Trades and Disciplines

Maxwell, from 21st Century D&D commented on my last post about quickly creating NPCs, asking about my breakdown of potential character abilities.

I previously wrote on my frustrations with how classes worked in level-based systems.  My solution was to throw out my previously-held ideas about class and create a new game construct, something I call a trade.

A trade is a grouping of disciplines with which the character gains some skill, along with a particular benefit.  They require a certain number of years to complete and also give the character membership in one of the factions in my world.  They come in two groups:

The core trades, which roughly map to Ranger, Mage, Fighter, and Thief,

Title	Membership or Faith	Benefit	Funds	Time	Disciplines
Hinterlander	Any or none	Have a wilderness hideaway.  Gain 1 ranged weapon and 10 ammunition.	1d3+1 bronze	8	Athlete, Beast-Speaker, Combatant (any), Footpad, Gymnast, Hunter, Tinker, Wrangler
Researcher	Adept’s College or University of Reyjadin	Gain 1 notch in 2 more disciplines.  Gain shard if Mage chosen.	1d3+1 bronze	9	Arcanist or Mage (any), Ascetic, Combatant (Magician), Herbalist, Mechanist, Orator, and Scholar
Soldier	Any Military Group; Pirates of Korg	Gain 1 weapon set (total price less than 2 silver).	1d3+1 bronze	6	Athlete, Beast-Speaker, Combatant (3 different types), and choice between Sailor and Wrangler
Thief	Any Fringe Group; Tarluskani Military	Know a safe place to lay low and a fence in 1d4+1 cities.	3d6+1 bronze	4	Footpad, Gymnast, and two of: Grokist, Mechanist, Mountebank, Pickpocket, and Tinker

and the culture-specific trades, which feature at least one option for every faith tradition in my world.

Title	Membership or Faith	Benefit	Funds	Time	Disciplines
Arbiter	Twin Gods of Left and Right	Can usually detect lies.	1d6+2 bronze	4	Ascetic, Athlete, Grokist, and Thaumaturge
Artist	Brass Orchids, Nithya tribe, Minstrel's Guild.	Gain tools necessary for art form.	1d3+1 bronze	3	Artist, Ascetic, Orator
Conduit	Splendour of Sahargeen	Can talk to trees.	1d6+2 bronze	6	Ascetic, Athlete, Beast-Speaker, Herbalist, Hunter, and Thaumaturge
Druid	Adjraysh	Can contact a specific Sidh.	1d6+2 bronze	5	Ascetic, Beast-Speaker, Herbalist, Orator, and Sorcerer
Monk	The Order	Gain cloak of Tobias and monk's staff.	1d6+2 bronze	5	Ascetic, Grokist, Herbalist, Orator, and Thaumaturge
Muhaddi	Myths of Fiája	Can attract attention with a mystic chant	1d6+2 bronze	3	Ascetic, Orator, and Thaumaturge
Ognemuo	Ancestor Spirits	Can touch spirits.	1d4+1 bronze	4	Ascetic, Combatant (Ognemuo), Grokist, and Herbalist
Priest	Devotees of the One True God	Gain an extra Gift.	1d6+2 bronze	4	Ascetic, Athlete, Orator, and Thaumaturge
Sohei	The Order	Gain an eiku and cloak of Tobias	1d3+1 bronze	4	Ascetic, Athlete, Combatant (Sohei), and Grokist
Thanatphanaios	Ancestor Spirits	Can touch spirits.	1d6+2 bronze	4	Ascetic, Scholar, Orator, and Thaumaturge,

The list of disciplines are as follows:

Aptitude	Disciplines Governed
Strength	Athlete, Combatant, Sailor
Dexterity	Artist, Combatant, Footpad, Gymnast, Pickpocket
Cognition	Arcanist, Artist, Herbalist, Mage, Mechanic, Scholar
Communication	Artist, Beast-Speaker, Mountebank, Orator, Sorcerer
Mindfulness	Ascetic, Grokist, Hunter, Thaumaturge, Tinker, Wrangler

While most of the discipline names are self-evident, a couple hold specific meaning in my world.

Athlete reflects a character's physical endurance and bodily health.  Skilled athletes can fight for longer in combat, take more damage before suffering injuries (the only way to improve health in my game), run and hold their breath longer, and better resist poison and disease.

Combatant is the fighting discipline.  I have a list of 15 or so fighting styles based the different cultures, and each fighting style grants proficiency with several sets of weapons (because learning how to fight with two swords is very different from learning how to fight with one) and a couple of extra abilities based upon the specialties of the fighting style (the Arein Constabulary style can knock people out more easily, for example).  It is also used for defensive purposes as well.

Artist represents a character's skill with a particular artistic medium, incorporating the Bardic Art posts I worked on earlier this summer.

Arcanist is used for ritual magic, a type of magic that uses small fragments of solid magic to power magical ceremonies with specific requirements and limitations.

Mage is used for shard magic, power gained by embedding a large piece of solid magic within the body and harnessing its particular energies.

Beast-Speaker is used to understand and communicate with wild animals.  At high levels the degree of understanding increases such that the character is able to take the form of an animal.

Sorcerer allows the character to use sorcery, the magic of the Sidh which specializes in affecting the mind (illusions, charms, that sort of thing).

Grokist allows the character to understand sapient, sentient creatures.

Thaumaturge allows the character to channel miracles, specific blessings granted by their particular faith (each faith has a different set of 3-5 miracles).

Wrangler governs the taming, training, and riding of mountable animals as well as teaching others how to ride.