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I posted this elsewhere but here is the list of classes that I have playtested and/or determined to allow them in my games. Of course I don't allow them all at once but that's a lot of classes to run around and I'm currently trying to divide them up by genre and setting types to make a master list of what I'll allow at a given time.
The list is divided into general source books or companies to allow me to port them in groups. I have several campaign worlds that I work on continuously and try to keep them genre specific. For anyone savvy to any of these classes, do you have any ideas on how to divide them to reduce class bloat on a given campaign?
My settings are;
Chojushima: Non-human henge and yokai populated feudal Japanese setting.
Meteor Valley: Ebberon-ish steam-magi-dungeon-punk. Industrial tycoon villains and gold/magic mineral rush.
Elestra: Victorian horror. populated by half monsters like Dhampir, Skinwalker equivolents, Gilmen, Changelings, living undead. Persistent wars with Aboleth and transhumans.
Wild Space: Post-war outer space, mixing some Star Wars with Heavy Metal and Barsoom. Evil evolving robots are a constant theme along with their counterparts, benevolent ambassador robots.
Dinosaur Island: A primative island full full of dinosaurs that anyone of any world can get to but leaving is more complicated. Full of Nazis, shapeshifting aliens, Aztec Kobolds, talking statues and catfolk. Think pulp Land of the Lost.
Midguard: Planet mostly made up of Norse things. Has flying islands, guns and airships. Flying is the main thing. Since the planet is always sunny on one side, Drow, frost giants and Duergar live on the dark side of the planet with the poles rumored to be heaven and hell because no one can get to either without dying. One side is a lush jungle full of wild dangers and a pole too hot for anyone rumored to house the field of gods. The other side is a icy wasteland full of dark monsters and a pole rumored to freeze shut the world's most ancient evil.
I also use;
Golarion, due to APs and support.
Kobold Press' Midguard
Contemplating playing with NeoExodus and may build something using Obsidian Apocalypse.
Also looking to divide up the classes per campaign for balance purposes but I've also thought about dividing them by Technological eras.
My default is to allow all paizo classes but I'm starting to get tired of a lot of the casters and want to play around with giving more alternative casters a shot. Also feel free to recommend classes I don't have to fill in blanks.
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meanwhile, i'm only adding to my collection of classes i'll allow.
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meanwhile, i'm only adding to my collection of classes i'll allow.
And think about it. Some people think 36 classes is bloat. Casuals.
Masquerade Reveler is a great option for a martial with versatility. Plus, Mark Seifter is pretty good at this sort of thing. Good for Elestra and Midguard.
Masquerade Reveler is a great option for a martial with versatility. Plus, Mark Seifter is pretty good at this sort of thing. Good for Elestra and Midguard.
I have this but its not on my list due to being an archetype. (Alternate classes for similar reasons.) Introducing it for Midguard and Elestra is good though.
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Did you consider including my class The Saint on your list? It sort of fills a niche somewhere between Cleric and Warpriest, with a bit of Monk thrown in perhaps?
I also wrote The Apothecary, a full-casting extract user.
Did you consider including my class The Saint on your list? It sort of fills a niche somewhere between Cleric and Warpriest, with a bit of Monk thrown in perhaps?
I also wrote The Apothecary, a full-casting extract user.
I'm not terribly familiar with the CLASSified series so never have really seen them.
I had been using Secret of Herbs for mundane alchemy so had been ignoring classes with names like herbalist or apothecary but CLASSified Apothecary seems to be not about that. What is it like? Alchemist is a pretty widespread class but I admit it carries a lot of concepts on it's shoulders making it a very nebulous class so I should probably look at other alchemists-like classes.
The Saint being in between Cleric and Warpriest isn't exactly what I need in the sense that Warpriest and Cleric are already crowding out the divine warrior arena. Not to mention Inquisitor and Paladin and even Oracle. Then there's classes on my list like Divine Channeler and Presbyter that have been that make divine casters grow to 7+ making it's themes kind of diluted. I'm more inclined to lean towards the casterly end of that spectrum if I did not have the Presbyter.
I am interested in hearing more about the Apothecary though.
All the stuff done by Interjection Games for classes is worth considering. Exquisitely balanced and almost all fit a niche that isn't filled otherwise (full caster bard, 1/4 BAB alchemist...kinda anyway, master of mechanized menaces, and so on). Not to mention almost all are extremely well rated by Endzeitgeist.
Well I see you have some Rite Publishing classes, but also noticed you run a henge/yokai setting with Chojushima. Are you aware of Rite Publishing In the Company of Henge supplement which includes a racial paragon class called the Mushakemono - a trickster class, as well as henge-matagi (forest focused ranger class), henge-emishi (henge focused barbarian).
There's also In the Company of Kappa focused on the wrestling crazed kappa race, and In the Company of Tengu, both guides providing racial paragon classes, and multiple racial archetypes for each race.
Of course these guides were designed especially for use in the Kaidan setting of Japanese horror (PFRPG). As the concept creator, developer, and a person of Japanese descent, my emphasis was based on authenticity from Japanese folklore. While Paizo's own bestiary listings for kappa and tengu were kept in mind, so ours were'nt distinctly different - these weren't some kind of Oriental Adventures conversion, rather the class and race abilities were drawn directly from Japanese folklore and ghost stories. I think it might be worth looking at the other guides and modules for Kaidan for use in your homebrew non-human Japan analog.
Notably, 2 other Kaidan products aren't listed under the Kaidan category above, which are: Way of the Samurai (PFRPG) and #30 Haunts for Kaidan, both highly rated products - read the reviews. There are 4 samurai class archetypes, a blind bard archetype, a kami-based paladin archetype, a yojimbo ranger archetype and even wizard archetypes specializing in origami.
I'm actually surprised you're using a henge/yokai based setting and not using the above products for it.
meanwhile, i'm only adding to my collection of classes i'll allow.And think about it. Some people think 36 classes is bloat. Casuals.
lol
Well I see you have some Rite Publishing classes, but also noticed you run a henge/yokai setting with Chojushima. Are you aware of Rite Publishing In the Company of Henge supplement which includes a racial paragon class called the Mushakemono - a trickster class, as well as henge-matagi (forest focused ranger class), henge-emishi (henge focused barbarian).
There's also In the Company of Kappa focused on the wrestling crazed kappa race, and In the Company of Tengu, both guides providing racial paragon classes, and multiple racial archetypes for each race.
Of course these guides were designed especially for use in the Kaidan setting of Japanese horror (PFRPG). As the concept creator, developer, and a person of Japanese descent, my emphasis was based on authenticity from Japanese folklore. While Paizo's own bestiary listings for kappa and tengu were kept in mind, so ours were'nt distinctly different - these weren't some kind of Oriental Adventures conversion, rather the class and race abilities were drawn directly from Japanese folklore and ghost stories. I think it might be worth looking at the other guides and modules for Kaidan for use in your homebrew non-human Japan analog.
Notably, 2 other Kaidan products aren't listed under the Kaidan category above, which are: Way of the Samurai (PFRPG) and #30 Haunts for Kaidan, both highly rated products - read the reviews. There are 4 samurai class archetypes, a blind bard archetype, a kami-based paladin archetype, a yojimbo ranger archetype and even wizard archetypes specializing in...
I use In the Company of Henge. I made a call to not get In the Company of Kappa because I had no real desire to make them a PC race and Tengu because money + how much tengu material I already had. I would get a 'Campaign Setting' Kaiden book if it ever exists.
Is Way of the Samurai a new class or additions to the Samurai Alternate Class? Paragon classes are absent from the list but I have a bunch of them. Almost all from Rite.
All the stuff done by Interjection Games for classes is worth considering. Exquisitely balanced and almost all fit a niche that isn't filled otherwise (full caster bard, 1/4 BAB alchemist...kinda anyway, master of mechanized menaces, and so on). Not to mention almost all are extremely well rated by Endzeitgeist.
Strange Magic has been on and off my list for a while. I'm very wibbly about whether or not I want to get it. The reasons are complex.
Part of it is because after having a lot of classes and in particular Spheres of Power I've started getting very particular about new classes trying to make sure they can hit niches that I don't have yet.
Part of it is that although Endzeitgeist rates it very highly he loves complex classes while I don't particularly. It wouldn't stop me from buying and using but I have a lot of players where it would just gather dust due to the lack of comprehension. (some classes on my list are like this. And there are some classes that I have but aren't on the list anymore due to falling into a black pit of obscurity. I'm sure the Demiurge will suffer that kind of fate, and despite loving the class personally the Guru from Akashic mysteries may as well too.) I only really have access to the Maestro through d20pfsrd.com and it seems pretty complex and the rest are described as complex.
Then there's the feeling that I'm not quite getting the concepts or what niche I would be filling with them. I see praises of them mechanically but I feel like I have no idea what they are so I keep putting it off.
I'm currently waiting patiently for Ultimate Tinkering/Gadgeting but I'm still contemplating Strange Magic.
Meteor Valley, Wild Space, and perhaps Dinosaur Island could benefit from paragon gelatinous cube characters from In the Company of Gelatinous Cubes, depending on how "out-there" you take your campaigns.
(I'm biased.)
(EDIT: In The Company of Fey might interest you for Elestra.)
I use In the Company of Henge. I made a call to not get In the Company of Kappa because I had no real desire to make them a PC race and Tengu because money + how much tengu material I already had. I would get a 'Campaign Setting' Kaiden book if it ever exists.
Is Way of the Samurai a new class or additions to the Samurai Alternate Class? Paragon classes are absent from the list but I have a bunch of them. Almost all from Rite.
I get the lack of money to cover the things we want, but In the Company of Tengu, I would say is one of the best supplements on tengu ever created, and far closer to Japanese folklore than any other tengu book out there. Read the reviews. I'd go as far as saying, you misspent your money for tengu, by not having this guide.
Way of the Samurai (PFRPG) doesn't include any new classes, rather 4 different archetypes for samurai, and one each archetype for paladin, ranger and wizard. Plus there are custom rules based on the GMG City stat block in creating custom Samurai houses - and includes 36 different Japanese kammon (samurai house crests). The guide is worth it just for these rules alone.
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Meteor Valley, Wild Space, and perhaps Dinosaur Island could benefit from paragon gelatinous cube characters from In the Company of Gelatinous Cubes, depending on how "out-there" you take your campaigns.
(I'm biased.)
(EDIT: In The Company of Fey might interest you for Elestra.)
I use Company of Fae but for Midguard.
In the compny of Gelatinous Cubes would be interesting as an alien race. Although I'm already having trouble convincing players to play a third party alien race that is the best martial race I'll allow but is effectively a fart monster so a living jelly may not go over well.
I use In the Company of Henge. I made a call to not get In the Company of Kappa because I had no real desire to make them a PC race and Tengu because money + how much tengu material I already had. I would get a 'Campaign Setting' Kaiden book if it ever exists.
Is Way of the Samurai a new class or additions to the Samurai Alternate Class? Paragon classes are absent from the list but I have a bunch of them. Almost all from Rite.
I get the lack of money to cover the things we want, but In the Company of Tengu, I would say is one of the best supplements on tengu ever created, and far closer to Japanese folklore than any other tengu book out there. Read the reviews. I'd go as far as saying, you misspent your money for tengu, by not having this guide.
Way of the Samurai (PFRPG) doesn't include any new classes, rather 4 different archetypes for samurai, and one each archetype for paladin, ranger and wizard. Plus there are custom rules based on the GMG City stat block in creating custom Samurai houses - and includes 36 different Japanese kammon (samurai house crests). The guide is worth it just for these rules alone.
That is a good argument given that I've been having trouble getting players to treat/play Tengu as anything more than 'bird-folk'.
Will add those two to my wishlist.
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Did you consider including my class The Saint on your list? It sort of fills a niche somewhere between Cleric and Warpriest, with a bit of Monk thrown in perhaps?
I also wrote The Apothecary, a full-casting extract user.
I'm not terribly familiar with the CLASSified series so never have really seen them.
I had been using Secret of Herbs for mundane alchemy so had been ignoring classes with names like herbalist or apothecary but CLASSified Apothecary seems to be not about that. What is it like? Alchemist is a pretty widespread class but I admit it carries a lot of concepts on it's shoulders making it a very nebulous class so I should probably look at other alchemists-like classes.
The Saint being in between Cleric and Warpriest isn't exactly what I need in the sense that Warpriest and Cleric are already crowding out the divine warrior arena. Not to mention Inquisitor and Paladin and even Oracle. Then there's classes on my list like Divine Channeler and Presbyter that have been that make divine casters grow to 7+ making it's themes kind of diluted. I'm more inclined to lean towards the casterly end of that spectrum if I did not have the Presbyter.
I am interested in hearing more about the Apothecary though.
The Apothecary uses extracts like an alchemist, but they go all the way up to level 9 spell effects, and have a custom extract list that combines the Alchemist list with several types of Sorcerer/Wizard spells as well. In addition to normal extracts, they get Concoctions (which are equivalent to Alchemist Discoveries) which can let them do really interesting things like distilling scrolls into extracts, use "Metamixes" which are essentially Metamagic feats for extracts, and several other things. Here's an excerpt from the PDF:
The study of alchemy is as old as the first kiln, as old as the first society, for mixing volatile things together fills a primal need in humans and other races alike. Not all users of alchemical magic use bombs or mutagens, though; some focus even more on the academic study of alchemy. These apothecaries spend their time learning new and exciting ways to use alchemical magic, making discoveries that transcend the very nature of alchemy. The ability to use metamixes to expand the power and utility of their spells brings them closer to wizards than simple alchemists. Most alchemical magic affects only the drinker directly, but an apothecary can also focus on creating effects deadly to groups of nearby enemies or a single enemy far away, or even learn to harness the spell magic of her mage brethren, distilling scrolls into special potions that can be used by all.
The Apothecary uses extracts like an alchemist, but they go all the way up to level 9 spell effects, and have a custom extract list that combines the Alchemist list with several types of Sorcerer/Wizard spells as well. In addition to normal extracts, they get Concoctions (which are equivalent to Alchemist Discoveries) which can let them do really interesting things like distilling scrolls into extracts, use "Metamixes" which are essentially Metamagic feats for extracts, and several other things. Here's...Did you consider including my class The Saint on your list? It sort of fills a niche somewhere between Cleric and Warpriest, with a bit of Monk thrown in perhaps?
I also wrote The Apothecary, a full-casting extract user.
I'm not terribly familiar with the CLASSified series so never have really seen them.
I had been using Secret of Herbs for mundane alchemy so had been ignoring classes with names like herbalist or apothecary but CLASSified Apothecary seems to be not about that. What is it like? Alchemist is a pretty widespread class but I admit it carries a lot of concepts on it's shoulders making it a very nebulous class so I should probably look at other alchemists-like classes.
The Saint being in between Cleric and Warpriest isn't exactly what I need in the sense that Warpriest and Cleric are already crowding out the divine warrior arena. Not to mention Inquisitor and Paladin and even Oracle. Then there's classes on my list like Divine Channeler and Presbyter that have been that make divine casters grow to 7+ making it's themes kind of diluted. I'm more inclined to lean towards the casterly end of that spectrum if I did not have the Presbyter.
I am interested in hearing more about the Apothecary though.
Hm. Full caster Alchemist. Going to my wishlist. After that All I'd need is a Full BAB 4/9 extract alchemist.
You might also want to consider Rogue Genius Games Talented series of classes. They offer an alternate to the core classes while giving more flexibility and range of viable concepts.
I have those. I don't put them on the list because Monks and Rogues get a lot of third party replacement classes so I treat them like Alternate Classes so that they don't crosspollinate and become broken. I've seen Monk get broken that way, imagine a monk that can't get hit by ANYTHING all while resolving unarmed strikes as touch attacks at a distance.
Chojushima: Non-human henge and yokai populated feudal Japanese setting.
I know you are trying to reduce the classes, but I just have to recommend IG's Onmyoji for any japanese-based setting. All the talisman tossing and shikigami controlling... it pleases both the anime fan and the japanese culture enthusiast alike. And it's probably this publisher's easiest class to play.
I think the problem with reducing classes due to setting is that pretty much anything can be reskinned to fit anywhere. Robot-based classes in your Chojushima? I see them made of bamboo and powered by mystical-jade or something.
I barely have 60 classes on my list, and I try to split them based on functionality: these guys are great for damage dealing in melee, these for long distance, these are the faces, there are the weird ones, etc (it kinda falls apart when my players ask about archetypes though).
Interjection is really so much more than Strange Magic as mentioned. Onmyoji is my favourite they've done by far but I also love the Herbalist, Tinker, Animist, Edgewalker, Edgeblade (coming out soon), and Antipodist, and more!
Speaking as someone that also uses Spheres of Power for (most) of my casters, I like that IJ's classes still work along side them. Truenamer and Antipodist especially do their own thing entirely and the former fit into my setting really, really well.
Interjection is really so much more than Strange Magic as mentioned. Onmyoji is my favourite they've done by far but I also love the Herbalist, Tinker, Animist, Edgewalker, Edgeblade (coming out soon), and Antipodist, and more!
Speaking as someone that also uses Spheres of Power for (most) of my casters, I like that IJ's classes still work along side them. Truenamer and Antipodist especially do their own thing entirely and the former fit into my setting really, really well.
Its not so much that I don't think they'd work alongside each other, but you can imagine that having this many class products can be pretty expensive and something as far-reaching as Spheres of Power in terms of representing concepts makes it more difficult to pick up products that may possibly overlap or generate choice paralysis.
I have Tinker and most of it's books but Herbalist, Animist, Edgewalker Omyoji and Antipodist are classes that I know almost nothing about let alone any information that could steer me to or from them so they stay in kind of a limbo in my head until I feel like I have a direct need for them that I can't replicate with what I got. I could go read the reviews more deeply and see if that helps.
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Interjection is really so much more than Strange Magic as mentioned. Onmyoji is my favourite they've done by far but I also love the Herbalist, Tinker, Animist, Edgewalker, Edgeblade (coming out soon), and Antipodist, and more!
Speaking as someone that also uses Spheres of Power for (most) of my casters, I like that IJ's classes still work along side them. Truenamer and Antipodist especially do their own thing entirely and the former fit into my setting really, really well.
Its not so much that I don't think they'd work alongside each other, but you can imagine that having this many class products can be pretty expensive and something as far-reaching as Spheres of Power in terms of representing concepts makes it more difficult to pick up products that may possibly overlap or generate choice paralysis.
I have Tinker and most of it's books but Herbalist, Animist, Edgewalker Omyoji and Antipodist are classes that I know almost nothing about let alone any information that could steer me to or from them so they stay in kind of a limbo in my head until I feel like I have a direct need for them that I can't replicate with what I got. I could go read the reviews more deeply and see if that helps.
Right, let me help, then.
Herbalist - Nature "chaos mage". Each morning, roll on a table X times, where X is based on level and the table is determined by the environment in which you find yourself (jungle, arctic, desert, swamps, underground, etc.). Every roll on the table gives a number of plants, and these plants are effectively your spells for the day. You have potted plants that let you carry your favorites to any biome and preservation jars to keep leftover plants from the previous day.
The class is very versatile, but at least 10% of your spell power is locked in as healing because of the way I built the tables. You're a chaos healer support, but can game the chaos to reduce it.
Plants are valued between 1 and 4 points. Each table roll gives 10 points. This number is unimportant for game play, but is included in the back of the book in case you want to make your own biomes. Each preservation jar holds up to 4 points worth of plants, so each plant has a capacity of 4/point value, meaning only 1, 2, and 4 exists. This derived value is present in each plant listing.
Free expansions on my website and as a separate PDF. Recommended to get both.
Complexity is 3/5.
Animist - Full BAB druid "incarnate". Each morning, you prepare minor aspect slots and major aspect slots. Minor aspect slots are really simple. Spend a slot to get a boar charge three times a day. Done. Major aspects are a bit more complicated. I'll get into that in a second.
Major aspects have the prominence mechanic. You can spend multiple slots on a single aspect to power it up, to a maximum of five slots. For example, the snake gives you a bite attack and an injectible... Strength? poison. As you put more of your power into snake, you get Dex and Con poisons, too, and the timer to refill the poisons decreases. If you put five points into snake, you get three brutally powerful bite poisons that refill every 10 minutes. But then you can't invest in the other aspects nearly so much. The max is either 7 or 8. I forget which.
Gameplay for the animist is actually quite simple. It's choosing your daily loadout that's a bit complex, but, in the end, any competent wizard will figure it out readily.
Complexity is 2/5.
Edgewalker - It's an assassin/monk/shadowdancer with two ki pools, one light and one dark. Lots of fun to play with a focus on combos. Pick an ability every even level. Pick a greater ability every five levels. Sneak attack. Hide in Plain Sight. Evasion. Have at it.
Complexity is 1/5.
Onmyoji - The onmyoji is built around traditional Japanese folklore. I tried to stay far, far away from what popular culture is currently doing to the concept of onmyodo, and that really shows in the final product.
The onmyoji's gameplay is a pool-based caster with a very important pet. You have two new systems of magic: talismans and petitions.
Petitions draw from your spirit pool and are a simplified magic system. Spend 1 point to drop a lightning bolt. Spend 1 point to ask the scarecrow god a question. Spend 3 points to get all the thunder gods to hold a council.
Talismans are all about warding. You slap one on the ground or on a creature and either ward a small area or that creature, respectively. Separate versions for area or single target. There are no saving throws against talismans. To end one, destroy the tag itself. You can drop X talismans a day from your list known.
So, we have two really simple pools with a "pick from a list and learn these tricks, then spend from the pool to use these tricks" gameplay. What makes the onmyoji really quite awesome is the shikigami pet. It extends all of your functionality. You can feed the shikigami a talisman, which it delivers later! You can build the shikigami into a caster in its own right, dropping petitions using its own spirit point pool at half onmyoji power for some really awesome dual spellcasting combos without the need for quicken.
Complexity 4/5. It's easy to understand the core class, but the pet is complicated and easy to mess up. Ultimate Onmyodo will have something for the guy who dislikes the pet.
Antipodist - The antipodist takes the concept of light "ki" pool and dark "ki" pool first presented in the edgewalker and makes a full caster out of it. Loci, your spells, are drawn from nine philosophies, four light, four dark, and one that is both light and dark. Each locus is either passive or has an activation cost that draws from one of your two pools. Again, a simplified caster chassis with some really neat combo play.
Complexity 2.5/5.
And, hell, you know what? Pick one and it's yours for free. The tax reduction on a freebie is 65% as good as the income gain from you actually buying something, so I can be like Oprah giving people cars and still end up ahead. PM me with your choice :P
Edit: AND your OBS email.
On Interjection Games titles.
Herbalist I admit I steered away from because I presumed that it was about class exclusive herb mechanics, which was a thing being handled by another book on a mundane alchemy level. From the description above it sounds more like what a Druid could have been where they gain powers from environments rather than being a hodge-podge of general nature and pagan fae mage tropes. Similar thoughts on Animist. Often the Ranger feels less like a nature warden and products steer him more into a woodland Fighter than a nature Paladin, so it would be nice to see an actual nature based Full BAB class.
Edgewalker and Antipodist, I still don't quite get 'what' they are, in the sense that I have not tropes to attach to them to get an idea of what they would fit in. Mostly I'm set off by the light and dark pools but if they are effectively just ki with different flavors I can see it as a 'dark hadou' kind of thing and get on board.
Omyoji seems unapealing. Not for what the class is but if there's an 'Ultimate Onmyodo' that would include it, including a pet-less option (I personally hate mandatory pets) then I'm more inclined to wait for that.
I think I'll PM about the Animist. With most products I have steering Ranger into being a spell-less or mundane class, particularly Kobold Press's Spell-less ranger, which is increasingly popular at my table compared to normal Ranger, a full BAB magical nature class is probably my most needed niche out of the bunch. Omyoji would have been my first choice but you mentioned Ultimate Onmyodo and Animist seems to have fewer reviews.
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To clarify why I'm dividing the classes; Some for flavor or setting, wanting to restrict some effects or items like firearms from a setting but here's my list of reasons.
1. Make the pool of choices smaller in response to choice paralysis. When I offer a lot of classes people tend to get scared and cling to the classes they know. When the pool is smaller and more tailored to themes in the setting they're more willing to take a chance. The only exceptions are the people that tend to know what they are playing before they know what the setting or pool of available classes are and will generally make what they want to play sqeeze in
2. Make the probability of third party classes go up. By tying classes with themes to themes of a setting I can make classes more appealing but only if they aren't crowded out. Some classes that I have that aren't on the list are victims of unpopularity. A chunk of Little Red Goblin Games are victim to this and often become NPC classes. I like the Invoker but it standing next some other classes that are shinier and absorb it's flavor. Then things like the Wrestler or Skirmisher I just haven't seen in play. Glen Taylor Games has some awesome classes that just don't get picked so eventually they left the list and became part of my NPC class stable.
Although I have plans of creating a couple new classes, I am currently developing a number of gun-toting archetypes for use in a setting I am working on for publication, called Gothic Western, which is an alternate US Old West, with a slight alternate history. I am incorporating as many 19th century conspiracy theories as I can find to incorporate into the setting as actually happening.
The archetypes created so far:
Cabalist (sorcerer archetype) specializes in use of evil eldritch magic.
Dog Soldier (druid archetype) native American chiefly from the Cheyenne Nation of the Great Plains.
Journalist (investigator archetype)
Pinkerton (slayer archetype) hunts eldritch beings, and people with extensive exposure to corruption (including PCs).
Shootist (magus archetype) a better gunslinging magus, IMO, than any others that currently exist, with a fun Matrix-like ability to deflect and later stop bullets in midair.
Templar (inquisitor archetype) literally a Knights Templar in association with Freemasonry (very much part of the setting), who specializes in the retrieval and moving eldritch artifacts to secure storage.
Texas Ranger (ranger archetype)
Of the new classes, one is a Hypodermist, inspired by the alchemist, this is a disease spreading evil "physician" who can use large 19th century hypodermic needles with sneak attacks.
I'm hoping to release a one-shot module that includes 5 of the archetypes as villain and pregen PCs, along with corruption rules, new monsters, new spells and a new cool, eldritch artifact. The one-shot will be called Horror on Gila Express, which entirely occurs aboard a steam train, with a tentative release date of early September with plans for a setting guide later this year. So not published yet, but soon, hopefully...
I'm starting to add Alternate classes to the list but they don't up my complete base class number but are side references so I remember they exist. I have to do some digging but eventually I'll add Paragon classes and Prestige classes to separate lists. What will add to the base class number is Prestige Archetypes from Purple Duck games since I'm treating those as their own base classes.
I haven't added Multiclass Archetypes because I don't use them unless they make it to one of the PDFs and I've barely seen them in action + 'Holy cow, how many classes does that make it now?'
Adding Glen Taylor classes that I'll allow (there's an infinite wizard that I won't let touch my games) and re-evaluating where I want LRGG classes to go.
I think I want to divide classes first by source since I don't want to allow most classes in a single book and then leave one or more out and then divy them out by setting. I have half a mind to disallow large chunks of the Paizo's classes outside of Golarion games.
I'm also wary about a few things mixing. Spheres of Power is popular but is kind of weaker than normal casting. If they replace casting this makes mixing with Path of War tricky because of buffed martials. Plus with so much third party material its entirely possible to make fighters that quickly murder anything within 60 ft in any direction, Monks that cant be hit by ANYTHING ever, and Rogues that are giant blenders that are harder to find than Carmen Sandiego. This is another reason why I don't allow everything at once. Everyone tries to fix the same problem and it stacks, the martials become unstoppable and the casters become immovable and we're playing mythic without mythic.
Okay, so I'm just now adding some of the setting groupings to the above document. Then I got a bit sleepy and now I want to take a nap.
I gave up on Prestige classes and Paragon classes because it's a lot of work and there are a lot of them to dig for. Plus barely anyone uses them anyway.
My current number of classes after adding things from my wishlist is up to 187. I found some more that I have but aren't on this list either through failed vetting or general unpopularity. Failed vetting generally means that the class is overpowered, useless or has some added complication with how I run things. Also there's the issue of redundancy combined with ease of use. For example the Deductionist isn't on the list because of the Investigator and Cogiator. Particularly its too similar to the Investigator to the point where it gets looked over constantly in favor of the Investigator. Then there are some things like Tome of Secrets which have several redundant classes and the ones left generate some suspected problems but I've been unable to playtest properly due to overcrowding (i.e. NOBODY wants to play an Artificer if Machinesmith or Tinker are a choice.). Then there are classes like The Artisan that I haven't gotten around to playtesting or fully vetting.
As someone who tested the Deductionist (before the Investigator came out) for levels 1 through 8ish, I can say you're not missing much. The class is frustratingly unclear on some parts and a lot of the fiddly bits are a pain to remember. It was a mutual agreement on both mine and the player that he rebuild eventually and I wouldn't allow that class again personally.
I liked the class when I got it but it never really got anywhere after the Investigator came out. One reason why I'm wary of complex classes that share themes with other more popular classes, particularly Paizo ones that see a lot of support. And especially when they don't have some kind of mechanical chops to draw players to it. For example; There is the concept of allowing yourself to be possessed or control spirits to get a kind of Factotum effect or power sets you can switch two and from. On my list I count four ways to do that, Occultist, Medium, Thaumaturge, and Medium, but each one does it differently enough that its a real doozy to decide which one to disclude. By contrast a lot of scifi books have classes that generally amount to 'Fighter with a gun'.
Speaking of which there are some classes that I haven't vetted that I haven't looked at because I had no need. I'll take a closer look and build/play with them a bit to see if they should make the list but they're generally campaign book specific and hard to judge and sometimes have some kind of submechanic that I haven't sorted out yet. This includes classes from Infinite Futures, Fall of Man (still haven't fully read through it to begin with), Neurospasta, Amethyst, Sovereign Stone, Fall of Man, and Necropunk.
If Marc Radle is still around, can I have some insight as to what classes on my list fit best with Midgard?
Might I suggest the Wind Warden? A alternative to the cavalier that allows for winged mounts starting at level 1. Written by the team over at Flaming Crab Games.
or
In light of the thread about missing tropes, I have a side question; What tropes does my list lack? As far as I can tell I'm not missing anything even when going out of genre. I may make a new thread about this as some things like Spheres of Power and Anachronistic Adventures cover a lot of ground.