Warrior, Hunter, Bard, Druid

One of the design goals I've set myself for Legends of Alba is a single resolution mechanic. A lot of TTRPGs have a completely separate resolution system for combat. I want combat to be a feature, but I don't want it broken out into its own thing as I think that puts an undue emphasis on it and slows the game down.

At the minute the resolution for LoA is handled by Tests. There are 4 Ability Scores - called Talents - which are: Might, Agility, Awareness & Charisma (or Spirit, names are still changing).

When it comes to fighting, characters would use their best stat, representing their fighting style. My thinking there is that this allows for player expression in describing how their character fights. But it requires a little explanation to get to.

Separately though, not represented anywhere in the rules for the game, I have four character archetypes in my head when I think about LoA : Warrior, Hunter, Bard, Druid.

"The Chief Druid" from "Mona Antiqua Restaurata", 1723 (public domain)

I always liked how Knave 2E describes its Ability Scores in relation to Character Classes (though it doesn't feature Character Classes at all!). So for example it'd describe Strength as The Fighter Ability, Dexterity as The Thief Ability etc.

Bumbling around online I came across Warrior, Rogue, Mage which uses goes a step further and just using those 3 class names as the Ability Scores. I felt something click. Is it more intuitive if I just use those 4 archetypes as the Ability Scores? Let's see!

The point I'm trying to get to is a minimal set of stats that would allow us to resolve the broadest range of situations that might come up.

It'd be crazy to try and list everything that might come up. So I'll take a look at other games that use Skills and see how these match up.

I play a lot of D&D so it's always an easy benchmark for ideas like this. D&D uses skills to represent a broad range of challenges that Characters might face during a fantasy role playing game. So can we map D&D skills to our 4 archetypes?

• Warrior: Athletics, Intimidation
• Hunter: Acrobatics, Stealth, Perception, Survival, Investigation
• Bard: Sleight of Hand, History, Deception, Performance, Persuasion 
• Druid: Arcana, Religion, Nature, Insight, Medicine, Animal Handling

We kinda sorta can! It's not an even spread, the Warrior is a bit light but that was the one I was least concerned about. Tests of physical might come up often enough.

So how would I describe these as abilities? What's the remit of each?

• Warrior Tests are for feats of strength, endurance, and martial skill.
• Hunter Tests are for awareness, precision and for moving quickly and quietly.
• Bard Tests are for performance, negotiation and guile.
• Druid Tests are for intuition, willpower and communication with nature.

I think that works. The Druid is tricky. My idea of what a Druid is in this setting is clear in my head but hard to describe. My intention with the point about communication with nature is for things like settling a frightened beast, judging if the dark clouds are signs of incoming storm, identifying plants... and I'm already having to be careful here. Generally I don't want players to be rolling to see if their Character knows something. That's something the player and GM agree as questions come up based on the Character's Homeland, Heritage and Service. So the question of "Can I tell if this plant is poisonous?" shouldn't really be answered by a Druid Test: If they're a Blacksmith from a different Kingdom, then it's a no; but if they're a Forager then it's a yes.

My Druid example of predicting incoming weather also sounds dangerously more like a special power the Druid has than an ability which every Character possesses to a greater or lesser degree. And that highlights probably my main concern with using class names is that these bring baggage with them from other games. Players might expect that because they have a high Warrior stat they should be getting abilities like Second Wind or Action Surge. As demonstrated I've already found myself thinking along those lines.

That said: I quite like this. I'm not sure if I like it enough to say this is the way I'm going but I wanted to use this post to put the idea out there and get me thinking about it.

Till next time!