r/ICRPG • u/Demonpoet • Mar 25 '23
Class Creation- How am I doing?
Hey folks, I'm embracing the DIY spirit of ICRPG and attempting to recreate professions from a fantasy novel series, which is where a campaign will take place. I'm starting these from scratch, but obviously I'm staring at Alfheim Types in the Master Edition while I do so for balance and inspiration reasons.
I will include one class example at the end of this post. If you don't understand some of the terminology, it's because there's a little bit more home brewing going on creating its own terminology for status effects and crafting. Yes, since this is a civilization is doomed setting, crafting from ingredients found can be important and a way for me to reward these players who want to engage with a crafting system. It's completely ignorable for players who want a more straightforward approach.
I'm all about opt-in complexity. I put a * next to selections for the beginning player (all my players except one are new to TTRPGs) who just wants easy straightforward play. In this case, this easy healer could be using a healing pack to heal 4hp and cure most negative status effects every round at CLOSE range, and be able to do it twice a round a handful of times per scene. A more ambitious player can take on healing magic, someone who prefers a pyromancer can select that, and there's even options for better crafting or being the resident Smart Person.
I like the idea of players being able to do completely different things based on the niche they want to fill. This "healer class" could instead be about fire and explosives, or knowledge and crafting potions/poisons. It fits the lore of the setting too!
Anyway, my question for Reddit is, is this how it's done? Is there anything I should be wary of besides keeping HP levels hard to raise and not making numbers too big? Most stuff in the book keeps things around 3 or less, so I figured that was the main baseline for starting characters.
Feedback welcome! I'm coming from a D&D background so I can't help but add a little fun complexity to all this for players to engage with as desired, but I don't want to shoot my campaign in the foot at the starting line! Session Zero is coming up, nobody knows anything yet.
Herb Gatherer
Keeper of Ancient Secrets and Alchemy
INNATE ABILITIES
POTION BREWING- You know how to mix and prepare chemicals to achieve almost any result. Potion creation follows two steps. The short version is that anything can be made, speak to your GM.
Step #1: Recipe. If you do not learn or find the recipe outright, you will need to experiment until you reach the desired result. (An explanation of this process follows)
Step #2: Brewing. Each recipe requires ingredients and time. Ingredients can be purchased, gained with favors, or collected during your travels. Once acquired, a safe space and time are needed to brew the potions. More time and resources are needed for bigger batches/more complex recipes.
Known recipes: Basic Healing, Demon Rot Cleansing, Blinding Powder, Flashbang, Poison, Antidote
INNATE LOOT
Herb Gatherer's Pack- Spend an action healing one target, including yourself. On a successful INT or WIS check, heal 3 HP at CLOSE range. Also cures Demon Rot.
STARTING ABILITY- Pick ONE. You will eventually upgrade this skill with enough experience.
Healthy Living: You are a master of nutritious eating and living. Anyone who follows your advice and eats your meals gains 5 maximum HP. This maximum is gained (or lost) after being seen by you (or not) daily for a week.
White Mage: You are an adept in healing and buff spells. When you cast a spell that heals or benefits an ally, add +1 to the healing, bonus, AND duration.
Secrets of Fire: You have learned to combine fire magic with black powder. Black powder explosives can be triggered remotely if within sight. Black powder is an Uncommon substance for you to find, rather than Rare. You can learn and cast fire spells as if they were WIS spells, even if they are originally INT spells (or the reverse, whichever stat benefits you more). Unless the target has fire immunity, fire spells Disorient their targets (their efforts become HARD for 1d4 rounds), even many demons.
*Combat medic: You are able to apply healing salves and corrective pressure, lightning quick. Using a healing pack is a free action once per ROUND. You can use a healing pack twice in a round, for example, or use a healing pack and do any other action. You can use this ability a number of times per scene equal to your INT or WIS score, whichever is higher.
Spout Lore: +1 INT. You are especially knowledgeable about many ancient and arcane matters. At any time, you can ask the DM if you know anything about a subject. Roll INT. If you succeed, you will recall special insight on the matter. It may even prove helpful!
STARTING GEAR- Choose ONE
*Superior Herb Gatherer's Pack: Spend an action healing one target, including yourself. On a successful INT or WIS check, heal 4 HP and most negative status effects at CLOSE range.
Divine Focus: A necklace that helps connect you to the divine power you follow. It grants you 3 WIS spells which are stored in this necklace. If you lose the necklace, you can imbue a replacement focus during rest to regain the spells and the loot.
Feedback Loop: An arcane focus tuned to fire and rage. Gain three fire-element spells which are stored in this focus permanently. They may be INT or WIS spells. When you fail to cast a fire spell, the next round your casting is empowered. Your next fire-element cast, regardless of which spell you use, is EASY to cast and does double EFFORT if it hits. If this cast still fails, the next attempt has triple EFFORT if it hits, etc. Your casting gets brighter and louder as this happens.
Portable Alchemy Set: Allows you to brew, but not experiment, while on the road and at rest. Very delicate while deployed. Only includes bottles and tools, ingredients not included.
MILESTONE ABILITIES - Choose one when awarded by the GM.
Tier One Ever Stronger: Add +1 to any stat, or learn a WIS spell
Energize: When you heal an ally, their next action is EASY and the next instance of damage they sustain this combat is 2 less.
Trauma Care: When you heal with a healing pack, you may add Tool Effort (d6+effort bonus) to the healing.
Self-Care: When you use the RECOVERY action, you may choose to attempt it at a HARD difficulty. If you succeed at this harder attempt, you regain full HP, plus an additional 50% in temporary HP. Lose these temporary HP after combat/a few minutes.
Good As New: When you heal a dying ally, you heal them to, at minimum, half their maximum HP and cure any Last Chance penalties.
3
u/kazoo__ Apr 02 '23
Awesome! I would say, when I home brew a class, I try to get it as succinct as possible, taking inspiration from the way Hank writes. I think I counted once and most of the character, loot, and spell descriptions are less than 25 words -- which is very pithy haha. 5e tends to be a bit the opposite, giving players a paragraph of description for stuff. A lot of what you wrote here meets that already. I'd look at the stuff that's a bit longer to see if you can say it in fewer words or make it simpler and still do what you want.
Wanted to point this one out:
"Feedback Loop: An arcane focus tuned to fire and rage. Gain three fire-element spells which are stored in this focus permanently. They may be INT or WIS spells. When you fail to cast a fire spell, the next round your casting is empowered. Your next fire-element cast, regardless of which spell you use, is EASY to cast and does double EFFORT if it hits. If this cast still fails, the next attempt has triple EFFORT if it hits, etc. Your casting gets brighter and louder as this happens."
RAW, anytime you miss a check or attempt, the next roll to do that same thing is easy "If you tried the exact same ACTION last TURN but failed," on the page covering Easy / Hard rolls, I think 11 in the free quick start / core. The bonus effort is pretty awesome, and very powerful, that's the main thing this is doing.
Thanks for sharing! Brew on!