I'm looking for an aristocrat/noble class for PCs rather than NPCs.
I want it to be OGL/OGC or compatible, e.g., Public Domain or Creative Commons.
You don't need a whole class for that unless you're looking for specific mechanics. Any class with spells or decent skills will suffice. There isn't much to being a noble other than being born in royalty and/or having a lot of money.
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Bard.
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Fighter
Edit: To clarify, if you're doing a game with a medieval style society, i.e. prior to the industrial revolution, then Fighter. If you're doing a more contemporary post-industrial revolution setting, then that is when the aristocracy stepped back from the front lines.
Previously, the nobility were the career military and officers. Common folk often had mandatory militia training for when armies needed to be mustered, but were never career military - they were mustered during war time (and usually only during the summer) and sent home afterwards - typically in time for the harvest.
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Imperious bloodline sorcerer might do the trick.
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Fighter
Edit: To clarify, if you're doing a game with a medieval style society, i.e. prior to the industrial revolution, then Fighter. If you're doing a more contemporary post-industrial revolution setting, then that is when the aristocracy stepped back from the front lines.
Previously, the nobility were the career military and officers. Common folk often had mandatory militia training for when armies needed to be mustered, but were never career military - they were mustered during war time (and usually only during the summer) and sent home afterwards - typically in time for the harvest.
I'd personally go cavalier/samurai before fighter since the lack of skills makes the fighter harder to much other than a grunt or a peasant without multiclassing or choosing obscure archetypes.
Bard would be another acceptable substitute for aristocrat, given the right environment.
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You could also look to specific archetypes, for example, their is a Court Bard archetype that would work nicely. For Cavaliers, there are a number of archetypes that might resemble a particular aspect of nobility, such as an Emissary for diplomatic nobles, Strategist or Standard Bearer for militaristic nobility.
Also, I could see nobles becoming Swashbucklers, as Swashbucklers have style and panache (literally a whole pool filled with it).
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You may want to look at the newly released Into the Breach: the Forgotten Classes, which gives allot of nice flavor and a bit of a power boost to all the NPC classes, the aristocrat included. Here is a nice helpful link. :)
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It depends on the attitude you want to convey.
Inbred bored decadent useless aristocrat whose House is fading? NPC Noble class.
Knightly ancestry and militant martial flavor? Cavalier. If truly noble and high-minded, Paladin.
Renaissance era leaders of the new generation? Magus I-can-do-it-all
Renaissance noble twits and dilettantes (or diplomats)? Bards
Magical society I'm-educated-and-better-then-you? Wizards.
Magical Bloodline that proves you are noble? Sorcerer.
Ruthless power players with no magic/mafia/Machiavellian? Rogues.
Great White Hunter with nothing better to do with his time? Ranger
Feared Duelist/master of the sword? Stalker
Crazed fool delving into mysteries man wasn't meant to know? Alchemist.(Hey, they did that in a couple of AP's)
===Aelryinth
I really think that it does depend on the situation, like what Aelryinth said.
Personally? If the alignment would be Lawful Good, then I would go for a paladin (or a Lawful Good cleric or warpriest); as for the other alignments, I can see bards (a common choice I see here), wizards, alchemists, cavaliers/samurai, or even some rangers or magi.
Well, i like the suggestions you are doing and i also consider them as alternate classes, but i'm intrigued about a full class devoted to the aristocracy thing, something that gives the PC abilities forbidden to the common people, leadership, divine right, powerful contacts, a wealthy family behind, etc.
I like, for example, the Resource Access ability of the noble class from Star Wars that allows the PC to get some money from her families, patrons or alike.
But you are right, this is something we can make with a custom archetype of one of the core classes... mostly the Bard. Except if we can think of something that makes the aristocracy stuff a unique thing of that class...
I forgot to mention, it could be a prestige class too.
Well, i like the suggestions you are doing and i also consider them as alternate classes, but i'm intrigued about a full class devoted to the aristocracy thing, something that gives the PC abilities forbidden to the common people, leadership, divine right, powerful contacts, a wealthy family behind, etc.
I like, for example, the Resource Access ability of the noble class from Star Wars that allows the PC to get some money from her families, patrons or alike.
But you are right, this is something we can make with a custom archetype of one of the core classes... mostly the Bard. Except if we can think of something that makes the aristocracy stuff a unique thing of that class...
Yeah. Not every concept needs an entire class around it. A class requires a solid game mechanic and theme to carry it. Even if a solid mechanic exists, making it an "aristocrat class" might make it too narrow. Plus, designing classes is exceptionally difficult.
As for the archetype, you need to figure out what exactly do you want to do as "aristocrat?" What exactly do you want represented mechanically? Prestige, political positions, etc are usually things you earn in the game through roleplay, not gain them immediately. In addition, Pathfinder is largely a game about combat and facing danger. As a result, it's difficult for anyone to homebrew to your liking if you don't explain what you want in the first place.
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Commoner
Serious answer: any. Class is just an abstract collection of mechanical abilities defined by the game. Class is not a narrative role. Not all barbarians are loincloth wearing savages. Not all rogues are thieves. An aristocrat/noble is a narrative role that is unrelated to class abilities, and thus can be applied to any class. If you want to make a stereotypical fat, lazy, incompetent noble, then commoner may well be the best choice.
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There's a Noble Scion prestige class in Paizo's Paths of Prestige.
I think there's a full 20 level Noble PC class in the Blackmoor setting, but I don't know the details of it.
==Aelryinth
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Yeah, I'm going to second waltero's suggestion of Noble Scion. It sounds exactly like what you're looking for.
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I wrote this, which is specifically a PC-grade Aristocrat. I've not tested it in its PF version. As it's essentially a multiclassable martial I suspect it's a bit on the weak side. The OP has already seen it, so maybe it doesn't fit the bill.
I like that Noble Scion class... But i feel it kind of weak compared to other prestige classes.
You were right, there are different types of nobles/aristocrats... so i'm still curious in other classes.
I was looking a few placed here and there. But now i came to think that to play a base class for nobles for the whole 20 levels could be boring. A prestige class is a shortcut.
Anyway, i still want to know other classes that would fit for different aristocrats and noble characters.
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I like, for example, the Resource Access ability of the noble class from Star Wars that allows the PC to get some money from her families, patrons or alike.
Funny enough, after the first paragraph I was going to show that and ask if it was along the lines you wanted.
I would suggest taking Rogue and reflavoring some abilities like black market connections. Maybe straight up swap some class features for Noble versions.
EDIT: Actually, maybe normal characters can be Unchained Rogue and Nobles Rogues + the Star Wars d20 class features. That would be about right.
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right here
Honestly, that is better used as a late renaissance era courtier, not a noble.
There is an odd trend in the fantasy audience to assume that Kings are generally warrior-types with supreme authority to do whatever they like, while 'nobles' are suit/gown wearing socialites who politic behind the scenes and host galas while 'the real fighting men/women' wage wars (sometimes with the King). Thus you get things like King Boranel (Aristocrat/Fighter) of Breland, King Kaius (Arisocrat/Fighter) of Karrnath, King Azoun (Fighter) of Cormyr and so on, but most 'noble' NPCs you encounter are designed to be largely ineffectual in battle.
This comes from the industrial revolution era, which saw the birth of the leisured middle class (FYI the middle class virtually didn't exist during the medieval period) and as they rose in wealth and influence it became fashionable among them to mock the nobility - most of the tropes we see in fantasy are actually drawn from fiction lampooning the nobility, not anything resembling their actual historical role.
While I might be carrying my chips upon my shoulder here, I'll elaborate a little further on some of the basics:
- The role of the nobility in medieval (and similar) societies was military: The were responsible for the defence of the community. War is expensive, and might is power, so unsurprisingly the warriors (aka nobility) wound up running the society and managing resources, construction and so on.
- The majority of the population in a medieval (or equivalent) society are subsistence farmers - about 90-95%, in fact - and cities and towns are small - about the size we see in D&D/Pathfinder, as this is the basis for the numbers and the game. There isn't much slack in medieval society to cater to poor administrators - inept rulers tend to be swiftly replaced/conquered.
- All members of noble families/lines, including Royals, are generally members of the Peerage - and it means exactly what it sounds like: They are peers. Equals. Hence the common terminology of the king being 'first among equals' - he cannot command the nobility, but rather, he rules at their sufferance because someone needs to if they want to compete against other nations. Naturally, some peers are considered more important than others (a duke is more important than a baron), but neither can command the other unless the lesser is actually beholden to the greater.
- Commissioned officers (i.e. anyone with a rank such as "Captain", "Lieutenant" etc) were almost always nobility. Men-at-arms were drawn from the common folk, and some might even be career military, eventually giving rise to the concept of a Corporal or Sergeant. Similarly, almost all positions of power within a city (from captain of the guard to majordomo) were typically held by members of noble families.
- Nobles had better diets, better education (often, the only ones with education) and the men in particular (speaking historically) were put through extensive military training - including large amounts of sword training, strength and endurance training, and tactics. The actual result of this, is that noblemen tended to be bigger, stronger, more educated and much better at fighting than a peasant who ate a mediocre diet and spent much of his days performing backbreaking labor. No, it is not then very surprising that most nobles assumed they were simply 'a better breed' than the common man.
- Noble families weren't small. It wasn't a husband, a wife and 1-3 children... it was the Lord of the house, his wife, his many siblings, their children, his siblings children, and probably a small army of cousins. Nobles generally didn't raise knights from common stock - they bred them. Rallying commoners to form an army was something that was done with reluctance, and generally only during summer (the campaigning season), as both sides of the conflict need those very men in the fields for Spring and Autumn, lest they win a war only to suffer mass starvation.
- When war broke out, the noblemen (one and all) donned their arms and armor, mustered their soldiers and led them into battle. From the front.
TL;DR: Go watch/read Game of Thrones. It's one of the better representations of nobility.
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Raynulf, good points to consider and i like them all for certain scenarios; but i can say they mainly apply to middle ages and earlier renaissance in Europe.
But i can think of other aristocracies not reflected in your description, able to compete with the nobles, to whom a "noble" class wouldn't work for, but another aristocrat class would:
- During renaissance, centuries before the industrial revolution, there were wealthy families from the bourgeoisie who competed in power with the nobles, e.g., the Medici.
- I don't know how aristocracy worked in muslim territory during the dark ages, but it seems life in those places was better in terms of culture, health and education than in Europe, hence i can think aristocracy there was different.
- The aristocrats from before the middle ages, i mean the greek and roman aristocracies not engaged in warfare, the senate, the people with thousands of slaves...
- Aristocracy in ancient China. It seems that according to movie depictions and The Art of War, the rulers did not engage in war but just hire generals to fight for them. But i can be wrong on this, but it is an interesting model anyway.
- The creoles in America (all America) during the colony era. They were not nobles and many of their children traveled to Europe to study and used their new found knowledge to help free America and establish new forms of government.
I'm interested in playing in renaissance, colonies, industrial revolution scenarios. Not too many kings, vassals, titles and alike, but some republics, universities, early bank systems, wealthy families, merchant guilds, industrialists and alike.
Not really, i wanted to create an NPC who is going to be the patron of the party, but the aristocrat class was too weak for her and i just want to make things easier. Sometimes she had to go out on adventuring or her life was at risk so i want to make her consistent enough and not making her just a bard (she is not a caster) or fighter (they lack skills and are brutes when coming into politics) with a lot of money. So an existing class would make life easier, i pick the things, add to her, done.
As far as aristocrats being martial, there's the Aristocrat class. All armour, martial weapons. D8 hit die. 3/4 BAB, strong Will saves. If it weren't for not having any actual class features, that would be considered a decent loadout -- not ideal for front lines, but OK.
But as far as other features like authority and so on? Most of those are honestly story-related. About the only things that I can think of that might lean into that would be skills and feats. And all this depends on how aristocracy works in the culture you're talking about. There's no reason at all that when you meet the queen in her elegant palace and finery that she can't dispose of would-be assassins by using her free action to fire up rage to beef up her saves, followed by some Power Attack. Or just drops a Flurry of Blows on you.
I think I've seen some writeups do Aristocrat X/PC class X multiclassing. But otherwise, there aren't any mechanics past Diplomacy, Sense Motive, Intimidate, and Leadership that 'come with' or 'come from' class levels.
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As far as aristocrats being martial, there's the Aristocrat class. All armour, martial weapons. D8 hit die. 3/4 BAB, strong Will saves. If it weren't for not having any actual class features, that would be considered a decent loadout -- not ideal for front lines, but OK.
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I think I've seen some writeups do Aristocrat X/PC class X multiclassing. But otherwise, there aren't any mechanics past Diplomacy, Sense Motive, Intimidate, and Leadership that 'come with' or 'come from' class levels.
Indeed. Blending Aristocrat (for skills) with Fighter (for hitpoints and feats) is a good way to put a noble together. Apparently Keith Baker and company had similar opinions in the Eberron setting (95% of nobles were Aristocrats or Fighter/Aristocrats).
It sounds like you want to play a game based in realistic historical fantasy. Pathfinder is a terrible game for this. I would go with a skills based system like GURPS, or maybe try Ars Magica.
No, because in medieval reality pulp action heroism didn't happen, and common folk almost never rose above their roots to become heroes, but instead tended to die off in their early fifties.
There's a huge difference between saying "I want a completely stimulationist medieval experience" and "I'd like my fantasy to not be an overused cliche based on a lampoon of medieval society" ;)
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Freeport Companion has a pretty decent Noble class in it. A majority of that book is Open Content, so I'm curious as to why it hasn't shown up online somewhere.
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I wrote this, which is specifically a PC-grade Aristocrat. I've not tested it in its PF version. As it's essentially a multiclassable martial I suspect it's a bit on the weak side. The OP has already seen it, so maybe it doesn't fit the bill.
Mudfoot, i keep your class in mind, because i like it. Well, i have to say that i'd like to adjust the cap ability and move it to the 20th level without making the 19th level a dead level, replace the bodyguard ability - to make another (unwilling) member of the party take my damage is not fun, well, it is and it is not xD - and add an ability like "Resource Access" to put rules and limit the amount of wealth a player can use (and not abuse). The downside is it only works for a certain kinds of aristocrats like characters with nobility titles and royal families.
For two special characters i have in mind i need other aristocrat classes. One character is much like Asami Sato from The Legend of Korra, martial artist (monk or monk archetype) with a wealthy family behind (merchants in my case rather than industrialists like the Sato family), and the resource access is really important so other characters won't abuse from it. The other is a kind of inventor/merchant who has a lot of contacts in his city, he is wealthy enough and highly respected in his hometown. He is a notable member of the bourgeoisie. But i think i can twist the Noble Scion a bit for them and add a "Resource Access"-like ability for them.
I didn't see your post before until today, so i feel kinda sorry for it.
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Freeport Companion has a pretty decent Noble class in it. A majority of that book is Open Content, so I'm curious as to why it hasn't shown up online somewhere.
I was searching for such noble class, with no luck. I dunno why it is not available online... and to purchase the book for just a class it is not, well, wise...
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I would recommend this PDF as a source of noble archetypes for existing classes.
The Noble Scion prestige class is fairly useless for anything other than a social skill monkey. You are better off starting with some class that defines his major abilities and then tweaking it in terms of skills, feats, and class features to show his noble birth and education.
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Best of being noble is that they might own land, cities and armies even before their birth. Too bad there is no class which gives those kind of resources at first level. How I can play a snotty child of great baron at first level just with crappy couple of hundreds gp and no servants.
Or without huge bonus to intimidate when I can get people beheaded just by asking my parents.
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How I can play a snotty child of great baron at first level just with crappy couple of hundreds gp and no servants.
Have the campaign start with everyone waking up in a prison owned by cultists, enemies to the family, ect.
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IMC the two noble characters were poor at 1st level because one had had most of her stuff nicked (so the first adventure chain is to get it back) and the second was a CG cleric who had given much of it away. The rest was spent on fine clothes that have no real game effect, or were kept as spare cash that was released into the game as time went on (=treasure). Being 1st level characters who weren't real adventurers (yet), they didn't want to spend all their money on potions and whatnot, because why would you?
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Best of being noble is that they might own land, cities and armies even before their birth. Too bad there is no class which gives those kind of resources at first level. How I can play a snotty child of great baron at first level just with crappy couple of hundreds gp and no servants.
Nobles own land, houses, clothes, furniture, the services of huge numbers of people etc.
That doesn't mean they keep a lot of cash on hand, nor would give it to the "snotty child". Your crappy couple of hundred gp (almost 7 years gross pay for the average commoner) is just the allowance they give you to start off on this "adventuring" business you seem so keen on.
Or without huge bonus to intimidate when I can get people beheaded just by asking my parents.
Only if both your character and your parents are NE or CE. Otherwise your folks are going to tell you to stop being a prat, and might offer to give the peasant a lashing if they have actually slighted you, or ground you if you've basically been trying to run around bullying people.
They need those people working away loyally in the fields, and they take a minimum of 16 years to replace, so "but Daaaaad I really want him deeeeeaaaaad!" isn't going to cut it unless they're complete psychopaths anyway.
Just a suggestion.
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Mastermind archetype investigator
3/4 bab, reasonable weapon selection, skills, ability to confer your authority to minions
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Well taking examples, if you are aristocracy...
...in medieval times, your father buy you a body double to take your punishment.
...in modern times, your father buy you a new lamborghini, to replace the one you crashed last week.
...in pathfinder, you got about same starting wealth than guy, whose father is rutabaga farmer. :(
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Well, if you want cash, there's the trait 'Rich Parents'. 900gp out the door, so you can get masterwork arms and armour and whatever. Or at least access to the good toys early -- viable heavy armours if you're so inclined, or masterwork breastplates, and a good masterwork weapon.
I'd still say Leadership would be the best feat for dealing with having loyal retainers to that extent. A few that like you are one thing, but if you want rules support for a small army or gang, get some levels. Even commoners have access to this one.
For things like 'I am Elmer J Fudd, millionaire; I own a mansion and a yacht', I'd really rely on 'offscreen' wealth. If you're an adventurer, you're not hanging out at the mansion or luxuriating on the yacht that often during the gaming sections anyway -- it's about the equivalent of free room and board at an inn. And if the character wants the benefits of the mansion while crawling around in a dark dank dungeon ... that's the cue for the rougher-living characters to (good-naturedly!) tease him/her.
But I can't imagine a level 1 walking out the door with a +1 anything. You're heavily into GM Fiat territory, and I usually think of the default answer as 'No'.
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If the noble in question is a second son, cleric would fit with historical flavor. Rogue in peaceful times, but more of a fighter class (Cavalier or Paladin) if the times are not peaceful (seeking opportunities in war).
If you're looking for Roman style nobility, Bard with focus on Perform (Oratory) rather than music would fit.
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I think I've seen some writeups do Aristocrat X/PC class X multiclassing. But otherwise, there aren't any mechanics past Diplomacy, Sense Motive, Intimidate, and Leadership that 'come with' or 'come from' class levels.
I'm hoping Ultimate Intrigue expands this area significantly.
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Well, the main interest behind my question is to take a look on many different aristocrat classes (or solutions, e.g., builds, feats, etc) for many different scenarios and not just one class.
I like the solutions noted here:
- To use normal classes for it and just let the player or GM re-flavor them. It works nice, but cannot solve unique features of the aristocracy, like money, influence and contacts.
- Traits work nice when the aristocratic/noble part is more a background thing than a "power" to use in the game.
- I like Mudfoot's Noble class for a character that comes from a noble/royal family and is forced to move into adventuring, i'd tweak it a little - to put the cap ability at 20th level, but how? and give it the Noble Scion feat at first level.
- I like the class in the Noble and Skirmisher PDF, but i feel it kind of weak for PCs and i don't know if someone would play it. One think i liked of it, despite i didn't at first sight, is the morale damage thing - it is an interesting way to defeat enemies; i find it really nice for NPCs when the adventure requires to defeat the PCs but not kill them.
- The Noble class from Freeport is nice too. Good for characters of non royal origins. It works for other aristocrats. I like it for support.
- The Noble Scion is another good option. I like it when the character is focused into another class but wants to improve her aristocratic component.
- Feats, i think i can find some useful feats.
I still want to find:
- An OGL/OGC thing to replace the Star Wars "Resource Access" ability. The main reason is i want rules to restrict how much money can a PC/NPC get from it for the party to not to abuse of it.
- A Noble class with a "noble pool" of points like the ki pool of the monk or the grit of the gunslinger. Just curiosity.
EDIT: I'm still looking other suggestions from here; i didn't commented about them, not because i didn't liked the but i had not the time to look into the details of all suggestions.
Sadly i don't know the books Ultimate Charisma/Intrigue and i didn't see the Nobles of Porphyra.