Last time, I said we’d discuss Hit Points and Defenses. Well, I was sort of right. Those are both going to be derived traits from the Combat Careers, which is the real focus of this post. I’m thinking about making D&D 4e style Hybrid classes the norm here. You choose a primary Career and a secondary – certain traits come in from both of them, and then Feats and Talents can be purchased as a member of both Careers.

What are all these hybridized traits? Hit Points, Defenses for sure. Cheap/free Talents/Feats? Like the “starting feats” of Star Wars Saga Edition? I kind of like that. Follow the early 4e design guidelines of giving classes with the same roles practically identical features. Support gets a heal, Duel gets conditional damage, Protect gets marking, etc.

I’m gonna go off on a slight tangent here and talk about my biggest beef with 4e – duplication of effort. It always kind of bothered me that a rogue and a monk (or a cleric and an ardent, etc etc) might have effectively identical powers. But it has to be printed in two places because, well, it’s in two different classes. Why break out cleric/warlord/bard/shaman if you’re just going to give them the same powers? The “spell lists” system of D&D 3.5e is basically the one arena I think was handled better then. The other end of the spectrum, in Mutants & Masterminds? The Affliction power is 100-powers-in-1! This is why I’ll be gazing in that direction for a bunch of this.

Where were we? Ah, traits from the Careers. So let’s do some spitballing here. Like I said before, I want HP and damage numbers to fall in line with D&D rather than Edge. And I personally liked Saga and 4e’s resilient starting HP, rather than previous (and Next?) “killed by a housecat” syndrome. So Constitution score plus a number. Numbers from both Careers, or just the primary? Following KISS, let’s just do the primary. Range from +10 to +18, in increments of 2? Let’s do it. Fiddle later.

Defenses! Ok, lets mix the Careers. Say each one gives a bonus to two defenses. Primary gives a +2, secondary gives a +1. This should give a spread between +0 and +3 to each defense to start. In addition to attribute bonuses. Here’s where I show my hand, and seem a little sheepish. I’m not sure what to do with Armor Class yet. Saga dropped it completely, using Reflex in its place. Next goes back to throwing every attack at it. Edge makes… well, it does very “un-d20” dice pool effects, which are difficult to convert. D&D 4e made light armor add to the attribute, and heavy armor replaced it. In both cases, AC was inflated above Fort/Reflex/Will, which meant weapon attacks had to be artificially inflated to compensate (hence the “Proficiency Bonus”).

If we’re going the route of Mutants & Masterminds, where the same effects are in fact using the same rules, but different descriptors, how do we manage armor? Really, if the Monk has “Unarmored Agility” and the Paladin has “Full Plate” and they both have AC 20, how different is that? The descriptors deal with most of the fiddly bits (the Monk’s AC means little if unconscious, and the Paladin can’t sneak), but that’s just another facet to using descriptors. Or Aspects. Or Distinctions. Or whatever.

You know what? I’m really gonna have to spend some thought (or get some feedback) on the armor situation. But I think we have a skeleton for basing these characters. I’ll have to think on it, but I imagine the Careers might also affect starting points. The Controller might have more Talent points and less Feat points than the Duelist, for instance. Ok. Liking it. Carry on.