| Broken Gods |
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Bottom line up front (BLUF): I propose introducing NPC classes balanced with PC classes (archetypes included) that excel in their domains in a way players could only dream of but lack the knack for adventures to perform mythically abroad.
I have been playing TTRPGs since the 90s, and the one area I have always been sad to see ignored is the NPC classes. In 1996, TSR published "Sages and Specialists," the book has remained in my mind since then. None of the classes excelled at adventuring like the core and extended classes, but each did something the players could not. It always baffled me that a blacksmith could work in town for the king for 20 years, but an adventurer who never had time to sit down in a smithy could out-craft him as a matter of skill point availability and allocation.
I always imagined an NPC's skill set was too broad or specialized to make an adequate adventurer. A thief or investigator's ability to gather knowledge in a new town should pale in compassion to the 'nosey neighbor'/maid who services the castle or the 'Mother Teresa'-like figure who services the poor.
I imagine the campaign could skip forward from a break, and I could have a PC pick up meaningful skills by attaining NCP levels. Let's take Thomas Edward Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) as an example. He was, at best, a linguist and a mapmaker before his rise into history. He might have qualified as the old 'Expert' NPC class, and his fame might have been impossible without that beginning. Did he start as a level 0 and transition directly to a PC class and work forward from nothing, or did he carry valuable skills from his time as an NPC?
I wouldn't mind having a high-level 'Adept' human with a small cabal of followers capable of carrying out feats that a single wizard could never imagine on their own. Things like this shouldn't be homebrew. The mechanics should support the value added by ordinary people. Most of us are NPCs, and the most epic tales are built on the backs of ordinary people doing the things others wouldn't consider trying.
I propose the introduction of NPC classes balanced with PC classes (archetypes included) that excel in their domains in a way players could only dream of but lack the knack for adventures to perform mythically abroad.
v/r
Broken Gods