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Old 03-25-2017, 11:47 PM   #41
Phantasm
 
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Default Re: The Modern-Day Party: Fighter, Cleric, Wizard, and Rogue

If sticking with the four D&D classes:

Fighter - Army or Marine Corps.

Cleric - Doctor, nurse, or paramedic; not as likely to be priest/pastor/preacher.

Wizard - Mechanic, technical specialist.

Rogue - Con man, pilot.


However, modern/sci-fi games IMO are more likely to be akin to the Five-Man Band, possibly with a Sixth Ranger, depending on group size.

(Warning: TVTropes links)
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Old 03-28-2017, 06:39 AM   #42
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Default Re: The Modern-Day Party: Fighter, Cleric, Wizard, and Rogue

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Originally Posted by jason taylor View Post
Firefly:
I'd go something more along the lines of this.

Fighter: Zoe, Jayne
Wizard: Kaylee, Wash, River
Cleric: Book, Inara, Simon
Rogue: Mal

Mal is a rubbish "direct" fighter, and his main strengths are cunning, reflexes and wit. Ie, shoot smart, shoot quick, or talk your way out of needing to shoot. He's clearly a face orientated tactical rogue.

Jayne is extensively trained and skilled in fighting, is hardly a peoples person (intimidation only) and prefers a direct approach to combat. So fighter.

River can kill you with her mind and frequently disturbs those around her by both her capabilities and mannerisms - which sounds a lot like a wizard to me. Mostly utility, but can produce short duration devastation when needed, with a healthy dose of unusual power origin.
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Old 03-28-2017, 08:49 AM   #43
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Default Re: The Modern-Day Party: Fighter, Cleric, Wizard, and Rogue

The two games I'm playing in don't fit this well.

Leave Not a Rack has fairly clear roles, but they don't fit any one structure: Face, Librarian, Thief, Healer, Fighter. Except they don't go round in a group the whole time, so everyone's a bit of a face.

Irresponsible and Right has a Wizard who's our leader, a Face, another Wizard, a Wizard/Fighter and a Rogue/Tech. But everyone's a bit of a fighter, and a bit of a face. We had someone who was definitely a Cleric, but she dropped out; we're not sure yet what kind of role the replacement character will take.
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Old 03-28-2017, 10:08 AM   #44
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Default Re: The Modern-Day Party: Fighter, Cleric, Wizard, and Rogue

John's Infinite Cabal seems to be basically Wizard/Face, Wizard/Fighter, Wizard, Fighter, Fighter/Wizard with oddities. (These are GURPS wizards, so several of them have some degree of healing.)
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Old 01-07-2021, 06:05 PM   #45
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Default Re: The Modern-Day Party: Fighter, Cleric, Wizard, and Rogue

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Hey all,

So I got to thinking recently about modern day settings, and character roles within them, and I began to muse about parallels between modern-day 'real' world settings and fantasy settings.

Most people who have some experience with RPGs know the 'standard' party archetype: Fighter, Cleric, Wizard, and Rogue. Even with the lack of classes in GURPS, players often tend towards these roles, and not without good reason, the above combination makes for a well-rounded party, provided the characters have more to them than just their 'class'.

The above classification becomes more difficult in a modern, real-world setting, without magic or divine power. What would you guys say would be some good equivalents to these fantasy archetypes? Understand that I ask purely out of curiosity, one of the things I love about GURPS is the freedom from classes.

Both the Fighter and the Rogue are fairly obvious, with options ranging from street thug and petty criminal, to commando and secret agent. Wizards and Clerics are a bit more troublesome however. You could argue that the Wizard is all about versatility, so perhaps a millionaire character might be the best bet, or a technician, who can put together clever equipment like a D&D Wizard memorises spells. The Cleric seems like a medic of some kind, but the inability of real-life medics or priests to instantly heal wounds, turn undead, or smite their foes reduces their versatility, and I'm not sure how one might go about replicating or reinterpreting such feats.

So, what do you guys think, how would you re-imagine these classics for the modern, less fantastical age?
Well in Shooters and Sci-Fi there is the Soldier, Sniper, Sapper, Support quaternity. Soldier is your fighter with an assault rifle/shotgun. Sniper is a Stealth guy, doesn't have to be a literal sniper but usually is. Sapper is your explosives expert, but may also be good with tech in general. Support is your healer/cc mostly just helps the group but is usually a decent sit in for a soldier or sniper in a pinch.

It also depends on the setting. Just Modern? Urban Fantasy? Is Psy a Thing? Supers is a whole other genre...
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Old 01-07-2021, 06:31 PM   #46
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Default Re: The Modern-Day Party: Fighter, Cleric, Wizard, and Rogue

For Sea Patrol (Australian naval crime series):

Fighter: both the first and the second Chiefs Buffer and Dutchy

Wizard: Nav or RO

Cleric: Ex, she is kind of the team mom

Rogue: Two-dads

Cdr Flynn: Ranger

The Halfling: Role a die and go with Bomber. Spider too maybe. ET

The Princess: Bird
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Old 01-07-2021, 07:19 PM   #47
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Default Re: The Modern-Day Party: Fighter, Cleric, Wizard, and Rogue

The heist crew division of roles:

Brains

Muscle

Cat Burglar

Face

Tech

Last edited by David Johnston2; 01-07-2021 at 07:39 PM.
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Old 01-08-2021, 07:05 AM   #48
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Default Re: The Modern-Day Party: Fighter, Cleric, Wizard, and Rogue

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With that said, the following are very common "classes", aside from "Fighter" and "Rogue'. In rough order of how often I see them:

The Face: The modern equivalent of the bard is almost universal. Has some combination of social skills and wealth that opens doors and gets people to talk

The Academic: Knows stuff about whatever the focus of the campaign is. In a campaign with some fantasy aspects, he'll be closer to a straight wizard. May be wildly inappropriate in some campaigns that are all about implementation or where the new GM doesn't know how to make him feel useful. Doesn't seem to stop people.

The Investigator: Typically a law enforcement officer or journalist. Has some of the social skills of the Face, but narrower in scope and augmented with high Perception and skills and advantages tuned to uncovering clues over charming people

The Techie: Interacts with modern machinery. In a truly modern day or latter campaign, likely to be a computer hacker. Slightly earlier, will probably be a mechanic of some sort.

The Medic: A doctor or some other trained medical professional. May wind up frustrated with the slow pace of real world healing, but can be indispensable in a sufficiently bloody campaign.

The Driver: Or the pilot, or the boatman. If vehicles are a big point in the campaign, someone's going to want to drive them. Honestly, this can create problems (because vehicles are usually sort of their own subgame in any system and one that only the driver is good at).
I'd add a couple roles here. You need a Soldier (not necessarily former military, but certainly an experienced and capable combatant) and a Leader. While most of the roles are such that you can have a character who basically does that and only that (although it's best to have everyone with multiple hats), Leader is rarely a role that lends itself to that, at least if it's filled by a PC rather than a patron. Soldier and Investigator tend to be the most likely to be Leaders, but really any of them could fill the role. Driver is probably in the same category as Leader (a dedicated Driver is more likely an Ally or similar than a PC), being highly likely for a PC to fill that role and another. The Mechanic variant of Techie lends itself well to also serving as Driver.
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Old 01-08-2021, 07:08 AM   #49
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Default Re: The Modern-Day Party: Fighter, Cleric, Wizard, and Rogue

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Originally Posted by Varyon View Post
I'd add a couple roles here. You need a Soldier (not necessarily former military, but certainly an experienced and capable combatant) and a Leader. While most of the roles are such that you can have a character who basically does that and only that (although it's best to have everyone with multiple hats), Leader is rarely a role that lends itself to that, at least if it's filled by a PC rather than a patron. Soldier and Investigator tend to be the most likely to be Leaders, but really any of them could fill the role. Driver is probably in the same category as Leader (a dedicated Driver is more likely an Ally or similar than a PC), being highly likely for a PC to fill that role and another. The Mechanic variant of Techie lends itself well to also serving as Driver.
In that respect Flynn in Sea Patrol would be a Leader.
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Old 01-08-2021, 02:00 PM   #50
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Default Re: The Modern-Day Party: Fighter, Cleric, Wizard, and Rogue

I mean, the trinity of D&D classes are barely relevant in Fantasy, were it not for D&D balancing.

What I figure you need in a party facing a big mixture of challenges is roughly:

1: Social Ability ("The Face")
2: Combat (Any of the D&D classes, really.*)
3: Infiltrator ("Rogue")
4: Specialist/Professor/Engineer/Mage/...

The fourth one is the tricky one obviously, and varies hugely from setting to setting. In some settings it is absolutely critical, in others almost irrelevant. Spaceship needs a pilot. Would be a bit strange to play cyberpunk world without a hacker. Dungeon delving in a high-fantasy world without at least an NPC with magic ability to detect cursed magical items and such would be extra-hard mode. Healing is usually very useful in settings where it is available.



* Even a party of lightly armored 250-point GURPS combat mages would be effective, especially if they tactically/build compensate for the lack of a frontline
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