Thinking about it recently, I realized that the classes and subclasses (which are included in/planned for TNP) isn't something I've laid out succinctly, or in detail -- probably since the current slates were finalized, way back when. Today I'd like to remedy that, and just give a general, overall update on where class designs are at.
Getting back to Essentials
Now, this may come as a shock to some people, but I don’t distinctly think of TNP as being a “spiritual successor” to 4th Edition D&D. In fact, I’ve previously described it on this very blog as being “sort of a love letter to Essentials” much the same way that the designers of 13th Age describe their game as “a love letter to D&D.” Perhaps a more accurate way of putting it, is that TNP is meant to be something like “what (I think) Essentials should have been.” All this is to say, there was consideration given to including as many of the classes as possible from 4e, in some fashion or another -- such as by using subclasses. (5th Edition follows this same route; the easiest example I can think of is how the 'Favored Soul' class from 3.5 was folded into being a Sorcerer 'Divine Soul' subclass in 5e.) If you want to read into which classes have been left out, along with some context as to why, check out this post right here.
In alphabetical order, I'm going to start with the classes which are considered "playtest ready" (although, as you might infer from a previous blogpost, the overarching design ethos for the reserve mechanic is still subject to change -- which would have knock-on effects w/r/t daily or encounter powers being added to classes.)
The Acrobat (d4, d8) -- Skill Expert
This class came about from my idea to include a simple archer class in the game; this was around the time that there were two full slates of classes, with Fighter (being split off from 'Warrior') and Archer being the beginnings of the third slate at the time. A bunch of classes were rejuggled and the slates were realigned a bit once all 3 started to take shape, part of which involved combining the Archer with the Martial Artist (formerly a Monk subclass) to create the basis of the current Acrobat class. Ultimately, this creates a rogue-ish skill expert class that comes in a melee flavour and a ranged flavour -- a recurring theme you'll see, as we continue through the list.
Since the Acrobat is meant to be more of a simple/generic class that you can reflavour however you'd like, one thing that makes it unique is that ir's the only class which can pick from any power source. Part of the intent with that is to cover the design space of some of the classes that didn't make the final cut -- such as the Executioner and the Seeker. To that end, I'm considering giving the Acrobat some different/special mechanics depending on the power source chosen; this would be another feature to make the Acrobat unique among other classes. As of this writing, that is not yet included in the 'playtest-ready' version.
The Adventurer (d6, d8) -- Jack of All Trades
When this class was originally introduced as "The Warrior" (not to be confused with the earlier Warriors, which eventually morphed into the Barbarian) it was essentially the result of attempting to spin off the Scout subclass into its own class. Earlier in the designs, it had moved around from being a Rogue subclass and a Ranger subclass -- ultimately the Scout is sort of the two-weapon fighting version of both/either; in Essentials, it was a Ranger subclass, and in 3.5 it was (effectively) an alternate Rogue class. With the slates being restructured around power sources, the Primal/Martial (i.e. 3rd) slate needed a social-focused character option; this is when the Skald was spun off from the Bard. Being a class in the post-essentials book Heroes of the Feywild made it not so much of a stretch as a candidate for a slate with this kind of focus. Building out the Skald as a two-weapon fighter makes it a bit distinct from its 4e inspiration, but leans into other origins (such as the Barbarian shouts, from Diablo 2) as mentioned in the linked post.
The Barbarian (d10, d12) -- Blade Master
This is one of the simpler classes within the designs. As such, the Totemic Warrior is more or less the 'tank' subclass, and the Berserker is the 'striker' subclass. One thing I decided to do with classes in the Blade Master category, is to let them borrow from other classes in their slate, for their class specialization at level 1. As such, the Barbarian has the option to take a (modified) Guardian domain, or an Adventurer role as their specialization, allowing them to lean more heavily into tank/striker, or dabble between the two. This idea of "class = role, but also role = role" can be seen a little bit in the Strike! RPG, which also owes a bit of parentage to 4th Edition D&D.
The Bard (d8) -- Jack of All Trades
Subclasses for the Bard amount to specialization in either knowledge/mental skills (Scholar) or physical and social skills (Performer). As a "jack of all trades" class, I wanted there to be sort of a trade off between the two disciplines, rather than being potentially great at almost everything -- which is more in line with a skill expert class. Essentially, it's a split between the "bardic knowledge" sort of bard, and the musician/acrobat sort of bard. The roles for the bard class essentially provide a signature combat spell, to diversify things a little further; the bard (like most classes in its slate) will also be able to dabble in the Sage domains, if they wish.
The Fighter (d6, d12) -- Jack of All Trades
Originally conceived as a simpler class (alongside the Archer) and using only the d6, the Fighter morphed to include the d12 (eliminating the need for 2d6 mechanics) once classes started adopting a 2nd class die. The Brute is the high-HP/high-damage subclass, whereas Soldier is more the high-AC/weaponmaster subclass. Similarly to the Barbarian, roles allow this class the option to lean more heavily into one specialization or the other. Fighting styles add another layer of customization, letting you switch up tactics during combat.
The Guardian (d4, d6) -- Ideologue
Pretty straightforward, here: this class is built off of the Warden (defender) and Shaman (leader) classes, from 4th Edition. I view Shaman as almost a more-magical Warlord, and the TNP iteration leans into having them either cause spirits to possess an ally, or having the Shaman themselves doing the possession. Likewise, the Warden feels like a TNP Fighter (particularly being a d6 class) just with all the martial tinkering stripped down and replaced with more Primal mechanics. It's also worth mentioning that between Shaman and Skald, this slate ends up with two subclasses that can serve as the main healers.
The Paladin (d6, d10) -- Blade Master
I had a lot of fun playing/shoe-horning/turd-polishing the Blackguard in 4e, so I knew I was always going to include it in TNP. It was more a question of whether it'd be on the Divine slate or the Shadow slate (possibly under a Death Knight class, or something similar); it ended up being the former, as a subclass under the Paladin. Generally, the Paladin class in TNP is heavily influenced by Diablo 2 (albeit without the ethos of having 20 different auras to pick from.) The Holy Warrior subclass I'd say borrows ideas from the Hospitaler paragon path (4e) and is at least something of spiritual successor to the 'Oath of Devotion' (5e). For the Paladin's class specialization (as part of the Blade Master paradigm) they get the option to take either a Fighter role, or a (modified) Cleric domain.
The Ranger (d8, d10) -- Skill Expert
With the two-weapon Ranger effectively spun off onto the Adventurer class, the other obvious Ranger subclasses are the archery-focused Hunter and the melee-focused Beastmaster. This also leans into the idea of having only two subclasses per each class (while class specializations expanded, with most classes having at least two, but often 3 or 4.) Much like its Essentials namesake, the Hunter is something of a "martial-controller" build, but the overall Ranger class is geared towards the 'striker' role, particularly being a d10 class. If there's anything I might want to add onto the class, it'd be something like the 'Wilderness Knacks' of the Essentials versions.
The Rogue (d6) -- Skill Expert
At one point, the Rogue and the Trickster were separate d6 classes, with the latter being sort of a generic charisma-based spellcasting class -- having both Bard and Sorcerer as subclasses. With the dice being "cast" in certain "roles" (something I've done multiple posts on, over the years) it seemed obvious to move Bard off of a striker die like d6 and onto more of a support die, like d8. (In fact, at one point in the designs, Bard was effectively the "charisma subclass" of the d4 Mage class -- precursor to the Sage.) Suffice it to say, with all the reshuffling that went on, Sorcerer ended up paired with the Assassin, to make the current Rogue class. Within a slate based on magic and shadow, this seemed like a pretty good fit, with the Sorcerer as the 'AoE' or 'blaster' striker, and Assassin as the single-target striker.
Back in the 'beta 3' version, the Rogue had Scoundrel, Scout, and Assassin as its subclasses; effectively, the Scoundrel features were mostly subsumed into the base Rogue class. As such, I'm leaning towards renaming the Assassin subclass to Scoundrel, leaning on its usage in Knights of the Old Republic (and similarly derived Star Wars tabletop RPGs) as the name for its skill expert-type class.
The Sage (d4) -- Ideologue
In the original slate, "Mage" was the name of the de-facto Wizard class. Various subclasses have come and gone since then, including Swordmage and Bard. When the 3rd slate was finalized and everything was reshuffled to line up by power sources, Monk was stapled onto the Mage, which then morphed into the Sage. I felt that splitting the more magical, mystical "Ki Master" off from the Martial Artist made sense, and reimagining Wizard schools to also fit with the Monk worked pretty seamlessly. Again, this is a shining example where a class consists of a melee subclass and a ranged subclass, similar to the Acrobat.
The Sage is the only Ideologue class which has 3 domains to pick from; these options have always been there, basically from the outset of the designs, and I didn't see any sense in reducing it down to 2, just for the sake of uniformity. Also, because the Bard and Spellbinder classes are able to dip into Sage domains, it makes sense to have more variety rather than less.
Work in Progress
Now as I've said, the following classes are not playtest ready, and as such, features mentioned here are either not complete or not implemented at all -- and so while the stated intentions may be to do things a certain way, they may ultimately not turn out as such. So take this all with a grain of salt.
The Cleric (d4, d10) -- Ideologue
While not a direct descendant of the Warpriest, the Battle Priest is meant to be the archetypical melee Cleric. Likewise, the Invoker is meant more as a generic 'lazer cleric' -- although with the reworks of reserves still ongoing, there might be room to implement some of the unique mechanics the class had in 4e. Healing will be a baseline ability for the core Cleric class, so both subclasses will be able to fill that role. In the previous iteration, the Cleric also had domains (War, Life) as their class specialization, with their features gaining different riders dependent on (potentially) both their chosen subclass and their domain. This became a bit messy/clunky, so part of finalizing the class will be trying to clean that up, hopefully without sacrificing any functionality or interesting build options.
The Druid (d4, d12) -- Disciple
What started off as a generic "summoner" class (with essentially Druid and Necromancer subclasses) was eventually reshuffled into the Druid class, with Shapeshifter and Summoner as its subclasses. Like the Cleric, this class will also have healing as a baseline ability, but there will likely be some limitation to its use while shapeshifted. There was originally some thought given to structuring Druid similarly to Paladin or Barbarian (borrowing from other classes for their specialization) but eventually the Disciple category was reworked, to function off of roles. Druids "forms" will function as roles, gaining one as their specialization at 1st level, with the option to gain others as they level. I'm still debating if there might be something else to add onto the class. Also, implementing d12 into the class mechanics hasn't been done yet; that'll be a huge step, so hopefully it doesn't cause too many problems.
The Occultist (d10) -- Disciple
The previous iteration was a bit of a departure from what had come before it; I had kind of just said "screw it" and redid the designs more or less from scratch. What resulted was essentially an Occultist class, having Necromancer and Warlock as "roles" (providing different effects to cursed targets, and a few different combat actions) and with the class having both "Animate Dead" and "Eldritch Blast" as baseline abilities. With the whole design ethos pivoting towards all classes having two subclasses, I think I want the next rework to return Necromancer and Warlock to being subclasses, and layer on different role features (as a Disciple class) on top of that -- which may result in the different "spells" effectively becoming role actions, similar to how it works for the Bard. There's also a question of what "something else" the class might need to have, as is the case with the Druid.
The Spellbinder (d12) -- Blade Master
This class has always been a combination of magical swordmen, specifically the Swordmage (from 4e's Forgotten Realms Player's Guide) and the Hexblade (from the Essentials book Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms) Leaning into the spellbinder name, I also built in a focus on sort of hypnotizing and/or blinding opponents. When it came time to make a tanky, d12 class for the 'magic & shadow' slate, this type of class was the obvious choice (aside from possibly the previously-mentioned Death Knight idea.)
Looking at the previous draft, I think the class is (overall) more or less complete(?) and probably just needs to be updated to the current formatting. The only thing missing (to bring it in line with the other Blade Master classes) would be another specialization option; currently the Spellbinder only has Sage domains as their options, whereas the other two Blade Masters get to pick from domains, and one other thing. Maybe once the Occultist roles get worked out, those could be added in, here.
The Warlord (d8, d12) -- Disciple
Warlord is actually a class that is missing subclasses altogether. It has roles, and it also has the "something else" (namely, Combat Maneuvers) that other Disciple classes are missing. My intent is to add in a Tactician subclass (which is more of a frontline, melee-focused idea) as well as a Strategist subclass (more of a backline, support/commander sort of idea.) What form that will take in terms of actual class features is yet to be ironed out; I'll want to go back and mine the various 4e Warlord subtypes for ideas.
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Apologies for the delay in posting, but hopefully the deep dive makes up for it.
Next post is due on March 15th!
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