[DF] Dungeon Fantasy Rework: Fighter, Mage, Thief

[LoneWolf23k]

Okay, so I was thinking of a way to a) simplify character creation for a GURPS Dungeon Fantasy game, and b) allow for a more centralized magic system that just uses core GURPS Magic rules, instead of splitting spells between caster classes to preserve "niches".

b) would also allow me to run Dungeon Fantasy-style games in the world of Banestorm, which doesn't actually have "Clerics" so much as Priests who happen to be Wizards.

Considering going with 150-200 pt templates to start with, with "lenses" allowing for more customized roles like "Berzerker" or "Scout".

Any advice, beyond going to the Template Toolkit?

[Anders]

Interesting. Keep talking.

[Varyon]

The Henchman book (DF11 IIRC) may serve you well here, as it has quite a few lower-power templates to look at (along with lenses to power them up).

[LoneWolf23k]

I'm also inspired by 3rd edition's own Wizards, Warriors andRogues series of books, which contained multitudes of Templates of various Spellcasters, Fighters and Scoundrels for various settings from Fantasy to Sci-Fi, although in this case I'd rather focus on Fantasy first.

Originally Posted by Anders

Interesting. Keep talking.

Again, for now I'm just at stage 1 (considering the concept), although I'm thinking the Fighter template would focus on physical strength, survivability (with Toughness DR), the Wizard template would focus on Magery and Intelligence, and the Rogue template on a mix of Intelligence, Dexterity and Skills.

Naturally, each template would have a number of options. The "Fighter" would have options for bulk-and-muscle warrior; swift, agile swashbucklers, and anything in between.

Actually, I think I saved some of the old Pyramid articles on quick-and-dirty character building that had options like that.

[Anders]

You might have a problem finding niches for the thief. There's Thief, Assassin... and what else?

[Apollonian]

You might want to check the Pointless Slaying & Looting article in Pyramid 3/72: Alternate Dungeons for some package ideas, too.

As for Thief niches: Sneaky combatant (Assassin), scout/spy, property liberation specialist, or trap setter/disarmer.

[Anthony]

The main reason to split mages into multiple specialties is because the actual translation of high point level GURPS RAW DF would be "DF Rework: Mage, Mage, and Mage".

[Imbicatus]

Having spellcasters split into Bard, Cleric, Druid, and Wizard seems much more simple than having one huge wizard template and forcing to specialize by spell type. If you want to keep all magic tied to magery and mana that’s fine, just change PI to magery on those templates and make sure they are following the prerequisites per college.

But having a healing mage, nature mage and so on helps the player identify the role and quickly build a spell list when having the 400 spells in magery to think about can be a lot more complex to build.

[LoneWolf23k]

All right, I'm well aware that what I'm talking about here is more "take the Cleric and Druid and turn them into Wizard sub-classes with Magery", but honestly, I think that should be an option, especially in Fantasy games without active gods. Final Fantasy splits it's Mages into Black and White, for example.

Also, I can think of plenty of Rogue Variations; mostly because I'd be basing them from the templates from GURPS Classic: Rogues.

Assassin, Bard, Cat Burgler, Con Man, Fixer, Forger, Gambler, Master Thief, Mobster, Pickpocket, Pirate, Poacher, Smuggler, Spy...

Actually, now that I think about it, I could just try to update those Templates.

[Raekai]

I like the rework of Fighter, Mage, and Specialist. It makes me think of Whitehack, which just has The Deft, The Strong, and The Wise as classes.

• The Deft are thieves, wandering monks, spies, marksmen, and assassins that all have particular vocational knowledge.
• The Strong are warriors, guards, brigands, knights, bounty hunters, and barbarians that all have extra combat options.
• The Wise are wizards, priests, alchemists, exorcists, demonologists, druids, runecarvers, bards, and mad scientists that can all perform so-called miracles (which can be described as magic or not).

Anyway, +1 for the simple approach. Broad classes with a handful of archetypes and ways to 'multi-class' is my favorite approach (next to classless if you can pull that off*). I've always thought that something like a Paladin should just be dropped for a Fighter-Cleric, and I think GURPS should be able to do this really well.

*If you want classless and simple, then "Pointless Slaying and Looting" from Pyramid #3/72: Alternate Dungeons is great, or you could translate the ideas found in GURPS Action 4: Specialists (and the extra material in "More Skill Sets for Specialists" in Pyramid #3/112: Action II) to Dungeon Fantasy. If you want less detail, go the first way; if you want more detail, go the second way.