Professions and Races

[fireinthedust]

Aware as I am that the professions will be giving skill bonuses (of a sort) to things the character did at level 0 (ie: the professions sound like they'll *be* level 0), has me wondering: if professions are things the character did before adventuring, what about races as professions?

I like the idea of race-classes, don't get me wrong; I'm open-minded to what is, for me, a new idea (I've seen the old 5-level versions of races). I'm just wondering how that will work, and could one have a sort of list of racial "skills" while being a warrior or a wizard?

Also: could professions be less about job and more about a theme? Like, erm, desert-nomad vs. swamp-dwelling hillbilly? Or more accurately, in a Conan sense, the racial groups like Cimmerians, Zamorans, Stygians, etc.?

Realistically, Conan isn't a thief. He's a Cimmerian whose ability to climb and run and jump and sneak really help when using those actions for stealing things. Same thing for Kull, really, who never takes on Nobleman traits even though he spends years on the throne of Valusia: he's always a barbarian.

Could Barbarian be a profession? Or would it be better as a background? (calling them backgrounds)

This could do for certain PrC-themes, like swashbuckler; or ranger; or viking raider; or pirate; bandit; blacksmith; etc. Even eldritch knight, in a way. Or Assassin, sort of, though that's a fairly highly trained job for a "profession".

[geordie racer]

From what's been said on previous threads I think both professions and races are covered by background. An Elf in a playtest was able to see 60' in the dark and wasn't affected by sleep and charm. I believe barbarian is more of a background than a class, and such things as nomad, or noble are easily covered by this. If need be, if you were playing a purely Hyborian Age game you could have Stygian, Picts etc as backgrounds giving bonuses the way Microlite Conan does.

Also, the background is as much a simple way for players to differentiate their characters through roleplay rather than attaining a list of skills.

[Hamel™]

IMHO a Barbarian could be more a race - like the elf - than a profession: they both describe a template.
In addition to that, being a barbarian should still allow you to pick among different professions: shepherd, huntsman, craftsman, etc..

[finarvyn]

My understanding is that you get a number of options, each with certain things that you can do:

• Race options
• Profession options
• Class options

and these are not all mutually exclusive, so that a player might pick a profession, a race (as a class or not) and a class (combined with a race or not) in order to combine templates and build a character.

So, you might be able to be an elf without the benefits or be a barbarian without the benefits as long as you weren't willing to also choose those as class options. If you choose them as class options then you need to "pay" for the benefits by putting XP into the class. So you could be a dual class elf/wizard or you could be an elf who is a wizard. Each choice would give different benefits at different XP cost.

I'm not sure if professions would work the same way (and I can't see enough benefits offhand in being, say, a baker or blacksmith, to pay for that as a class) but there's no reason why it couldn't be built into the system.

[finarvyn]

Realistically, Conan isn't a thief. He's a Cimmerian whose ability to climb and run and jump and sneak really help when using those actions for stealing things. Same thing for Kull, really, who never takes on Nobleman traits even though he spends years on the throne of Valusia: he's always a barbarian.

This is always a tricky question, and a result of trying to put a round peg (fictional character) into a square hole (RPG rules system).

If we're playing RuneQuest or D&D 3E I can "build" Conan by giving him some skills in thief actions without classifying him as a thief. If I'm playing OD&D or AD&D those skill options aren't there and I need to actually assign thief levels to him. Either way we don't change the essence of the Conan character, which is to be a fighter first and foremost with some added stuff (thief, noble, pirate) tacked on along the way. I'm not sure I can legitimately say "Conan is not a thief" since he clearly acts as one during at least one of the 19 or so original Howard stories, and in the same way I can't really say "Conan is not a sailor" or "Conan is not a King" since he does these things as well.

The question really becomes "just how much is Conan a thief, and is it enough where we have to put levels into this?"

[reverenddak]

Have any of you looked at the Dragon Age RPG (by Green Ronin?) Not to plug it or anything, but I've been in the same boat as most of you, i.e. I've gotten tired of D&D (3x & 4e) and have looked at several OSR games and have been in search of something with modern innovations but with the flavor (and particularly the aesthetics and feel) of Appendix N. The way they handle our "favorite" D&D tropes--specifically races, are with backgrounds. They have several backgrounds which include several types of humans, a couple elves and one dwarven background. Each background is limited in what classes they can take. For example, only those with mage backgrounds can be Mages. There is a human background which pretty much copies Ffafrd's "barbarian" background. It's an interesting take on familiar "D&D" races.

[smathis]

If I'm playing OD&D or AD&D those skill options aren't there and I need to actually assign thief levels to him.

If I'm playing OD&D, Conan's just a "Fighting Man"...

[mshensley]

Have any of you looked at the Dragon Age RPG (by Green Ronin?)

I had it. It's a nice system that's too limited by the DA setting IMO. I also didn't like how high hit points were - it's impossible to kill anything with one hit even with the stunts.

The way crits work in the DCC game sounds a lot like the stunt system in DA and that's a good thing.