u/ThatOneCrazyWritter

Mechanically speaking:

• OVERALL THEME: If I where to explain "Ranger" in a simple phrase, what should it even be? If Paladins are "Holy Warriors", Monks are "Martial Artists", Wizards are "Studious Mages", what should describe a Ranger in a simple, effective way?

• DURING COMBAT: What should they be doing? Should they focus only on dealing damage to single targets and/or bundled-up groups, controlling terrain and/or enemies, supporting allies through cures and/or buffs, or even a mix of all the above? Should they be only Ranged, only Melee, a mix of both, dual wielding, sword as board, two-handing an axe, or what? Do they need anything beyond Extra Attack, or should they get a unique way of attacking or getting bonuses to their attacks?

• OUTSIDE COMBAT: What is their niche without violent means? "Nature & Exploration*" is a great start, but what does it even mean? Should they help with wilderness travel, general outdoors survival, animal handling, or what? And how should this work? Complex rules, simple advantage to specific rolls, Expertise?

• MAGIC: How magic should them be? Halfcasting, Mundande, Non-magical-but-still-not-normal like a Monk or Barbarian? If Halfcaster, is just that part that is magical about them, or does this seeps into the rest of the class? If Mundande or "Superhuman" even, do they get something to compensate the lost of magic?

• NICHE PROTECTION: What does they do that almost no one can do, like a Barbarian Rage, a Paladin Aura, Monk Martial Arts, Fighter Action Surge, Sorcerer Metamagic, etc.?

• ANIMAL COMPANIONS: Finally, what IS the Ranger relationship with Animal Companions? Should it just be optional, a feature on a On/Off switch or a permanent part of the class fantasy, always there?

For me, its hard to say what these answers even are, and nobody, not even WotC, seems to know the answer either, because that are so many different answers around that most don't agree with.

To me, at least, in D&D 5e/5.5e specifically (in other editions and systems, this would change most likely):

• MY OVERALL THEME: The discriptor would be "Druidic Warrior". Most will not agree with this, which does include me, but I truly believe it is what best fits in 5e/5.5e.

• MY DURING COMBAT: First, I woudl go with both melee and ranged, even if I would prefer a Ranged-only class for the Ranger, btu that's a personal preference. I think a mix of "Focus fire a single target with many attacks" & "Make terrain terrible to move through for enemies without penalties", be it because of slowing, restraining, damaging or something else more creative. They should be, first and foremost, Ambushers, Skirmishers and Masters of Guerrilla Tactics

• MY OUTSIDE COMBAT: Like I said, Nature & Exploration is the starting point. Favorite Terrain to me is a trap, however. In my mind, the should be baseline good or even great everywhere outside, and only then Favorite Terrain comes in and makes Rangers Impossibly Amazing in specific terrains. Most of all, they should be helping the party through travel, not only going on ahead and being a lone wolf.

• MY MAGIC: Outside D&D 5e, I would orefer them non-magical, but D&D is too High Magic to make it work to me without creating an entire new subsystem that would just go underdeveloped or fogotten with time, so Halfcaster it.

• MY NICHE PROTECTION: THIS, RIGHT HERE, is the core problem with Rangers to me, because no unique mechanic its entirely life in D&D seemed to have sticked the landing just right. My two cents? Give them a Favorite Enemy that mixes "I deal more damage with a special Mark" and "even if they are not around, I learned useful multi-faceted tactics that can be used anywhere" like ignoring part of a creature's AC thanks to your time studying Dragons. Make Natural Explorer a series of Invocation-like options that you pick to not only be better at certain exploring situations (like stealthing, climbing swimming) but also give part of these bonuses to their allies, like an experienced guide showing how things are done. Allow them to create a "Hunting Grounds" area in a point they can see that give bonuses to you and your allies or debuffs the enemies.

• MY ANIMAL COMPANIONS: My biggest and most controversial take, probably, will be to make Animal Companions part of the main class, but not an always active ability. First, give Rangers a few Wild Shapes (like the Paladin has Channel Divinity), but instead of becoming an animal, you use them in two ways: 1) you can some a familiar, which can become a bigger, stronger creature depending on subclass 2) you can enter a Transformation State based on subclass choice. Some subclasses would have bith options, but most would only have one or the other. Hunter? Transformarion. Beastmaster? Better animal. Gloomstalker? Transformarion. Swarmkeeper? Could go either way, be it a Swarm familiar or a "Swarmed" Transformation.

Do I think these options I presented are perfect and everyone would love them? Far from it, but I still want to understand what people really want of a Ranger, and for those who don't know I give them my ideas to a thought experiment.

Eu amo Tormenta20, ai decidi mestrar uma campanha bem longa com ele. Ainda nem tive a segunda sessão e já etsou querendo desistir.

Não é minha primeira campanha de T20 que mestro e começo a sucumbir ao peço da tarefa, ao ponto que eu nunca sequer finalizei uma campanha do jogo desde os 2-3 anos que comecei a jogar ele.

Porém, eu AMO jogar T20 como JOGADOR. Eu curto esses jogos cheios de regras e combinações diferentes de poderes para escolher.

O mesmo aconteceu comigo e D&D 5e, no entanto eu prefiro 5e menos do que T20.

As vezes eu me pergunto se eu me daria melhor mestrando um RPG com menos regras então, porém eu fico em dúvida pq pelo menos como Jogador, esses jogos me deixam muito entediado. Além disso, meu problema nem é tanto as regras serem pesadas (embora isso atrapalhe em T20 por exemplo para criar combates desafiadores para um grupo experiente em fazer builds quebradas), meu problema maior é que o processo de planejar sessão antecipadamente é muito complicado para mim.

Estou jogando Tormenta20 e decidi tentar criar minha primeira experiência Sandbox na campanha atual, mas estou um pouco nervoso sobre como conduzir isso.

Inicialmente, minha campanha seguia um formato mais linear e dirigido (Railroad), com um enredo mais direto, já que é o estilo que meus amigos preferem (no sentido de eu apresentar as opções A, B e C e, no final, todos acabarem se encontrando em D de qualquer forma; algo bem mais roteirizado).

No entanto, após conversar com meu grupo e consultar pessoas online, decidi criar um mini-Sandbox para o próximo arco da história. O resumo da trama é o seguinte:

– Um culto de Aharadak, liderados por um descendente de Thomas Lendilkar chamado Raoul Lendilkar, tomou completamente o controle de Bielefeld após formar também uma aliança com a Igreja de Kallyadranoch e Aslothia.

– O grupo, acompanhado por um pequeno contingente de sobreviventes e NPCs importantes, recebeu um prazo de 7 dias para deixar o reino antes que a carnificina começasse. Como o grupo ainda está no início da aventura (nível 4 de 20), eles decidiram seguir em direção aos Ermos Púrpuras, uma terra de ninguém habitada por tribos bárbaras nômades que possuem um histórico sangrento de conflitos contra Bielefeld.

– Os NPCs importantes do grupo de refugiados que o grupo de jogadores está liderando são: "um clérigo goblin de Hynnin, que quer provar que também pode ser heroico", "um guarda humano de baixo nível da capital de Roschfallen, que busca algo mais para sua vida", "uma sacerdotisa Hynne dLena, que está sucumbindo lentamente à corrupção da Tormenta" e "um ferreiro anão que foi banido de Doherimm".

Para a próxima sessão, planejei o primeiro cenário: um combate envolvendo quatro lados — quatro tribos bárbaras. São elas: os Gurka Kahn, humanos que lutam contra o deus Aharadak e sua corrupção; os Zallar, devotos de Aharadak parcialmente corrompidos; os Gahmoradd, um pequeno "reino" de orcs que vive nas profundezas das montanhas; e os Skagleg, uma tribo muito pequena de homens-lagarto escondida na floresta.

Os Gurka Kahn querem combater a corrupção de Aharadak e, ao mesmo tempo, preservar seu estilo de vida tradicional.

Os Zallar buscam apenas poder, fazendo isso ao espalhar a influência de seu deus maligno.

Os Gahmoradd querem se juntar ao Império Trollkyrka e, por isso, estão tentando provar seu valor como arautos da invasão do império.

Os Skagleg tentam sobreviver a ameaças de todos os lados após a propagação de boatos de que estariam roubando e devorando gado, embora não tenham qualquer participação nesses atos (que foram, na verdade, obra dos orcs de Gahmoradd).

O problema é que minha ideia original era fazer com que o grupo ajudasse uma das tribos, cumprisse uma missão para ela a fim de ganhar seu respeito e, finalmente, se tornasse aliado dela. No entanto, não sei como garantir que eles ESCOLHERÃO ALGUMA DELAS! Eles não sabem da existência dessas tribos nem conhecem suas histórias; além disso, suas missões principais são basicamente:

1. Encontrar um local seguro para estabelecer uma base para os refugiados.

2. Descobrir para onde o vilão principal levou a esposa de um dos jogadores.

3. Descobrir se uma das pessoas que auxiliam o vilão principal é, na verdade, o pai desaparecido de outro jogador — e por que ele está fazendo isso.

4. Descobrir uma maneira de libertar o reino de Bielefeld do domínio da Tormenta.

5. Uma missão secundária: um dos jogadores, devoto do Deus Menor dos Mercenários, quer acumular 1 milhão de peças de ouro em riqueza pura.

Minha ideia era que a tribo aliada não apenas oferecesse abrigo aos jogadores, mas também ajudasse a defender o local em troca de favores; no entanto, não sei como fazer isso sem forçar um enredo específico sobre os jogadores, já que nunca mestrei uma campanha sandbox antes.

Então, minha pergunta é: como faço para que os jogadores interajam com essas tribos? E ainda posso incluir aquele combate em que o grupo ajuda uma tribo em uma batalha campal, ou devo descartar essa ideia?

Estou jogando Tormenta20 e decidi tentar criar minha primeira experiência Sandbox na campanha atual, mas estou um pouco nervoso sobre como conduzir isso.

Inicialmente, minha campanha seguia um formato mais linear e dirigido (Railroad), com um enredo mais direto, já que é o estilo que meus amigos preferem (no sentido de eu apresentar as opções A, B e C e, no final, todos acabarem se encontrando em D de qualquer forma; algo bem mais roteirizado).

No entanto, após conversar com meu grupo e consultar pessoas online, decidi criar um mini-sandbox para o próximo arco da história. O resumo da trama é o seguinte:

– Um culto de Aharadak, o Deus da Corrupção, da Insanidade e da Antimagia, tomou completamente o controle de Bielefeld, o Reino dos Cavaleiros, formando também uma aliança com a Igreja de Kallyadranoch, o Deus dos Dragões, e com Aslothia, o Reino dos Mortos-Vivos.

– O grupo, acompanhado por um pequeno contingente de sobreviventes e NPCs importantes, recebeu um prazo de 7 dias para deixar o reino antes que a carnificina começasse. Como o grupo ainda está no início da aventura (nível 4 de 20), eles decidiram seguir em direção aos Ermos Púrpuras, uma terra de ninguém habitada por tribos bárbaras nômades que possuem um histórico sangrento de conflitos contra Bielefeld.

– Os NPCs importantes do grupo de refugiados que o grupo de jogadores está liderando são: "um clérigo goblin do Deus dos Ladrões, que quer provar que também pode ser heroico", "um guarda humano de baixo nível da capital, que busca algo mais para sua vida", "um sacerdote halfling da Deusa da Vida, que está sucumbindo lentamente à corrupção de Aharadak" e "um ferreiro anão que foi banido de Doherimm, o Reino Oculto dos Anões".

Para a próxima sessão, planejei o primeiro cenário: um combate envolvendo quatro lados — quatro tribos bárbaras. São elas: os Gurka Kahn, humanos que lutam contra o deus Aharadak e sua corrupção; os Zallar, devotos de Aharadak parcialmente corrompidos; os Gahmoradd, um pequeno "reino" de orcs que vive nas profundezas das montanhas; e os Skagleg, uma tribo muito pequena de homens-lagarto escondida na floresta.

Os Gurka Kahn querem combater a corrupção de Aharadak e, ao mesmo tempo, preservar seu estilo de vida tradicional.

Os Zallar buscam apenas poder, fazendo isso ao espalhar a influência de seu deus maligno.

Os Gahmoradd querem se juntar ao Império Trollkyrka — um estado escravagista oculto governado por Trolls Nobres — e, por isso, estão tentando provar seu valor como arautos da invasão do império.

Os Skagleg tentam sobreviver a ameaças de todos os lados após a propagação de boatos de que estariam roubando e devorando gado, embora não tenham qualquer participação nesses atos (que foram, na verdade, obra dos orcs de Gahmoradd).

O problema é que minha ideia original era fazer com que o grupo ajudasse uma das tribos, cumprisse uma missão para ela a fim de ganhar seu respeito e, finalmente, se tornasse aliado dela. No entanto, não sei como garantir que eles ESCOLHERÃO ALGUMA DELAS! Eles não sabem da existência dessas tribos nem conhecem suas histórias; além disso, suas missões principais são basicamente:

1. Encontrar um local seguro para estabelecer uma base para os refugiados.

2. Descobrir para onde o vilão principal levou a esposa de um dos jogadores.

3. Descobrir se uma das pessoas que auxiliam o vilão principal é, na verdade, o pai desaparecido de outro jogador — e por que ele está fazendo isso.

4. Descobrir uma maneira de libertar o reino de Bielefeld do domínio da Tormenta.

5. Uma missão secundária: um dos jogadores, devoto do Deus Menor dos Mercenários, quer acumular 1 milhão de peças de ouro em riqueza pura.

Minha ideia era que a tribo aliada não apenas oferecesse abrigo aos jogadores, mas também ajudasse a defender o local em troca de favores; no entanto, não sei como fazer isso sem forçar um enredo específico sobre os jogadores, já que nunca mestrei uma campanha sandbox antes.

Então, minha pergunta é: como faço para que os jogadores interajam com essas tribos? E ainda posso incluir aquele combate em que o grupo ajuda uma tribo em uma batalha campal, ou devo descartar essa ideia?

EDIT: Should have specified it better in the title, but I'm ask how to make oneshots and spread it across a sandbox, not how to make a Sandbox in a oneshot. Sorry, English is my second lanaguage

I decided to try and make my first sandbox moment in my current campaign, but I'm a bit nervous on how to go about it.

At first, my campaign is more railroaded with a more direct plot, since its the style my friends prefer playing with (in the sense of I say "there is A, B and C" and by the end everyone meets at D none the less, far more scripted).

However, talking with my group and asking people online, I decided to make a mini sandbox for the next arc of my story. The story resumed is as follows:

- A Cult of Aharadak, the God of Corruption, Insanity and Anti-Magic has completely taken over the Bielefeld, Kingdom of Chilvary and Knights, while also forming an alliance with the Church of Kally, the God of Dragons plus Aslothia, Kingdom of the Undead.

- The group plus a small group of survivors & important NPCs where given 7 days to leave the Kingdom before the carnage begins, since the group is still in the beginning of their adventure (Lv. 4 of 20), they decided to go towards The Purple Wilds, a no-man land of nomadic barbarian tribes with a bloody history against Bielefeld.

- The important NPCs of the refugee group the party are leading are "a goblin cleric of the God of Thieves, who wants to prove he can be heroic too", "a low level human guard from the capital who wants more for his live", "a halfling priest of the Goddess of Life, who is slowly succumbing to the corruption of Aharadak" and "a dwarve balcksmith who was banished from Doherimm, the Hidden Kingdom of Dwarves"

For the next session, I've planned the first scenario, being a 4-way combat between four barbarian tribes, being the GURKA KAHN, humans against the god Aharadak and its corruption; the ZALLAR, half-corrupted devotees of Aharadak; the GAHMORADD, a small orc "kingdom" leaving in the mountain undergrounds; and the SKAGLEG, a very small tribe of lizardfolk hiding through the forest.

The Gurka Kahn want to fight off the anti-magic corruption plus maintain the traditional style of life.

The Zallar simply want to gain power and do so by spreading the influence of their evil god.

The Gahmoradd want to join the Trollkyrka Empire, a hidden slave state run by Noble Trolls, so the are proving themselves as herald of their invasion.

The Skagleg are trying to survive from all sides after allegations of them stealing and eating cattle has spread, although they had no hand in such doings (that was actually the doing of the Orcs from Gahmoradd).

The problem is, my idea was for the group to help out one of the tribes and then do a mission for them to gain their respect and finally become allies. However, I don't know how to guarantee they will CHOOSE ANY OF THEM!

They don't know these tribes exist nor what their stories are, plus their main mission are mainly:

1. Find a place to make a safe base for the refugees

2. Find out where the main villain took the wife of one of the players

3. Discover if one of the people helping the main villain is in fact the missing father of another player and why is he doing so

4. Discover a way to free the kingdom of Bielefeld from The Scarlet Tempest taking over it

5. Minor one, but one of the player, devout of the Minor God of Mercenaries, wants to amass 1 million gold pieces in pure wealth

My idea was for the tirbe they ally with helping not only give the players a place to stay but also help defend it in exchange of favors, but I don't know how to do it without forcing a plot upon my players, since I've never done a Sandbox before.

So my question is: how to I make the players interact with these tribes? And can I still have this combate where the group helps one tribe in a all-out brawl, or should I scrap it?

Hello! I'm mostly curious asking this because its something I have trouble thinking about, specially when I see people saying "Ranger is just a Fighter in the woods".

I believe my main inspirations to what my ideal Ranger is are

1. Aragorn (of course), in the sense of a tactical leader guiding through the wilds, leading by example.

2. Ranger's Apprentice (what actually started my passion for the archetype), as an royal scout and hidden protector of the kingdom from outside threats. Also, horses are cool :)

3. Monster Hunter (what continued my passion), from the angle of a expert hunter of larger than life menaces and keeper of balance between nature and civilization. Also, cats are cool :)

4. Batman (even if he is more a Monk-Rogue-Artificer in reality), since he knows his "favorite terrain" (Gotham) like the back of his hand, always has a plan and if very knowledgeable of the weakpoints of his "favored foes" (dangerous supervillains)

5. Ghost Recon (yes, the near-future, Spec-Ops Shooter), because they encompass the whole deal of a Ranger to me: great stealth, expert combat prowess and tools for every job.

Yes, Drizzt and Aragon mostly fought with melee weapons.

Yes, neither of them had Animal Companions (Guenhwyvar, Drizzt's Panther, was a magic item).

However, does the Ranger have a strong identity today? If far from a weak class, in fact, it's pretty good in actual games, I can affirm after playing one as my very first character in D&D being a Reborn Swarmkeeper Ranger. But damn... I can't see its identity beyond "Fighter, Rogue and Druid bits and pieces".

Rangers are great and they deserve better. So, they should be:

- THE Ranged Martial Class: If Ranged Fighters are a machine gun, Rangers should be doing trickshots. Tripping, slowing down, binding, AoEs, ranged Opportunity Attacks, etc. If Paladins and Barbarians are mostly Melee locked, Rangers should be the opposite.

- THE Battlefield Tactics Martial Class: They should be Fantasy Spec-Ops. Scouting the land ahead and gaining near-supernatural bonuses to themselves and their allies, being the best in ambushes, making traps, etc. They should be "VIETNAM: THE CLASS".

- THE Pet Class: This will most likely be my most controversial take, I imagine. Just give every Ranger an Animal Companion or two (or three). It doesn't need to me a fighting beast, it could just be a riding horse, sniffing hound or scouting bird, you know, a mount or familiar. Then each subclass should then give new pets to work with.

- THE Wandering Leader Class: D&D 5e made Wilderness Exploration & Overworld Travel less important than in the past, but the Ranger shouldn't suffer because of this, nor just trivialize it by existing. They should not only know where to go, but also lead by example, setting a course for the group. If they succed in a test, the group can follow them right behind and gain a bonus to their own tries, be it scaling a mountain, moving through difficult terrain of being more stealthy.

- A Half-Druid?: My last hot tkae is that Rangers don't need to be Halfcasters, but I'm okay with them continue to be simply because Spells are too strong to just pass along, but I think Ranger really have the potential to be more than just a "Fighter Subclass with Druid Spells"

After testing multiple reactions in a class through LaserLlama's Savant, it was so fun that it got me thinking "why isn't this a thing in official D&D?". When thinking which classes could get multiple reactions, my first thought where the main DEX Martials: the Monk, the Ranger and the Rogue.

- Rogues: Getting the chance for multiple Sneak Attacks and Uncanny Dodges would help them out a lot in terms of strength to an already really fun class.

- Monks: Deflect Attacks makes for such a simple but fun gameplay that having it multiple times seems like a no brainer!

- Rangers: Okay... So there isn't really much synergy currently, but this got me thinking on ideas of new abilities to put since we are already talking about a Ranger rework. For example, maybe they would be the first class to get Ranged Opportunity Attacks, no strings attached. Seems like a fun idea!

- All of them: An idea then popped in my head: why not make this their signature feature, the same way Spellcatsing is to Casters, Extra Attack is to Martials and Expertise is to the specialists? If Rogues can't get Extra Attack, then why not give them Extra Reactions? And sure, give it to Monks and Rangers as well!

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Me and my group want to play a mecha game in the future. LANCER is our first choice, but being honest I'm looking for a lighter RPG at the moment.

While I prefer crunchier games over lighter ones (currently playing Daggerheart & Tormenta20, a Brazilian version of D&D 3.5e), I've been a bit burnout by too many rules.

With all that, which are good Rules Light Mecha TTRPGs? I'm looking for:

• At least a bit of customization that isn't overwhelming (no 100 pages to create the perfect robot, more like 1 to 5 pages and the rest is reflavoring).
• Fun combat, but not complex combat (Theater of the Mind is okay, no rules for complex stuff like flanking and exact distances is okay, but would still have at least one of two cooler things to do beside move & attack).
• Themed of stories told can be happier and adventurous or more dour and somber, but I won't lie I prefer a happier tone at the moment.

Aside that, I'm open for anything suggesteed.

EDIT: Thank you all for the wonderful suggestions! Upon deliberating, I think I'll take a look at:

1. Aether Nexus
2. The Mecha Hack
3. APOCALYPSE FRAME
4. Armor Astir: Advent
5. Salvege Union
6. Mecha & Monsters: Evolved
7. Battle Century G/Battle Century S
8. NOVA

Some of these weren't mentioned here in the commments, but seemed to fit what I was looking for. Again, thank you all for the suggestions!

PS.: Sorry if this is a repeat theme from a post from 10 day ago, I didn't find it before mkaing my own

I'm in the early concept phase of a RPG hobby project of mine, nothing serious at the moment, just hopes and dreams.

I decided that I want to make a RPG that uses Classes, since I like to fit inside a niche protected archetype in my games. Before deciding how to go with this class system (be it multiclass heavy, classes + subclasses, classes with fixed progression or many feat/talents/powers), I decided to abstract the hell out of these classes first to its very core.

The genre for this game would be a Science Fantasy, where Dragons and Mechas, Swords and Guns, exist at the same time without much problem, but leaning more on the Fantasy side.

For this, I decided to go aaaall the way back to the D&D White Books and its first core classes: Fighting-man, Magic-User and Cleric, while also adding the Thief that came a little bit after.

-Fighting-man (which I I'll just call Warriors) deal with problems through combat and violence;

-Magic-users (Which I will simply call Mages) deal with problems through, well, Magic;

-Thiefs (which I will call Rogues) deal with problems through natural skill and mastery of the mundane.

Clerics, by design, are a middle point between Warriors and Mages, have some of the fighting and defensive capabilities of the former with a dash of magic abilities from the latter.

Considering this, I left only Warriors, Mages and Rogues to form my triangle, while making a few additional changes:

1. Mages will be Scholars in this design experiment, since I want all classes to have some access to magic that fits their archetypes.

2. Warriors = Might & Combat, being a class of "physical aptitude"; Scholars = Cunning & Wisdom, being a class of "grand knowledge"; Rogues = Dexterity & Expertise, being a class of "focused specialization".

3. I'm testing also implementing sub classes based on 5 "sources of power": Mundane, Arcane, Divine, Primal and Occult, so each class should have an option that can fit inside sources.

After all this, I thought to my self "can I make classes that mix and match two of the 3 classes in this triangle, the same way Cleric is a mix of Mage & Warrior?". The main problem is trying to find concepts that fit inside these combos.

For example, at first I made the mix of Warrior-Rogue be a Slayer/Hunter/Ranger, but could really find a good niche for it outside "I love Rangers and want them in my game". Later with the addition of the "sources of power" concept, Rangers would better fit as a Primal Rogue in this system.

So now I'm back to the drawing board. Considering all this what would be good fits for:

- Warrior & Scholar?

- Scholar & Rogue?

- Rogue & Warrior?

EDIT 1: Upon some early consideration, 3 contenders seem to be pretty could ideas that not only make sense combined but also have a good niche for their own that doesn't step on others:

Warrior + Scholar = Tactician, being a class of "people control"

Scholar + Rogue = Inventor (maybe call it Talent to be more comprehensive), being a class of "outstanding breakthrough"

Rogue + Warrior = Outlander or Wanderer, being a class of "inventive discovery"

EDIT 2: With these 6 in place (Warrior, Outlander, Rogue, Talent, Scholar, Tactician), I could then proceed with ideas for the subclasses. For example:

MUNDANE = these 6 above

ARCANE = Speelblade/Belicist, Mystic, Trickster, Artificer, Wizard, Bard

DIVINE = Templar, Pilgrim, Inquisitor, Friar, Cleric, ???

PRIMAL = Warden/Green Knight, Hunter/Ranger, Shifter, ???, Druid, ???

OCCULT = Hexblade, Reaper, ???, Reanimator, Witch, Necromancer

These are just quick ideas, not set in stone. Do they make sense, or should I go after another thing?

For example, I truly believe that Paladin is the best designed class in the game when it comes to translating the archetype's fantasy into game mechanics.

Going deeper into why I believe so, the class has very simple to understand but greatly effective abilities:

- They have what I call the "Halfcasting Basic Kit", that being stuff like Weapon Mastery, Fighting Style, Extra Attack, Spells and as a bonus they get Channel Divinity

- Their first unique ability, Lay on Hands, is as simple as "BA to touch and heal"

- The second one, Divine Smite, though nerfed from 5e, still is a simple "BA from extra damage"

- The third with Aura of Protection is as simple as "You and allies close around have better saves" and is often considered one of the best abilities im the game still

- Then every one of these abilities games a pseudo-upgrade, like Abjure Foes, Aura of Courage, Radiant Strikes and Restoring Touch

- Even the subclasses have a good pattern of Extra Spells, Extra Uses for Channel Divinity, New Aura, Unique Thematic Ability and a Transformation Capstone. Some breaks this mold, but that isn't bad, just means more variety in design.

- And let's not forget its spells, with a good mix of Cleric spells for support of all type be it through new auras or touch effects, but also very fun and effective Paladin exclusive spells (I specially love the whole line of Smite spells, so much that I wish the Ranger had something similar with it's Hunter's Mark spell become q full line of Mark spell)

- And finally... Faithful Steed... Gonna be honest, its a good ability, but I don't know why they put it there. It DOES fit the fantasy of "Knight in Ahining Armor", but it feels disconnected from the rest of the class since nothing returns to it in the future, nothing build upon this base. Its just... There...

EDIT: Forgot to mention, but I also like that it has 1 clear weakness, being its lack of ranged option

EDIT 2: Some other classes I really like the design would be Rogues, Warlocks and a bit Fighter, Barbarian and Monk. My least favorite design-wise would be Rangers, Druids and Artificers. If they were done better, they would easily become my favorite classes since I love their classe fantasies but hate their design in 5.5e

EDIT 3: since I talked all this mechanic talk and didn't explain why they fit the fantasy, so here it is:

All the Paladins features help with it being a "Protector of the Weak" & "Zealous Warrior". Lay on Hands is basically being Jesus and curing with a touch of your fingers, Aura of Protection represents the rightous dignity of Paladin, so that its very own presence wards of bad things like fear or even explosions, Smite is holy fury in your hands, Channel Divinity is you clerical training and Weapon Mastery is your martial training. The Faithful Steed is super thematic with its only problem being a lack of interaction with the rest of its abilities, to me

Specially:

- Tales of the Valiant

- Draw Steel

- Daggerheart

- Pathfinder 2e REMASTER

- DC20

- Nimble RPG

- Level Up 5e

- Shadowdark (and OSR in general)

- Any others that I might forgot

Edit: for my own opinions.

Daggerheart has become my second favorite TTRPG at the moment. Its mix of lighter narrativistic & crunchy tactical gameplay is exactly what I was looking for.

I've tried Pathfinder 2e a few times as of now, though in very small doses. Its a bit too crunchy for my liking, though I love the design ideas of the game, even if it didn't click with me in practice.

Nimble... I had a bad time GMing it for the first time, since I decided to GM at the very last second, plus I found the starter adventure a bit ass. Love the general rules (specially on the GM side), but my players found the player side too light for our group tastes.

The rest I haven't tried yet, though I want to try out Tales of the Valiant, Draw Steel, Level Up 5e and any OSR/NSR like Shadowdark in the future.

So... D&D announced a crossover with WoW. Surprisingly, I don't hate the idea, would love to see it be done great, but I don't have faith WotC will be capable of such thing.

While I've never played WoW, I love its lore and I'm actually a fan of MMO style combat, with powers on cooldowns, 90% combat focus and multi person dungeons.

However, I don't have energy or friends necessary to play an actual MMORPG, but I do have a group that I always play with for TTRPGs.

So then, I ask: which is a good game to play an MMORPG as a TTRPG? A very Gamistic TTRPG instead of something focused more on simulation or narratives, though I'm still 100% okay with rules for roleplay. It still is an TTRPG, not a videogame, after all.

Mostly, I'm looking for games that abstracts A LOT of rules for a more "what is fun" than "what makes sense narratively", though if there are games that do both pretty well, amazing! Most importantly, the player should feel like HEROES most of the time, and the mode of play still "go into a dungeon, kill everything that moves, take everything not glued to the ground".

Ah, and one that works without the need for a virtual aid would be great. Me and my friends are super duper okay with very crunchy games with granular, near infinite +1s and +2s everywhere, but we still prefer when it doesn't go overboard.

Okay, so let's see:

Dark Sun - I don't have the faith that current WotC will do a great job updating the setting, considering its track record plus the fact its Dark Sun, the black sheep of settings next to Kara-Tur. HOWEVER, I love black sheeps and the Psion is finally becoming official in D&D, so I will try to keep some hope intact.

Greyhawk adventure - I don't care, but also I don't know much about Greyhawk, so I'll keep away from this discussion since it's not my place to speak.

WoW x D&D - Honestly? This has me a little bit hooked. While I've never played WoW, I LOVE seeing lore videos about it, so there's that, plus even if it isn't good, I can always use this as an excuse to use r/wc5e fan content instead to finally play "WoW" with my friends without need to pay for WoW. I was only waiting for an excuse, and this is the perfect opportunity!

Star Wars x D&D - Okay, I get. The idea is stupid, doesn't make sense, hurts the brand, and apparently it seems the people making this crossover has a bad history with Star Wars x D&D (don't know where you people got this info, but I really don't care anymore, so I'll take it as fact). But honestly? D&D rules 100% fits with D&D 5e if done well, and again, if the official one fails, there is always SW5e made by fans.

So yeah, after today I'm left both very weary & somewhat excited... Or just very apathetic about the state of D&D as of late that nothing really surprises, excites or enrages me anymore.

Looking into making my own silly little TTRPG system, mostly for use in my home game, but who knows? If I find it good enough, I may or not try posting it online in the future.

I do know a few things after 12 years of contact with TTRPGs, but I still consider myself of a "high-degree casual" than a "hardcore expert" on the subject of games. As such, I want to expand my knowledge on game design, specially that directed to Tabeltop Roleplaying Games.

When I say Animal Companion, I do not necessarily mean a Pokémon-like deal, where you fight alongside it always or command it from a safe distance to do the dirty work. It can be a small beast for scouting, a large one for use as a mount, etc.

If they shouldn't have a Companion always, what SHOULD be the core mechanics of a Ranger? Asking as someone that love Rangers (thanks a lot to the Ranger's Apprentice book series & the Monster Hunter games) but never liked them in D&D. I can a vision of what would be my ideal Ranger, and Animal Companions are 100% part of it, even if only an avian familiar, tiny squirrel or riding horse.

View Poll

After a few years here, I've come to know many of the big names in the TTRPG scene, but now I'm curious about the truly indie games: the stuff you find without warning by random, play it only to find a hidden gem of a game.

I unfortunately haven't done so myself, only have played the more famous stuff as of now, but I want to make a list to try out!

Edit: Thank you so much for everyone chiming in! Was surprised for seeing that I knew a lot of games in here, but that's not a problem to me, just means that I have been around and found some good stuff :)

Basicamente o titulo. Dos jogos que vc tentou mostrar para novos jogadores de RPGs, quais funcionaram melhor:

• Para pessoas com um pé atrás sobre jogar (tipo um pai ou mãe que ficam perdidos quando escutam vc falar sobre RPGs)?
• Para pessoas que não ligam tanto pro jogo mas querem se divertir com amigos?
• Pessoas que querem muito jogar e são mais teatrais?
• Pessoas que querem muito jogar e são mais gamers?

Eu pessoalmente comecei a jogar RPGs usando sistemas homebrews feitos por amigos (normalmente se resumindo a "role um dado, se vc for bom nisso ganha um bonus" ou "diz oq faz quer fazer, ai o mestre inventa bonus e penalidades"). Dps eu parti direto pro D&D 5e apenas com regras oficiais, dps comecei a mestrar oneshots de D&D, e agora eu jogo 4 campanhas ao mesmo tempo (pelo menos 2 estão em hiatus).

Meu maior problema é q eu amo Tormenta20 mas é um sistema meio dificil e chato de ensiar para qualquer jogador novato, porem notei que jogos como Daggerheart e D&D 5e acabam sendo melhores para essas pessoas por serem escoalhas mais simples que precisam ser feitas, enquanto que T20 é melhor para quem pelo menos já jogou umas 10 sessões de D&D.

3DeT Victory foi okay tbm, embora precise de ajuda de alguem que sabia oq está fazendo para guiar no inicio pq é bastante opção para escolher.

Em geral, eu quero muito descobrir novos sistemas para introduzir a jogadores novatos quando eles aparecerem pra mim.

Basically, the title says it all. Of the games you’ve tried introducing to new RPG players, which ones worked best:

• For people who are skeptical about playing (like a parent who gets lost when you talk about RPGs)?
• For people who aren't that into the game itself but want to have fun with friends?
• People who really want to play and are more theatrical?
• People who really want to play and are more into gaming?

Personally, I started playing RPGs using homebrew systems created by friends (usually boiling down to "roll a die; if you're good at it, you get a bonus" or "say what you want to do, and the GM invents bonuses and penalties"). Later, I moved straight to D&D 5e using only official rules, then started running D&D one-shots, and now I play in four simultaneous campaigns across different systems (though at least two are on hiatus).

My biggest issue is that I love *Tormenta20* (a Brazilian D&D-style game), but it’s a somewhat difficult and tedious system to teach a complete novice. I’ve noticed that games like *Daggerheart* and D&D 5e work better for beginners because the choices involved are simpler, whereas *T20* is better suited for someone who has already played at least ten sessions of D&D.

3DeT Victory (a generic Brazilian system based on anime, tokusatsu, and video games) was also okay, though it requires guidance from someone who knows what they're doing at the start, given the sheer number of options available.

Overall, I’m really keen to discover new systems to introduce to novice players when the opportunity arises.

I want to tell a story with my friends, but make it less about "Zero to Hero" and waaay more about "Hero to God".

The player aren't just special, they would already begin as kings, immortals, demigods, avatars, folk heroes, myths, etc.

Their adventures would then be the stuff of legends and myth, all throughout they would do the impossible like reversing rivers, hunting the beast of gods, escaping tricksters by out tricksing them