Tuesday 26 December 2017

Hacking LOTFP Classes Part 7: Putting Everything Together

This is the seventh and final part in an article series examining the LOTFP classes in order to design new ones. Part 6 is here.


So far in this article series I have spent a lot of time examining how classes function and work in LOTFP and OSR games in general. I have:

  1. Started with four elements of class design;
  2. Elaborated on the 6 different encounter types and matches them with 6 different classes;
  3. Talked a bit talked about base abilities and matched them with the classes;
  4. Examined the gameplay subsystems that make up LOTFP;
  5. Elaborated on class design ideals; 
  6. redesigned the cleric class.
I have yet to really delve into the nitty gritty of tearing apart and redesigning the classes in Lamentations of the Flame Princess. Now no longer! I shall get into the thick of it! I will try to be brief and hope that previous articles will give insight into my design decisions.

Core Parts of a Class

As outlined in the first article, in terms of the crunchy rules orientated parts of a class, I think there are two major elements of a class: 

Mechanical Bonuses: these tend to be things that any character can do but which the class gets a bonus at doing. These are generally numerical modifiers that rise as the character rises in level, things that are added to dice rolls to make a class thematically better at certain activities. It is stuff like the Fighters increased bonus to successfully hit in combat over other players in LOTFP. All players can fight, but generally the fighter is the best at it, etc.


Class abilities: these are parts of the game that are designed specifically for the class. They tend to be little subsets of the rules and tend to be things that only that class can do or only the class gets significantly better at in time. The Magic-Users ability to cast spells or the Specialists skills are examples of this. Additionally these subsystems tend to have unique mechanics when compared to each other. For example specialist skills function totally different than magic-user spells mechanically. You could resolve both with roll under X on a d6 but overall I feel like classes feel more unique and organically designed if their subsystems have unique mechanics.


As I detail the classes each one will largely be comprised of two sections that mirror the above distinctions. Before I start getting into details, lets continue building our chart so we have a bit of a birds eye view:



Encounter Type
Class
Ability Score
Mechanical Bonus (scales with level)
Class Ability
(unique subsystem of rules)
Combat
Fighter
Strength
Base attack bonus scales with level
Unique Fighting Styles
Trap
Thief
Dexterity
Skill points for specialist skills per level

Hazard
Ranger
Constituion


Trick
Wizard
Intelligence

Magic-User Spells
Anomaly
Cleric
Wisdom

Cleric Spells
Social
Bard
Charisma




Now I have filled in the above chart as it pertains to the current LOTFP classes. As you can see there are some gaps and two new classes entirely, the Ranger and the Bard. This kind of begs the question of does LOTFP need these classes? 

Overall I think yes. 

In terms of the 'Bard' there is a fair amount of social interaction in the game, due to the players being investigators at times where they're investigating what is going on and having to talk to NPC characters and piece together information. Additionally there are several gameplay subsystems, such as hiring and dealing with retainers, which I think would make for excellent class material and get the players to use those systems more.

In terms of the 'Ranger' after playing LOTFP for about a year I have found that people tend to double up on the Specialist class where very often the players will coordinate a bit so that two basic Specialist builds emerge; one leaning more towards being a typical thief, and one leaning more towards bushcraft--basically a ranger. 

The Ranger and Bard aren't new classes in the RPG world by any means. They have both been around for several decades. Instead of calling them Ranger and Bard, which would be a bit out of place in LOTFP’s setting I have imagined their concepts as such:

The Explorer

The ‘Ranger’ class is called the Explorer. They are an outdoor specialist, a loner who is good at hunting and skilled with firearms. They come from a more lower class background, usually having grown up in a rural setting. Explorers around the globe are discovering and opening up new lands. The Explorer class is not a big name explorer of history, at least not yet. They are a commoner who has decided to risk everything in an expedition or two either as part of a newly formed adventuring company, or having returned from an expedition and narrowly survived. 

The Courtier

The ‘Bard’ class is called the Courtier they have excellent leadership qualities and excel at leading others. They come from a more middle or upper class background, usually educated and trained in etiquette and the pastimes of the upper class such as hunting and riding. While they may seem well off, and are compared to your average commoner, their position in life is far from secure. They're family is well connected enough to be seen a member of the upper class, but not well off enough to be above or immune from the petty squabbles, backstabbing, ass-kissing, poisoning, blackmail, feuding, and other intrigue. 

The character may or may not have a title and their family usually has an estate but there are many people in line for the inheritance of it. Through their family connections and wealth the Courtier has been able to find themselves a position leading others in some major institution, perhaps belonging to the state like an officer in an army, trading company, hospital, etc. or perhaps a privately owned venture like mining or textiles. Overall they have a family name but have yet to amass any great personal power or wealth, at least not yet. They are essentially a front line manager, the person that all those high up in the institution send to attend to whatever situation or crisis that is currently going on in which they need someone at ground zero to handle something fucked up. 


Classes

Fighter
Ability Score: Strength
HD: 1d8

“Slaughter defines man’s history. Every new era is defined by the cruelty man inflicts upon man, or the victory fighting against it. To those in power, soldiers are but tools to shape the populace to their whims. The price that is paid to enact their desires is irrelevant to those giving the orders. In battle, there is no law. Man maims man. Horribly wounded men scream for mercy as their life’s blood pours out from cruelly hacked wounds. Their cries are ignored and their lives extinguished by those too cruel or frightened to listen. Poets and politicians speak of the honor of battle for a just cause, but in battle there is no justice. There is just death from metal implements that crush, slash, and stab. To be willing to slaughter at another’s command in the name of peace and nobility, to be hardened to the deaths of loved companions, to be immersed in this worthlessness of life, that is the life of a soldier. Fighters are these soldiers that have seen the cruelty of battle, have committed atrocities that in any just universe will damn them to Hell, and have survived.” -- LOTFP core rules.

Improved Melee Attack Bonus: the Fighters melee attack bonus (and only melee attack, not ranged) improves as they level like it currently does in the core rules. Except the bonus is calculated simply by adding their level to their strength modifier. For all other players their melee attack bonus it is their strength modifier.

Combat Options: the existing combat options have been modified to depend on the weapon setup that the person is using . The Fighter is essentially an expert in weapons and how to fight effectively with them. They are the tools of the trade for them. Anyone can can use a mace to flail at someone, but it takes someone really skilled and trained to know how to strike effectively with it. In this manner while all classes receive a bonus for certain weapon setup’s, the Fighter receives an additional bonus.


Combat Options
Style
All Classes (including fighter)
Only Fighter
Weapon and Shield
+1 to AC
Defend: +2 AC against ranged attacks.
Weapon in one hand. Other hand empty.
-
Rush: +1 to group initiative. 
Weapon in each hand (must be small or minor weapons).
+1 to attack
Press: roll both damage dice and use whichever is higher.
Great Weapon
Max weapon damage on natural 20.
Batter: each successful attack reduces enemy's AC by 1.

The reason I have combat options depend on weapon setup is because I find most players tend to forget to use the special moves available to them in combat, partially because LOTFP combat tends to be fairly short and abstracted. In my opinion it should remain short and abstracted. I don’t like to have a laundry list of moves a character can do in combat as I find it goes unused or it slows the game down.

As a conscious game design decision I think combat itself shouldn't be tactical because the game’s focus isn't on combat. Players should often seek to try and avoid combat. However, preparing for combat should be tactical. Thus before combat the players can decide what weapons they are going to use and how they are going to approach a fight if they want a specific bonus.

Combat itself is basically a frantic, terrifying, and bloody slugfest to me. Both sides quickly wail on each other until it’s become pretty clear after a few rounds that either you’re going to kill the other side or need to run away.




Specialist
Ability Score: Dexterity
HD: 1d6

“Whether inspired by greed, boredom, or idle curiosity, Specialists are professional explorers risking life and limb simply because a less active life is distasteful to them. In some ways this makes them the only sane and normal adventuring characters, but in other ways it makes them the most unusual.” -- LOTFP core rules.

Improved Saving Throws: the Specialist, being a resilient and hard to kill professional who is cunning and cautious in equal parts, is the only character to have their saving throws improve over time. All characters start with saving the following scores that they can assign to whatever saving throws they wish (18, 16, 14, 12, 10). At each level, including first, the Specialist receives 2 points to add to whatever saving throw they desire.

Specialist skills: the Specialist uses the same type of skill sub-system they do currently but with more sneaky type skills:

  • Tinkering: as it currently exists in the core rules. Deals with mechanical devices such as traps. 
  • Stealth: as it currently exists in the core rules. Deals with going about undetected.
  • Backstab: as it currently exists in the core rules. Deals with attacking with surprise and doing bonus damage because of it. Each pip serves as a damage multiplier. 
  • Misdirection: replaces sleight-of-hand and meant to broaden the skill from just pick-pocketing to encompass other hustler/swindler type activities where the character seeks to distract someone while they do something. 

All other classes receive 1 pip in them at the beginning of the game and they remain at 1 pip. The Specialist receives a number of pips equal to their dexterity modifier at the beginning of the game and at each level, including first, they receive one pip to add to whatever specialist skill they desire.




Explorer
Ability Score: Constitution
HD: 1d8

“A new world lies before you. Lands opening up with riches to plunder. Ancient dynasties and kingdoms being toppled. New lands filled with new people and cultures, some abhorrent, and strange. Opportunities abound for even the most lowly to make their name and fortune. The world is full of dark wonder and only the hardy survive it’s travails. Sailors dying of scurvy in foreign seas, cartographers dying of thirst in some far off desert, porters and pathfinders dying of malaria in the blackest jungle. Explorers are these lowly individuals who have decided to seek their fortune in the wilds of a new world.”   

Improved Ranged Attack bonus: Explorers are the only class whose ranged attack bonus improves over time. It is equal to their level plus their dexterity modifier. For all other classes it is equal only to their dexterity modifier. In this manner the Explorer is a bit like a ranged version of a Fighter. They can become firearms experts where they are good at shooting from ambush or getting a volley off before closing in and attacking. They have the same HD as a Fighter but no scaling melee attack bonus so while the can take some damage in close quarters they are not great at prolonged fights.

Explorer skills: the Explorer uses the same type of skill system as the Specialist but has more wilderness type skills and a firearms skill:

  • Trapping: craft or set up traps, tracking, knowledge of habits and handling of animals and local flora and fauna.
  • Bushcraft: functions the same in the core rules. Used to survive in wilderness, find food and water, and construct a shelter, knowledge of local terrain, etc.
  • Traverse: able to traverse rough terrain including swim across fast moving water, climb rough rock walls, clear rockfalls, walk along narrow ledges, navigate through rapids on a boat, and set up specialized equipment in order to help others traverse terrain. Such as constructing a rough rope bridge or setting up rope for descending or ascending.
  • Firearms: knowledge of firearms, their use and maintenance, and experience and skill in them. I have changed how reloading firearms work in combat. On a character's turn they can make a Firearms skill check to see if they are able to reload. If they fail they can try again next turn if they wish. They can also make a Firearms check in combat to try and hit a specific target in melee. If they fail who they hit is randomly determined.

All other classes receive 1 pip in them at the beginning of the game and they remain as 1 pip. The Explorer receives pips equal to their constitution modifier at the beginning of the game and at each level, including first, they receive one pip to add to whatever Explorer skill they desire.




Magic-User
Ability Score: Intelligence
HD: 1d4

“Most of the world lies sheltered from the existence of magic, encountering it only as it victimizes them. They huddle in their churches for comfort and trade their freedom and dignity to a ruler as they beg for protection, all for the fear of the supernatural which they do not, and cannot, understand. Magic-Users choose a different path. Instead of cowering away from the darkness, they revel in it. They see the forces of magic as a new frontier to explore, a new tool for the attainment of power and knowledge. If it blackens the soul to equal that of any devil, it is but a small price to pay.” LOTFP core rules.

Improved Cast Spell: for magic I’m using the leveless spell system described Vagina's are Magic with an added 'Cast Spell' score and the change that all characters are able to cast spells from scrolls if they have a high enough Cast Spell score.

All characters have a Cast Spell score. However Magic-Users are the only class who’s Cast Spell score improves over time. When a character casts a spell (either from scroll or spellbook) the level they cast it is equal to it's Cast Spell score. For Magic-Users their cast spell score is equal to their intelligence ability modifier plus their level to their Cast Spell score. For all other characters their Cast Spell score is equal to their intelligence modifier.


Spellbook: the Magic-User starts off with a spellbook with 1 + intelligence modifier randomly determined spells. They also gain one randomly determined spell per level. They are the only character who is able to transfer spells from scrolls to spellbooks and thus can permanently learn more spells. All other characters can only cast spells from scrolls.




Cleric
Ability Score: Wisdom
HD: 1d6

“Some religions teach the people how to receive the grace of their loving deity. Some religions teach the people how to survive the wrath of a cruel and vicious deity. Some religions simply strive to teach the truth about creation. All religions serving true powers have one thing in common: orders of those selected few who are not mere priests, but spiritual warriors endowed by their deity with mystic powers. These few are known as Clerics.” -- LOTFP core rules.

Improved Lore: Lore is a new score that I have added to determine a character's knowledge of the otherworldly, supernatural, strange, weird, or anomalous. A successful Lore roll gives a character information about what might be going on or an inkling of a danger they may face. For a full explanation of how Lore is used see the Lore section at the end of this article.

I view the Cleric, who is a scholar of the church and has read the chronicles of missionaries to strange foreign places, and has faith in the supernatural, an expert in Lore. Unlike the men of reason of the enlightenment, the cleric has faith in the unseen and knows that evil can take many strange forms. Their Lore score is equal to their level plus their wisdom modifier. For all other classes it is equal only to their wisdom modifier.

Relics and Piety: I don’t use a leveless system of magic for the cleric like I do for the Magic-User, instead I have reworked the clerical system of magic with the inclusion of Piety and Relics. Piety functions kind of like hit points. The cleric has a current level of Piety and a max piety. A cleric's max piety is equal to their wisdom ability modifier plus their level.

Piety can be gained and lost by the cleric committing immoral/moral actions according to the their religion. For a cleric to cast a spell it costs 1 point of piety. They get one point of piety a day by taking the time to meditate and pray to their deity.

Clerics don’t have holy symbols. Instead they have relics. In order to cast a spell they need to be cast through a relics, where the cleric is invoking the miraculous nature of the relic. For the reasoning behind this see the Piety and Relics section at the end of this article. The cleric starts off the game with a tier one relic and each tier of relic grants access to an increased level of cleric spells. As long as they have their relic they can invoke it’s miraculous nature and cast any cleric spell from it’s level or below on the cleric spell lists in the core book.




Courtier
Ability Score: Charisma
HD: 1d6

“You are the middle child of society. Not high born enough to have your position ensured, not low born enough to live the simple common life, what privileges your noble birth has afforded you have granted you with many more difficulties and complications in turn. Complications and difficulties that are often deadly as those of more noble birth around you fight for power and command you to take care of all the details of their plans and involve you in their endless power plays.”

Leadership: to help facilitate social interaction in the game I have implemented a leadership score. Leadership is used by a character when they try to rally their comrades to make a monster run away in combat, to determine NPC reaction, and in hiring Hirelings. For full details of how it all works see the Leadership section at the end of this article. A characters leadership score is is equal to their level plus their charisma modifier. For all other classes it is equal only to their charisma modifier. Additionally Courtiers receive one free hireling at level 1 that has no monthly cost.

Insight: the Courtier has had many years of practice of dealing with people, sensing their motivations, and sussing out information through gossip, spies, and bribes. They have become very insightful and whenever they encounter another NPC for the first time (be it a monster they can bargain with in a dungeon, a King in a throne room, or common peasant on the street) they can ask the GM to answer a number of the following questions equal to their level. The Referee must answer truthfully as the NPC would know it to be true (although they can be curt in their answer) and must answer regardless of how the NPC feels about the Courtier or the party:

Courtier Questions:

  • What does this NPC fear the most?
  • Who is this NPC greatest ally?
  • Who is this NPC greatest enemy?
  • Who does this NPC love?
  • What does the NPC treasure above all else?
  • What is the most valuable thing the NPC possess?
  • What event in their life will the NPC never forget?
  • What would the NPC like to achieve?
  • Who does the NPC want revenge on?
  • What does the NPC delight in? 



New Systems


Relics and Piety

Piety: As previously described in the description of the Cleric class Piety functions kind of like hit points. You have a current level of Piety and a max piety. A cleric's max piety is equal to their wisdom ability modifier plus their level.

Piety can be gained and lost by committing immoral/moral actions according to the cleric's religion. The cleric gets one point of piety per day when they take time to pray. Piety can be spent to cast divine spells from relics where each spell costs a point of piety. When a cleric is out of piety they can no longer cast spells.

Relics:  the reason I have clerics cast spells through relics in my game is because the source of the clerics magic has always felt a bit at odds with LOTFP real world 17th century setting to me. I have clerics invoke their magic through relics because clerics are not special people with some kind of innate or holy connection to the divine. They are instead your average village priest. However, there are people who do have an innate or holy connection to the divine, saints. When they die they leave behind relics, and these relics can be invoked by a member of the clergy to perform miracles. I did not come up with this idea. I got it from Burgs & Bailiffs: Trinity - The Poor Pilgrim's Almanack.

Types of Relics: in my game there are 7 tiers of relics. They are loosely based off of the actual Catholic church's organization of relics.



Relic/Spell Level
Description
1
Any object that is touched a relic of greater importance. Most of these relics are small pieces of cloth, though in the first millennium oil was popular and some reliquaries have holes for oil to be poured in and out again. Many people call the cloth touched to the bones of saints "ex brandea".
2
Items that the saint owned or frequently used by a saint, for example, a crucifix, rosary, book, etc. Sometimes part of an item that the saint wore (a shirt, a glove, etc.) 
3
The physical remains of a minor saint who lived an exemplary Christian life. 
4
The physical remains of a saint who lived an exemplary Christian life and died for their faith as an important martyr. 
5
The physical remains of an important saint, generally an: influential theologian, a royal who was a defender of Christianity or who converted his kingdom to Christianity, or the first missionary to successfully spread Christianity to a new region. These reclis tend to take the form of the saints status in life. For instance, King St. Stephen of Hungary's right forearm is especially important because of his status as a ruler. A famous theologian's head may be his most important relic. 
6
The physical remains of one of the twelve apostles or an important biblical figure, generally alive during the time of Jesus.
7
Items directly associated with the events of Christ's own life (hay manger, bits of cross, shroud, sandals, foreskin). 

Gaining new Relics: a level one cleric would start the game off with a level one relic that would grant them access to their first level spells. As they grow in level if they want access to their higher level spells they are going to have to find a new relic, either through theft, reward, or seeking out a lost or stolen relic. It is also important to remember, that during this time relics were often an important source of income and prestige for a church. Their theft would be considered sacrilegious and the relic would be considered a ‘hot’ item. The church would likely pay people to track it down and retrieve it.


Lore

To me, with the style of the adventures, and advice given in the Grindhouse Referee’s Book,  LOTFP is a slightly different different game from your typical OSR D&D game. Due to the influence of horror and weird literature and film, I find LOTFP to be a bit more of an investigative game. At the heart of each adventure there is generally something horrible and weird that has happened or is happening. This often forms the situation which the players are exploring as part of the adventure.

I see the characters as investigators, in the same way that if you read the classic Dracula, all the characters in it are trying to piece together their various accounts, old myths and legends, and other information, in order to destroy Dracula. To help facilitate this I have introduced the Lore score.

I view the Cleric, who is a scholar of the church and who has read the chronicles of the church about strange foreign places, devils and demons, etc. and has faith in the supernatural, an expert in Lore. Unlike the godless men of science who look down upon the supernatural with disdain, or refuse to believe it outright. The cleric has their faith in the unseen and knows better than to assume that rationality alone can prevail against the evil things which reside in the darkness. A Cleric's lore score is equal to their level plus their wisdom modifier. For all other classes it is equal only to their wisdom modifier.

Using Lore: whenever a player encounters something that is otherworldly, supernatural, strange, weird, or anomalous; be it a creature, place, object, person, etc. They can make a lore check by asking a question and rolling 1d20 and adding their lore score. The question can be really general, such as; “does my character know what cult this symbol belongs to?” to something really specific; “Do I know what is a weakness is for those strange insect creatures from another planet?”

The Referee then comes up with a target number based upon their question and the following chart:



Question
Target
Basic or general information that the populace of the area would know but the characters do not.
5
Information that a few old wise people would know, or could be found within a few musty tomes.
10
Very specific information, either largely lost to time, existing in one source such as a single book looked away, or something that only a few living people would know.
15

The Referee does not tell the player the target number they have to roll above. If the player successfully rolls above the target number the Referee answers their question. If the player fails their lore check then the Referee still answers their question but is free to falsify as much or as little of the information as they wish. Knowledge of the world during this area is not perfect and very often there is a lot of false information found in the myths, legends, and lore that may surround something.

Furthermore, in either case, success or failure, the Referee is encouraged to make things up and improvise upon whatever material they are using to run the adventure. For example if a player asked what the insect creatures secret weakness was and they rolled a 20, but the insects don’t have a weakness the Referee is encouraged to make one up such as the insect creatures have a weakness to cold because they come from a really hot desert like dimension as described in the writings of a mad desert hermit who saw them in his dreams. Let the game take a new turn in this manner.

The lore check doesn't determine how much information a player gets from a Referee. It only determines how much of that information is true and how much is false. Regardless of the roll a a Referee must give out a few facts in response to the players question.

Astute players will probably realize that in general if they roll high in their Lore check, and ask basic questions, the information they receive will probably be factual. The Referee shouldn't hide this from them and should explain the Lore rules to them when they make a check. Overall a Lore check isn't meant to be an opportunity for the Referee to screw over the players (although it can and should happen at times). Overall, players should want to use their Lore ability. The Lore mechanic is meant to be a collaborative mechanic that helps facilitate the referee sharing information with the players. It serves as a way for them to give information to players in bits and pieces, rather than all at once such as having an NPC tell them everything about something. By making it more player facing, and player driven, it allows players to get information at their own pace as they investigate things. It also tries to keep things lively and interesting through having the lore of the game made through play and it being somewhat unpredictable and reflecting real world circumstances.



Leadership

Instead of having three separate subsystems to handle most social interaction type stuff (monster morale, hireling loyalty, and NPC reactions) as outlined in the core rules, I have rolled all of them into the following chart and leadership mechanic.

Each character has a leadership score. For the Courtier it is equal to their charisma modifier plus their level. For all other classes it is equal to their charisma modifier.



3d6
Morale (Enemies)
Loyalty (hirelings)
Reaction (NPCs)
3
Fight (50%)
Flee (9.25%)
Trecherous (1.84%)
4
5
Hostile (7.39%)
6
7
Shaken (40.75%)
Rude (16.66%)
8
9
Distrustful (24.07%)
10
11
Flee (50%)
Steadfast (40.75%)
Welcoming (24.07%)
12
13
Talkative (16.66%)
14
15
Brave (9.25%)
Helpful (7.39%)
16
17
Enamoured (1.84%)
18

Each column on the above chart is rolled on under different circumstances to determine how something reacts and the characters Leadership score is added to the roll.

Morale: a player may attempt to frighten away an enemy or enemies in combat when it looks like the enemy or enemies are beginning to lose. To do so the Referee rolls 3d6 and adds the players leadership score and subtracts the enemies Hit Dice. If a morale score is given for the enemy in published material (generally a number from 1 to 12, with higher being better) divide that score by 2 and subtract it from the roll.

Loyalty and Hirelings: when hirelings are hired they Referee rolls 3d6 and adds the characters leadership score. If the roll is above the middle line the hireling accepts the job, if it is below, they don’t accept the job. Paying additional money can give a character a bonus to the roll. The result of the roll, beyond being above the line, determines the hirelings starting loyalty.

Testing Loyalty: Whenever a hireling is put in danger or their loyalty is tested a roll is made. If it is in any category above their current loyalty, their loyalty moves from their current loyalty to the one directly above it. If it is any category below, they move from their current loyalty to the one directly below. As indicated, if it moves to the bottom most category the hireling flees.

NPC Reaction: every time the players engage socially with NPCs, be they beggers or be they kings, the chart is rolled on when the player first encounters them to determine their beginning disposition. Yes this can drastically affect entire adventure hooks where a King that was supposed to be friendly towards a player to give them a quest, turns out to hate them. Or a character who you wanted to be a treacherous bad guy actually falls in love with a player. This is meant to keep NPCs unpredictable and stop them from being simple walking billboards of information or quests. By making the reaction random and not having a neutral reaction, it forces the Referee to come up with motivations for why an NPC is reacting that way towards the players when first meeting them. This makes the NPCs more lively and interesting. Maybe the King hates the players because they’re common filth, maybe he hates them because he’s heard about how they epicly fucked up their last adventure etc. It also forces the players to actively engage with the NPC if they seek to improve the NPCs starting disposition or want to avoid it changing.


Thursday 21 December 2017

Hacking LOTFP Classes Part 6: Redesigning the Cleric Class

This is the sixth part in an article series examining the LOTFP classes in order to design new ones. Part 5 is here.






Before I go about designing new classes and putting everything together that I have discussed so far, I'd first like to examine the cleric.

This is because while I may tweak aspects of the Magic-User, Specialist, and Fighter, in my next article, overall I think those classes are pretty solid in Lamentations of the Flame Princess. The only class which I think needs a bit of redesign is the cleric as I find it a bit of a problematic class. It's partially why I think James Raggi dropped clerics entirely in his playtest document in favour of letting the magic-user being able to cast traditional cleric spells. 

While I am critical of the cleric class. I think to remove it entirely, or roll it into the Magic-User class, would be a mistake.

This is because out of every group that I have played in or been part of, there is always someone who genuinely enjoys playing the cleric. Most often I think because for them it's simply fun to be the ‘good’ guy. Some people may not care about reoplaying their character in a 'moral' manner or give much thought to the morality of gameplay actions, but for the type of player who likes to play the cleric, I find it's often an important and enjoyable part of the game to them. 

Additionally, as the GM, I find the inclusion of a cleric in a party, makes the game more interesting as it adds a moral dimension to the parties actions that may not exist otherwise. Instead of being purely cutthroat, the players have to at least consider what would be the moral thing to do, even if they decide against it. This often adds depth to the game.

From a game design perspective I think the cleric is a hugely problematic class but one whose problems stem more from game design things than not being fun. I’d much rather fix the problematic parts of it and have it a more robust class, then remove what I think is a fundamentally interesting and popular class to play.

Overall I think there are four main problems with the cleric class as it pertains to LOTFP. I’m going to outline these problems and solutions for them here at length and present more concrete mechanics in the next section when I tweak all the classes and design two new ones. 


Problem 1: The source of their magic

In LOTFP all of the other classes are fairly normal in the sense that they are individuals who are assumed to be average commoners of the 17th century world. Basically regular people who are just a little more insane or thrill seeking than your average peasant. As outlined in the ideals, none of the classes have any special inborn super powers. 

The one that you could make a case for being special is the magic-user, but this is generally explained in the sense that the magic of LOTFP is not something inborn. It resembles real world 17th century magic where if you've read an actual historical grimoire or read up on occult systems of magic like Enochian magic or Kabbalah; it’s confusing and requires a lot of study to comprehend. The Magic-User is kind of portrayed as a scholar of the occult who, more often than not, is dealing with forces beyond their comprehension. They tap into occult forces of the universe, forces that the magic-user is never quite sure exactly how they work, as they are never quite certain that the system of magic they have studied actually is correct in its revelations about the workings of the universe or not, they just know it works by it's effects. There’s always an element of danger in not really knowing the why, only the how, which is why most people don’t dabble in magic. 

However the cleric is a bit more problematic as their source of magic is divinely orientated. It’s not musty tomes which contain strange rituals that communicate with occult forces to bring about strange results. They literally have a channel to communicate with their god, or at least this is how the cleric is portrayed in most RPGs. In this manner I think there is an underlying contradiction in the cleric class in LOTFP. Are they your common village priest? Or are they more special, something more akin to a saint who can actually commune with their god? 

Solution:

While this is a tricky problem I think there is an elegant solution. I would rule that all clerics are village priests. They don’t have a special connection with the divine, any more than your average priest would. But while this average village priest may not have a special connection with the divine, there have been and are rare people who can, saints. In my version of the 17th century setting for LOTFP saints are able to cast genuine miracles (clerical spells). When they die their remains are turned into relics (as they are in real life), these relics are able to do wondrous things like cure disease and wounds.   

There are estimated to be over 10,000 saints in the real world catholic church. That’s a lot of relics. So many that people probably wouldn't go few missing, a few which end up in the hands of a local adventuring priest.

For full disclosure sake, I did not come up with this idea. I originally found it in Burgs & Bailiffs: Trinity - The Poor Pilgrim's Almanack. Which has information on relics and pilgrimages and using them in an RPGs. 



Problem 2: The System of their magic

I find how clerical magic is ‘gamified’ in most RPGs to be pretty lackluster. Most times their magic functions pretty much the same as the magic-users. Yes there may be slight differences but largely the cleric spell systems are just the magic-users copy-pasted with differently spell lists.

Solution:

I think tying cleric spells to holy relics is a much more interesting system of magic for the cleric and one that distinguished them from the magic-user. The magic-user is able to cast a certain amount of spells per day from their spellbook. If you’re using Raggi’s new level less system, it’s 1 spell per level. 

In contrast I would keep cleric spells leveled and not use a leveless system. But instead of a cleric automatically being able to cast all spells of a certain cleric spell level once they get to a certain level the cleric can cast any spell of the level or lower associated with their relic. The actual catholic church already kind of has a system for the power and magnitude of relics with three different tiers. It’s pretty easy to expand these 3 tiers into 7 and associate one with each level of cleric spells:



Relic/Spell Level
Description
1
Any object that is touched a relic of greater importance. Most of these relics are small pieces of cloth, though in the first millennium oil was popular and some reliquaries have holes for oil to be poured in and out again. Many people call the cloth touched to the bones of saints "ex brandea".
2
Items that the saint owned or frequently used by a saint, for example, a crucifix, rosary, book, etc. Sometimes part of an item that the saint wore (a shirt, a glove, etc.) 
3
The physical remains of a minor saint who lived an exemplary Christian life. 
4
The physical remains of a saint who lived an exemplary Christian life and died for their faith as an important martyr. 
5
The physical remains of an important saint, generally an: influential theologian, a royal who was a defender of Christianity or who converted his kingdom to Christianity, or the first missionary to successfully spread Christianity to a new region. These reclis tend to take the form of the saints status in life. For instance, King St. Stephen of Hungary's right forearm is especially important because of his status as a ruler. A famous theologian's head may be his most important relic. 
6
The physical remains of one of the twelve apostles or an important biblical figure, generally alive during the time of Jesus.
7
Items directly associated with the events of Christ's own life (hay manger, bits of cross, shroud, sandals, foreskin). 


A level one cleric would start the game off with a level one relic that would grant them access to their first level spells. As they grow in level if they want access to their higher level spells they are going to have to find a new relic, either through theft, reward, or seeking out the lost or stolen remains of a saint etc. I think this will make the gameplay more interesting for the cleric and a little more like the magic-user who has to quest for new spells. It also creates some interesting moral decisions, if a cleric steals a major relic from a cathedral to defeat some great evil would it be considered a moral action? Would the church approve? 

It is also important to remember, in this regard, that during this time relics were often an important source of income for a church. Their theft would be considered sacrilegious and the relic would be considered a ‘hot’ item. The church would likely pay people to track it down and retrieve it.


Problem 3: Enforcing morality

There often is a sense of morality about the cleric class. They are often seen as the class who started adventuring for reasons other than money, and the class that often has to follow some kind of morality to maintain ‘character’. However most RPGs don't really handle this very well. The closest they seem to come is an alignment system that often has no bearing on the game.

Solution: 

Instead of having a system of three alignments, Law, Neutral, Chaos, the cleric has a religion they belong to and a piety score. Piety can be gained and lost for by committing moral/immoral actions. What determines a moral action is the character's religion. The DM may have to research what would be considered immoral/moral in the time/setting the game takes place to get an idea of how to adjudicate players actions. Overall the cleric would receive piety for pious acts and get a default of one point for taking time to pray each day. Casting a spell using a relic costs one piety point. 


Problem 4: Types of religions and different clerics 

Some RPGs let your cleric follow different gods that give different abilities and spells based upon the philosophy and religious doctrine of that god. I find this often leads to such open ended bloat that the cleric class begins to lose all meaning. This is especially seen in 5th edition where I still don’t really understand what the difference is between a cleric who worships a god of war and has powers related to it, and a paladin. Yes, I understand that these two classes would have mechanical differences in little numbers here and there, but thematically they’re kind of the same class. 

I find allowing multiple gods and a lot of customization creates versions of the cleric where each is almost it’s own class. Most other classes don’t really work this way. You don’t get unique powers if you’re a necromancer or a pyromancer, you’re still a magic-user. You can portray yourself and roleplay one. But mechanically you are the same as other magic-users. 

Solution

I would rule that all religions a cleric can belong to are organized religions. That more unorganized religions would basically need an entirely different class to represent well. I would define organized religion as any religion that has an organized hierarchical structure and to some extent, has political clout.

This is something that I find is often overlooked. Religion in the 17th century wasn't just a personal matter. Religion was highly political in nature and most religious institutions had governmental responsibilities along with religious ones. There was often very little separation between church and state. If you were part of a clergy, as a cleric would be, then you would have higher ups you’d be responsible to and a fair amount of authority that the image of your office would provide. 

Most RPGs don’t model this at all. I feel the best way to think about a clerics authority is to not think of them as a priest but as an learned authority figure. They would have probably received a better education than your common peasant and their office comes with a sense of public recognition. People would turn to them for both civil and academic matters.


I think this is a missed opportunity and one that can really be taken advantage of in LOTFP with its’ real world setting. I view the Cleric, who is a scholar of the church and has read the chronicles of missionaries to strange foreign places, who is privy to the libraries of the church, and who is part of an organization concerned in things not of this earth, to be an expert in the supernatural. Unlike the men of reason of the enlightenment, the cleric has faith in the unseen and knows that evil can take many strange forms. In this manner the cleric is a bit of an agent of the church, a little more like an investigative monk and a little less mace wielding holy warrior.





Next is, Part 7: Putting Everything Together