How to Make a Wanderer - The Vagabond Class

Let’s talk about character classes!

During character creation, there are four character classes to choose from. Doesn’t sound like a lot, but don’t worry, there is ample variety. You’ll choose one class to start at level 1, and when you find enough treasure, you’ll be able to train to increase your level in that class, or even train to gain a level in another class. You’ll even be able to meet special trainers in play that can each train you in a unique special class (each of which usually only have 1 to 3 levels of progression).

The basic adventuring classes are: the warrior, the magician, the pilgrim and the vagabond. Each of these classes has up to 10 levels of progression available.

This game is very much about being a traveler, seeking adventure on the road or in the wilderness, and this theme is present in all four character classes, but the vagabond is the clearest demonstration of this concept.

Have a look at the first 5 levels of vagabond training, as well as some of the vagabond skills you can select.

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Vagabond

Vagabonds are survivors. They learn esoteric knowledge and varied skills. They do whatever they need to defy the perils of the road.

Vagabonds are expert travelers. Everyone is better off for having a skilled vagabond with them on the road.

This chart shows the most basic advantages of being a vagabond: they are talented survivors, so their Armor Class (which I’ll probably rename) gets better as they level up. Lower is better, so an experienced vagabond becomes very hard to hit in a fight. They also get better at making “Avoid” saving throws, which are rolled to move out of the way of danger, such as explosions, pit traps or falling debris.

Another thing you’ll notice is the “Training Cost” for each level. That’s the amount of gold coins your character needs to pay a trainer to progress to that level. Remember, this game doesn’t use “experience points”, so that monetary cost is the only thing you need to worry about.

The first level of every class is extra expensive at 500 gold coins. You get to skip this cost for the class you choose at character creation, but it serves as a bit of a speed bump for when you decide to gain levels in a different class during play.

Level 1: You must select one vagabond skill, plus additional vagabond skills if you have high intellect. See below for the list of vagabond skills to choose from. You’ll gain more skills at higher levels.

Treasure Hunter: A vagabond begins their long journey with knowledge of a valuable prize. You receive a treasure map; you may have found it, bought it, received it as a gift or learned the information from trusted allies. The map leads to a nearby treasure. The GM will let you know what the treasure is (though the information might be murky), and where to find it (though the journey may be perilous).

Level 3: Dabbler: A well-traveled vagabond picks up all kinds of knowledge and talents along the way. You permanently gain +1 to one ability score of your choice. You cannot choose your highest rated ability, unless all of your abilities have the same rating.

Level 4: Treasure Hunter 2: A well-traveled vagabond always has their eye on a new destination. You receive another, more valuable treasure map. You found it, decoded it or received it as a gift.

Level 5: Mystic Lore: A seasoned vagabond has an eye for special treasure. You can always tell if an object is magical or holy at a glance. In addition, you can use any magical item, ignoring restrictions on who can use the item. (E.g. you can wield a wand without being a magician, or a relic without being a pilgrim.)

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Those are the special traits that all vagabonds get at early levels.

They get treasure maps, just for being a vagabond. This means that a vagabond will regularly have a good reason to hit the road and seek adventure elsewhere. Of course, the characters could find more treasure maps in play, but a vagabond is guaranteed to get a few.

Vagabonds are the only character class that gets to raise their ability scores natively (at level 3 and a couple of higher levels). The only other way to raise ability scores in play is to find special trainers who specifically do that, but it is very expensive. Raising ability scores is rare and special, as it provides bigger and more universal advantages than you might be used to in other games.

Mystic Lore is just the kind of broad utility that is unique to vagabonds. It’s not overwhelmingly powerful, but it is unique, it expands the scope of what they can do, and it is still useful when you have other, more specialized characters around.

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Vagabond skills: Vagabonds learn a variety of useful skills that help them survive in dangerous environments.

A vagabond selects one of the following skills at level 1, plus additional skills if they have a high Intellect rating. Vagabonds gain more skills at higher levels.

Each of these skills grants the vagabond the ability to perform a particular type of task reliably, exceeding the abilities of untrained people and avoiding the risks others face in the same situations.

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Every class has skills, but the skills from each class are very different in both theme and function. They are a big part of how you customize the class for your character.

The skills above are just a sampling of what will be available. There should eventually be at least twice as many.

Vagabond skills are all practical and non-mystical. A big part of this game is that you don’t roll dice for “skill checks” like you may be used to. Instead, if you want to climb a wall, for example, the GM must use their rules and judgment to adjudicate success. If the action is dangerous, you may need to make a saving roll or suffer some harm. Vagabond skills do not merely tip that judgment in your favor — they give you clear advantages and protections. So if you have the Climbing skill, the GM would tell you if the surface is climbable… and that’s it. You’re good at climbing. You know you won’t have to make an Avoid save to see if you slip and fall, or a Resist save to keep hold after a long climb.

Other skills just give you capabilities you wouldn’t otherwise have, and they are similarly always effective.

By not falling back on dice roll bonuses as a way to represent skills, you are guaranteed to feel that your character’s skills are both unique and meaningful.

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So that’s the vagabond. Next post is going to be about the adventures of our playtest campaign exploring the Merchant District of the abandoned Imperial town of Harzgard. And coming soon, a post all about ghosts! (Not just because of Halloween, but pretty good timing.)

How to Make a Wanderer - Ability Scores

Okay. There are 6 different ability scores, each rated from 3 to 18.

One of my biggest priorities designing these rules was that I wanted all six abilities to be useful and meaningful to all characters, regardless of their species or class. In most class-based games, each class has prescribed ability scores that you need to focus on. So a fighter’s highest score should always be Strength, maybe Dexterity if they’re an archer. Similarly, there are usually “dump stats” — abilities that are just not useful for certain classes, or sometimes not useful to anyone.

So I started over and tried to reframe the function of ability scores in the game. No dump stats. Every ability is good. You want to play a very smart warrior? Do it! It’s not just a quirky choice. It’s useful and different from playing a strong character or a tough character.

Every ability is rated from 3 to 18, always. Ability ratings of 8 to 11 are considered average, and they provide no special benefits. Ratings of 12 or more grant you a special bonus, while ratings of 7 or less give special restrictions or penalties.

This applies to all creatures. 10 is considered an average rating for an ettin or a gnome; an elephant or a mouse. Your ratings aren’t shifted based on species, because it’s all relative. For example, Ettins are naturally very big and tough. So, an ettin with Constitution 5 is frail for an ettin. They still pretty tough compared to most humans.

Importantly, each ability provides you with a singular, meaningful effect — not a bunch of things that you need to keep looking up, and not some vague, abstract “ability modifier”.

Here are the abilities:

Strength — High strength grants you a bonus to damage rolls — all damage rolls. Swords, bows, magic spells, traps that you set, whatever. Strong characters are good at efficiently exerting force. So strong warriors are probably exactly like you think, but you could also imagine a strong magician channeling their magic through their body to boost its power. Having a low strength doesn’t give you a penalty to damage, but it restricts the kinds of weapons you can use.

Agility — High agility makes you hard to hit, improving your Armor Class. Functionally, this is a penalty to enemy attack rolls. You get your agility bonus even when wearing armor, because quick reflexes are still helpful to turn to the side and make attacks glance off. Low agility penalizes your AC, making you easier to hit.

Constitution — High constitution increases the number of hit points you gain, of course, but it also increases the amount of armor you can wear. Armor is acquired in pieces, and characters can by default wear two armor pieces. High constitution can let you wear as many as four. Low constitution reduces your access to armor and shields.

Intellect — Intellect represents your talent for learning. Characters with high intellect get to select extra options from their character class(es). For example, an intellectual magician studies additional magical sciences, letting them use different kinds of spells, while a warrior would get to master additional weapons, gaining bonuses when using each weapon under the right conditions. Low intellect just means your character takes a bit longer to learn, so it gives you an extra cost to pay when hiring a trainer to level up.

Wisdom — Luck, instinct, alertness or faith, whatever it is, it keeps you safe. Wisdom is a bonus to all saving rolls. So when a trap triggers, you get poisoned, a spell is cast at you or whatever else, a high wisdom gives you a bonus to your saving roll to reduce the effect. Low wisdom means you’re a little too reckless or unlucky, and you get a penalty to those rolls.

Charisma — The most famous dump stat! Well, not here. In this game, charisma is good for everyone. If you have a high charisma, you get a number of free followers (“henchmen”, if you’re old school). And if they die or leave your service, a new follower will join. Everyone can hire followers for an upfront cost, but charismatic characters get a few without that cost. Your followers are your responsibility, though, and you’ll have to pay for it if you want to level them up. Low charisma, on the other hand, means that folks are a little less eager to join you, and you have to pay an extra fee to hire followers.

One last thing, and I think this is probably the most controversial thing in this post: I’m going with random rolls for stats. The way we’re doing it is this: Roll 3D6 for each ability and note the results. (None of that 4D6-drop-the-lowest stuff; it’s more fun if people have low stats sometimes.) If you don’t roll at least two values of 12 or more, reroll everything until you do. (I’m not going to make you play without some bonuses.) You can then rearrange your results if you want. Or leave the rolls straight! I’m not your dad.

I don’t plan to have a point-buy option at all; I know that this is something that some people insist on, but I really don’t feel that it fits the game. I’m considering creating a standard array for folks who really can’t get with rolling the dice. The standard array (if I decide to have it) would ensure that you have two low stats with penalties, two high stats with bonuses, and two average stats.

Playtest Campaign Part 0: Our Heroes, such as they are

I’ve been running a weekly campaign of this game with a few friends. I intend to start writing a postmortem post after each session, but first I need to go over how we started and what’s happened since.

At the very beginning, I didn’t have most of the rules written. I had enough for character creation (though many things would change later) and a rough outline of the rest.

The background story I gave them is as follows: The Empire colonized and dominated this land for a couple hundred years, until the people of the Land united in rebellion. Twenty years ago, the Empire retreated, leaving behind outposts, fortresses and settlements, many of which are still unexplored. The people of the Land are rebuilding. Your characters are all desperate enough to seek your fortune exploring perilous old Imperial ruins.

Below is a brief overview of each player character and some of the basic options they selected. One thing you’ll notice is that each one has a Goal. This is something I had each player come up with as the reason they got into “adventuring”. They had to pick a specific thing they need money for and a specific amount of money they need. Because the game is meant to be played in a “sandbox-style”, they each need something to motivate them, to push them toward adventure. In concept, once they have that much money, they can retire and accomplish their goal.

The best part about the Goal, to me, is that because money also serves as the currency for character advancement, the characters will find themselves getting a bunch of treasure that they could save for their goal, then instead spending that money on gear and training, so that they can maybe score even more treasure later. I like that little bit of tension in their decision-making. Most importantly, though, it ensures that every character has a concrete, in-fiction reason to be involved in these frankly reckless endeavors.

Here’s the cast of characters:

Forram: Species: Ettin / Culture: The Tribes / Class: Magician / Goal: Build a farm: 2500 gold.

Forram is from an animistic tribe on the outer edges of the Land. He is a magician who studies Travel (movement and teleportation) and Medicine (healing). He’s an 8-foot tall troll who fights with his fists when he needs to.

(Note: I’m not really satisfied with the concept that I originally wrote up for the culture of the Tribes. I will either rewrite it substantially or replace it with something else. Currently, the Tribes are just shamanistic cliches. Forram’s player does not play him as a “native tribesman” stereotype, thankfully.)

Agorak: Species: Orc / Culture: The Hordes / Class: Pilgrim / Goal: Acquire supplies for ritual to empower his chieftain: 7000 gold.

Agorak is from a nomadic, communalist warrior clan. He is a pilgrim, a person who gains power from their mystical and religious practices. He is a holy person with the power bless others (Sanctifier skill), and he can protect people by creating mystic shields (Protector skill). He is a shaman who believes his power comes from the favor of powerful spirits. He is not very strong, but keenly intelligent and wise.

(Note: His player chose to play an orc from a barbarian horde, which is a totally valid choice, but it is by no means expected of orc characters. All of the cultures in the game contain members of all species, and the characters encounter orcs from all sorts of backgrounds. All of the sapient species in this world — the “folks” — have free will. None of them are inherently evil or driven to violence.)

Lendel: Species: Gnome / Culture: The Spire / Class: Magician / Goal: Create a cure to his curse: 3000 gold.

Lendel is a gnome — a 3-foot tall troll made of stone — from the nearby wealthy, metropolitan nation of the Spire. He was a very bright student at a Spire academy studying magical sciences, when an alchemy accident cursed him by draining his intellect and enhancing his strength. He is now very strong, but dim-witted. He has lost much of his mastery of magic outside of alchemy.

Anthony “Tony” Rockbone: Species: Dwarf / Culture: The Ancients / Class: Vagabond / Goal: Re-establish the Rockbone “family business”: 4000 gold.

Tony is a dwarf — a 5-foot tall fairy who can see and speak to ghosts, and see in the dark — from an Ancient settlement. The Ancients live among the old ruins of their culture, fixating on the past and striving not to change things, for fear of losing history. Tony, on the other hand, wants to rebuild his family’s business empire, which fell centuries ago. He is a vagabond — a wanderer with great survival skills. Tony doesn’t pay for food. He can always stir something up with a little bit of hunting and foraging.