Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber
Is anyone planning to do anything regarding the poor, neglected NPC classes? The only thing I can think of now is the Sage class from Kobold Quarterly.
NPC class archetypes would work as well. There are basically no class abilities to modify, so you would just be modifying BAB, saves, skills and proficiencies. There's still plenty of options there.
For instance, consider an Arcane Adept archetype that replaces its spell list with a limited arcane spell list (perhaps only divination, enchantment & necromancy spells or similar) or a Ritual Adept (limited to arcane & divine summoning spells). Or contemplate a Scout Warrior archetype that removes heavy & medium armor & tower shield proficiency and adds 2 skill points and some outdoors-y class skills (ranger-lite). Then there is the Diplomatic Aristocrat archetype, who loses a bunch of proficiencies and gains 2 skill points and perhaps a minor class ability related to negotiation.
Any thoughts?
Cooperative classes would be very NPC-ish. "Circle magic" or other complex rituals would allow "mere" NPCs to accomplish great feats of magic, without the necessity of introducing a high level magic user and without suddenly making them capable combatants.
Your Scout would work fine as an Expert though.
Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
I want some Commmoner archetypes myself. :)
Our own Eric Morton (Epic Meepo) did something like this. I don't have a link on me at the moment, but they're around here somewhere.
Happy gaming,
- The Questioner
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Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber
First, apologies. The sage NPC class was in Rite Publishing's free Pathways e-zine (issue 17), not Kobold Quarterly.
As for commoner archetypes, I can think of a few. Note that the commoner class, as written, is just about the worst class imaginable. Even Paizo (with their sample NPCs in the Gamemastery Guide) uses other classes to represent "commoner" type characters. A commoner archetype would add certain features to the class, while still leaving it inferior to the other NPC classes.
Examples:
the Laborer - change hit die to d8 and give a good Fortitude save (representing a tough but unimaginative worker or serf).
the Yeoman - add 2 skill points and give a good Will save (representing the free farmer, stubborn and skilled in his profession) - for verisimilitude, change weapon proficiency to "any one simple weapon or martial ranged weapon" to represent the English bow-trained yeoman.
the Vagabond - add 2 skill points, change class skills to represent a more "urban" skillset, and give a good Reflex save (representing the urban homeless / street urchin, skilled at staying alive).
the Militiaman - change proficiencies to all simple weapons + light armor, change BAB to 3/4 progression, and hit die to d8. All saves remain poor (representing the peasant conscript, given rudimentary weapon training, but whose poor morale is represented by the poor saves).
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber
Questioner,
I found Epic Meepo's thread. It is entitled Epic Meepo Presents: Archetypes and is located in the Homebrew portion of the messageboards.
There are some very interesting ideas there.
The NPC archetypes basically "power-up" the classes to approximately PC-class level, which is great if you want to actually play these classes. I was thinking more along the lines of variant NPC classes that are no more powerful than the Warrior or Adept, this giving us more options for creating NPCs.
ssims2 wrote: I found Epic Meepo's thread. It is entitled Epic Meepo Presents: Archetypes and is located in the Homebrew portion of the messageboards. You can also find those archetypes on d20pfsrd.com: Epic Meepo Presents: Archetypes
(Currently, that page is an embedded Google Doc, so it may take a few seconds to load.)
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Paths of Power by 4WFG had 3 NPC classes: Courtesan, Sycophant, and Captain. The Captain was a warrior with leadership skills and class abilities, the sycophant was an aristocrat with rumour-mongering skills, and the courtesan is a healer, entertainer, and spy.
Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
ssims2 wrote: First, apologies. The sage NPC class was in Rite Publishing's free Pathways e-zine (issue 17), not Kobold Quarterly.
As for commoner archetypes, I can think of a few. Note that the commoner class, as written, is just about the worst class imaginable. Even Paizo (with their sample NPCs in the Gamemastery Guide) uses other classes to represent "commoner" type characters. A commoner archetype would add certain features to the class, while still leaving it inferior to the other NPC classes.
Examples:
the Laborer - change hit die to d8 and give a good Fortitude save (representing a tough but unimaginative worker or serf).
the Yeoman - add 2 skill points and give a good Will save (representing the free farmer, stubborn and skilled in his profession) - for verisimilitude, change weapon proficiency to "any one simple weapon or martial ranged weapon" to represent the English bow-trained yeoman.
the Vagabond - add 2 skill points, change class skills to represent a more "urban" skillset, and give a good Reflex save (representing the urban homeless / street urchin, skilled at staying alive).
the Militiaman - change proficiencies to all simple weapons + light armor, change BAB to 3/4 progression, and hit die to d8. All saves remain poor (representing the peasant conscript, given rudimentary weapon training, but whose poor morale is represented by the poor saves).
"I also said make spooky noises!" Sooka to Katara in "The Painted Lady". I really didn't mean my suggestion seriously. Quite frankly I don't think NPC class expansion is needed. The commoner covers your basic farmer and serf, your expert the middle class craftsperson, merchant, sage types, and the aristocrat covers the ruling class. The expert as it is is highly customisable according to the individual's expertise. NPC classes by definition are the stay at home types who don't adventure. So they're not going to be spawning archetypes the way adventuring classes do.
LazarX wrote: I don't think NPC class expansion is needed. The commoner covers your basic farmer and serf, your expert the middle class craftsperson, merchant, sage types, and the aristocrat covers the ruling class. Also, if you need an NPC class to have different saves, skills, and proficiencies, just stick one level of a PC class in front of the NPC class progression. A ranger 1/warrior 9, for example, is very much like a warrior 10 with an archetype.
Unearthed Arcana's Generic Classes could be updated to Pathfinder and modified to fit a particular need.
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