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D&D Ideas — Class

Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is class, which we discussed in our weekly live chat. We hangout every Monday evening at 8 p.m. EST at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel talk about D&D, RPGs, gaming, life and whatever nerdy stuff comes up. Speaking of classes our Character Build Guides have been described as essentially custom classes, which we think is a pretty awesome description. We’ve got 70+ modules over at the DM’s Guild, all for pay what you want and including both the player guide and a DM version inspired by the character. You can get Nerdarchy the Newsletter delivered to your inbox each week, along with updates and info on how to game with Nerdarchy plus snag a FREE GIFT by signing up here.

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Delving Dave’s Dungeon

This week we focused on D&D class and I can think of four angles from which to tackle this topic. You’ve got character classes, which are pretty iconic D&D. Next there is class as is in the social construct. Third, we’ve got a class like the ones you attend in school. Fourth we could consider it a personal characteristic or trait of someone. So-and-so has class. Part of the fun of these topics is seeing how many ways we can approach them.

The direction I’ll go today is plot hooks and class makes a great one for adventures. An adventuring party typically includes characters from a variety of classes. Any one or more of them could be approached to go on an adventure by virtue of their class.

• Artificer. Magical puzzles or problems connected to a device would be right up the artificer’s alley.
• Barbarian. Tribe members shows up with a dire message or invitation from their homeland.
• Bard. An invitation to a battle of the bards competition arrives! Or perhaps a mysterious noble sends a summons with an exhorbitant offer for a performance. Maybe they’re huge fans. Maybe it’s a trap. (It’s D&D so very possibly both.)
• Cleric. A fellow priest from the church experienced a vision involving the cleric and arrives with a message straight from the deity. Alternatively the cleric themselves experiences the visions. An event must be stopped or a lost holy relic found — and the cleric is the one who must undertake the quest.
• Druid. An elder of the Circle requests the druid stop a blight beginning to overtake a forest.
• Fighter. There’s always someone or something in need of a guard. Alternatively a peasant militia might like to hire a fighter to train them in the ways of war. The militia’s cause might be one the fighter believes in taking up. The reason they want expert training could show up during their training and add an interesting wrinkle to the situation.
• Monk. The monastery comes under attack and recalls all of those who trained there for its defense.
• Paladin. An order aligned with the paladin’s beliefs beseeches them for aid in a quest that fulfills a tenet of their Sacred Oath.
• Ranger. A beast or monster ravages the countryside and disappears after each attack. Can someone track and find the creature’s lair?
• Rogue. An unscrupulous individual needs something procured (or stolen). Alternatively they want their security tested by an expert.
• Sorcerer. A wizard seeks out sorcerers to test their connection to their Sorcerous Origins. Willing participants receive compensation for the wizard to study them and wouldn’t you know it something goes wrong during the experiment. Alternatively the wizard tries to kidnap the sorcerer and isn’t worried about consent.
• Warlock. Sometimes those Otherworldly Patrons want something and that’s where the warlock comes in. They need something transported, retrieved or destroyed.
• Wizard. Archaeologists unearth an ancient tomb or forgotten library and wizards are in demand to decipher all the magical texts and scrolls found within.

From Ted’s Head

Class in D&D is something people look at very differently both in and out of game. Mechanically class represents the features your character has access to but it is typically not explicitly represented in the game setting. A character’s class only really means something to us as players.

For example your world could include schools like Hogwarts or Strixhaven that teach magic in one fashion or another. I find it odd because it is my perspective that while it is possible to teach druid and wizard magic it is not possible to teach cleric, sorcerer or warlock magic. You either have a connection with magic, one way or another, or you don’t. If I do not have magical blood there is no way to teach that into me. If I have not made a pact with an Otherworldly Patron or entity in charge of a Divine Domain then teaching will not bring one about. (If school starts after you already have the power then it’s something else entirely.)

There are a lot of differences between the way a barbarian fights and how a fighter fights. You can see it in technique. Perhaps it can even be commented on, the extensive training that need be done in order to achieve such fit and form. Since I have studied a number of fighting styles I can see a drastic difference. An observer should be able to see calculated maneuvers versus raw fury between the two. Once we start multiclassing it can be hard to observe from the outside.

Beyond class as in character class, your character’s social class certainly could affect a story. I am watching House of the Dragon and much of the show deals with social status and how even small events can cause a hardship or even topple a person or entire family. While I have never ran a political heavy game I have thought about how I would put such a thing into my world and where. Our rather untouched but occasionally mentioned Kingdom of Draluk has weighed heavy on my thoughts of late and I have put some work into developing the kingdom. Perhaps I will explore it as individual blog posts or as an exclusive for our Patreon supporters. Either way if you want access to the Court of Draluk you had better come with some class or you might not get through the doors.

From the Nerditor’s Desk

We really doubled down this week when it comes to D&D class! Nerdarchist Ted and I explored the topic during the live chat then a few days later the latest One D&D Unearthed Arcana: Expert Classes came out and Nerdarchist Dave and I live streamed our reactions looking through the document. In the sense of class as your D&D character’s vocation I’ve been thinking very deeply about the topic lately.

Bards, rangers, rogues and rules permutations related to these One D&D class refreshes already got plenty of buzz and real estate in my thoughts this week. For a bit of a refresh on myself I’m setting down the contemplative game designer headwear and putting on my DM hat to consider class in D&D from my favorite angle — the campaign theme.

D&D Class of Monsters campaign

One of the best things about high concept themed campaigns is they’re useful for any tier of play. In this campaign idea the party are researchers who focus their studies on monsters. There’s a lot of them out there in the D&D multiverse and someone’s got to classify them, right? Volo can’t do everything.

Presumably these adventurers conduct their research for some sort of benefactor. A school makes sense of course but it could really be anything. A cabal of mages, a modron tasked with categorizing creatures, a publisher of monster manuals — the possibilities are limitless. Any one of them provides opportunities for all sorts of ways to put some razzle dazzle on what’s otherwise a straightforward procedural adventure.

The characters identify a monster to classify, research where they might find it and any other useful info they come across, prepare for the expedition and track down the monster. This makes for a pretty easy adventure structure. The specifics of each new excursion provide the spice. On one outing they’ve got to capture the monster. Another time they’ve got to bring someone along with them who requires their protection. Yet another they mustn’t interfere with the delicate ecology or the monster itself and only observe from afar.

All of these additional details open a way for a Dungeon Master to break state and create some drama and tension. How will they capture a Gargantuan monster? What will they do when their attaché winds up in hot water? When they disrupt the local way of life can they course correct? You can see how the broad strokes of this campaign theme leave the options wide open for any sort of party composition or level range. Within this context there’s still enormous flexibility. A group of tier one adventurers would almost certainly get slaughtered if they pick a fight with a roc for example. The same group setting out only to classify such a magnificent monster though? That sounds really exciting to me. You can use any monsters you want because the goal isn’t always going to be fighting the thing to the death.

During your session zero with the other players you can discuss the questions below and find the sweet spot that works for the group.

Why are the characters classifying these monsters?

• They’re extreme travel guides who take daring vacationers on thrilling monster sight seeing expeditions.
• They’re teachers and this is part of their responsibilities. Publish or perish takes on a whole new meaning.
• They’re monster hunters and to them “classifying” means tracking, hunting and killing monsters for glory and trophies. (A Froststrider ranger’s dream job!)
• They’re conducting research for an interested party like a wizard, druid or bard.

Where’s the drama?

• Rival researchers are always one step ahead or behind.
• Monster advocates grow concerned about the ethics of this practice.
• An extremely rare monster like a unicorn is targeted by nefarious forces.
• The party’s funding gets pulled. Who’s going to pay for all these monster classification expeditions?

What does the Class of Monsters represent?

• Do you want a campaign where the party frequently travels to wildly different places, perhaps even through time?
• Is each monster an opportunity to reflect on a different theme or dilemma? These excursions seem straightforward but situations can get pretty complicated. Encroaching nature or conversely corrupted nature, local beliefs, ecological balance — these are just some of the themes that spring to mind with this sort of campaign theme.
• What is the result of the party’s work? Will they receive accolades and recognition? Maybe they become famous and fame can bring as many problems as rewards.
• If they work for a larger organization what does this mean? Do they have access to special resources or special interactions in the world? If they’re independent operators why are they pursuing this work? Each character’s motivations become another way to spice things up. An Oath of Vengeance paladin Circle of the Moon druid might have very different views about a dangerous beast but they’re able to work together somehow.
• Is there a particular creature type all the players find fascinating? This could be a chance to dive deeply into a niche of D&D everyone can get excited about. Good luck in a world of aberrations!
• What are the stakes and consequences for failure? What are the parameters for success?

Thinking about these questions and discussing the concept as a group helps shape a really unique D&D campaign. You’ll notice there’s nothing about specific monsters, spells or other mechanical parts of the game. This is another thing I love about themed campaigns. The group might land on the idea of a Tier 4 campaign classifying only the most powerful creatures anywhere in the multiverse. Astral Dreadnaughts, Kraken, Tarrasques — their expeditions might carry them across time, space and the planes. Another group might play a Tier 1 campaign cataloguing Giant Beasts and taking samples, making sketches and recording their observations. Hey, I finally thought of a use for encode thoughts! Now they’ve just got to get all those tangible strings of glowing energy back to base before the spell duration ends.

*Featured image — First-year students rush to class carrying armloads of books — and all their excitement for the start of a new academic year at Strixhaven. [Image courtesy Wizards of the Coast]

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