're modifying, some spells are custom, and some spells are pulled from the cleric list instead.
We're also leaving the spell slot system, and are going to work with a spell point system that doesn't require memorizing spells in advance. While I do love 2e, the "you have to pick your spells in advance" has always been awkward. It works pretty well around a table with your friends when you're playing 6 hours of D&D and eating pizza, but the management is too intensive for streamed games. One of the issues of a totally free spell system is that lower level spells becomes super abusive if you can cast dozens or scores of them at a time. If you can cast 20 magic missiles at 9th level, you get real broken real fast. I want a spell system where players don't have to pick spells ahead, can pull from their whole list, but still can't abuse low level spells. I've got some ideas, but I'm not ready to share them (he said, days before the players get their powers in game).
Starting Stats, HP, NWPs, and WPsMuch of our initial setup was designed to have the players build interesting characters without worrying about powergaming. I didn't tell them what classes they were going to end up with, or how they were going to start, and just let them make interesting people.
Since our characters aren't starting with their classes, how do we determine their base skills and HP? Humans should be 1 HD creatures (1 hit die, meaning 1d8 hp), and since all our characters are humanish we're starting with this much HP. Because we have no actual fighters, we're also starting with a minimum requirement of at least half HP. This doesn't have a huge impact in the mid or late game, but does prevent having ultra fragile characters in the early game.
Next, I let my players talk about their character and backgrounds, and correlated that to one of the standard classes and used that for their starting NWPs and WPs. Of course, I didn't tell my players this ahead of time because I wanted them to build a character that they liked rather than build a character for specific skills. Off the top of my head, I think everybody ended up as a rogue or cleric, with the exception of Zephyr who got an extra weapon proficiency slot - putting them halfway between cleric and fighter.
When rolling stats, we wanted characters who weren't weak, but who didn't feel like super characters. Our characters are going to get some pretty sick magic boosts from the event that starts them off, so it helps to start in a fairly average place. There are a lot of ways to get there, so I perused the PHB and picked a stat method I hadn't used before that looked like it would produce fairly middle of the road characters (maybe a little bit above average). We rolled 3d6 twice for each stat and kept the better one. Only once did a player roll something way too good (an 18 in strength) that we had to nurf for reasons we'll talk about in a bit. A little negotiation and the character ended up with a 16 in Wisdom, which is really good for NWPs.
Stat BoostsOur characters are getting their classes though a big divine event. This divine event also allows us to adjust the characters as we see fit. Each PC is getting an 18 in a single stat to underscore their empowered state and to give them some fun strengths to play off. Half our character are getting their stat boosts because of who the player is, and half the characters are getting their boosts because of what their class is.
18 STRI knew Mr Mouton was going to get 18 str well before he told me he wanted to play a smith, so the stars really aligned on this one. In fact, I knew I wanted Mr. Mouton to have 18 str before I even knew what his class was going to be. He's getting 18 str because he's the only person who I trust to manage the party inventory. That's not the only reason, but it's a pretty critical one. Inventory management is a constant pain, and MrMouton does it well, reliably, and efficiently. It also happens to fit some of his core playstyles of having a big, up front, very tactile and observable impact. 18 Str isn't just a mule, it's a major problem solve that is always going to be needed and effective. It makes a character central to everything.
18 CHRPotatoMcWhisky loves to make big plays and do big roleplaying. He loves getting into tricky and fun RP situations. He's got big fun energy and would shine in a leadership role with high charisma - but he loves powergaming too much to ever pick this himself. This time around, we're making him the dejure leader and forcing high charisma on him. If you're reading this and thinking, "Koibu, what is wrong with you, he's such a trouble maker! How can you trust him to be party leader when he's going to do something insane" then you're not alone. He's gonna push the party in crazy directions which is going to create a lot of fun situations. Rember, the game is about having fun with your friends around the table doing creative storytelling and problem solving. It's not about being super efficient and completing each task with the least amount of trouble - it's about creating the most fun. Having a leader who emits big fun energy, and who might bring the party off course, or pick a wild idea from time to time, will help bring the game to fun places. Yes, he'll need his party to help hold him in line and clean up happy accidents, but that's the fun of the game. Stop trying to win Dungeons and Dragons.
18 Con & 18 DexThese go to our sorcerers. They're not going to be able to wear armor in game, so they're going to need some extra survivability. You might think that the elementalist should get the con, and the half elf, gentle, nature lover should get the dex, but you'd be wrong. These stats are about shoring up weaknesses and making characters more well rounded. These physical stats don't have a huge impact in character play style since our sorcerers will get most of their umph from their spells.
I can't say more on this section without revealing what spells these characters are going to get and how it will affect their play style. So I won't.
Class synergy with playersPMC needs to play a leader, so we made him the default party leader. Then we threw a wrench in it by making him a cleric of Malkis, who is diametrically opposed to Astair, god of leadership. This fits PMCs crazy style perfectly - the chaotic leader of men.
MrMouton is an excellent 2nd in command, someone who can make decisions but has enough presence of mind to consider the whole party and objective before going forward. Having a character that looks out for other people fits the kind, caring, good-natured, and honorable Mouton. Cleric of Martha fits great.
PChall is filled with "I'm just an ordinary dude who is... GONNA BLOW YOUR SOCKS OFF" energy. Having a character with big spells and big impacts and low responsibilities fit him perfectly. He needs a role where he can drift off into an ADHD rabbit hole for a few minutes without disrupting the flow of the game, but then come right back out of it with big plays and big fun. He needs a versatile and impactful character with fun spells that have clear uses, yet can be dug into for creative solutions.
GreenZerg can do just about anything. He's played a ton, he's super smart, super flexible, and honestly you could toss him anything and he'd be fine and have fun. He's played a lot of wizards, and has already thought thought all of the spells, so I'm giving him some new stuff to play with. Spells he hasn't used, new spells with interesting synergies, and most importantly, a class-character conflict. Riven is such a nature character, so personable, so heart centric, so nature focused. Yet they're not getting elemental spells, they're not getting healing, they're not getting leadership and charisma, they're not even getting high dex. Riven has been granted superpowers that drive them away from their natural tendencies and create some FOMO. GreenZerg is a strong enough roleplayer that these conflicts will, hopefully, drive him into new and interesting territories.