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View Full Version : Occupations for D&D



Ssiauhll
2007-10-31, 08:22 AM
I was thinking of D20 Modern where every PC had an occupation to signify what they did before they started along the heroes path. I thought that would be great to have something like that in D&D and wondered if there was something like that out there already.

Tormsskull
2007-10-31, 08:31 AM
Maybe give everyone 4 ranks in a Craft or Profession skill for free? There should be several examples provided for you in the skill descriptions of both, and you could also check the Equipment sections for the services provided and infer from that.

elliott20
2007-10-31, 09:20 AM
well, the whole occupation thing rarely shows up in games with a hectic adventuring schedule. However, in games where the storyline goes on to span for several years, yeah, that is something we have to talk about.

Usually though, I just ask my players how they will spend their time, and based on that, I assign some kind of benefit/costs to it.

-Cor-
2007-10-31, 11:37 AM
Maybe give everyone 4 ranks in a Craft or Profession skill for free?

I came in here to say just that.

I like doing this a great deal. Not with Craft, just Profession. I feel it adds to the character depth if they have something they did before they set out adventuring. And if they want to keep putting ranks in it... then more power to them (not for free tho'). If they don't like it, or it doesn't fit their character to have ever had a job before (and more often than not I can always argue that it does fit almost every character) then I just say, Profession (Adventurer)... 4 ranks.

I try to allow for a couple of rolls with it as well. A former tavern owner might know if food or drink has gone bad or been poisoned. A former blacksmith might get a free identify on a weapon/piece of armor. A former diplomat might get a circumstance bonus to a diplomacy check with government officials.

<shrug> I really like this, but YMMV.

Swooper
2007-10-31, 12:26 PM
I give my players a free background feat (mostly skill related feats, but also cool yet non-useful stuff like Endurance) at 1st, 5th, 10th, 15th and 20th levels. If they like, they can use it for something like Skill Focus on something that fits the character, but not every character will have had an actual job before becoming an adventurer.

Roderick_BR
2007-10-31, 12:50 PM
Interesting idea. In most D&D games, adventuring by itself is a profession, but a what the character did before is a good way of making a background.
An option I'd give my players is to ask them to put 4 ranks in a craft or profession skill at 1st level, and give them masterwork tools for free. Just a little reward for players that want to make a more complete background, without giving away stuff too good at 1st level.
Of course, some dwarfs (specially clerics) tend to put points into craft (armor or weapons), and most ranged types (ranger, rogue, fighter) tend to have points in craft anyway, so it's more for players with Profession skills. I actually had a dwarf cleric once that had max skills in Profession (cook), even if that was not "optimized". (I wonder if I can get a "masterwork kitchen set"...)

If you want to go further, give a Skill Focus for free at 1st level, still as long as the player spends 4 skill points at 1st level.

Kenbert
2007-10-31, 12:54 PM
I like the idea of using the character's background occupation as part of character creation. I usually stick it in there, even if it makes the character less uber-powerful. But "free" feats or skill points or something like that works too. One way you could do it is to look at the age of the character. The older they were when they began adventuring and the longer they'd had that occupation, the more stuff they could get. It'd make it a bit more realistic, perhaps.

Dhavaer
2007-10-31, 02:50 PM
I think Cityscape had class skills for upper, middle and lower class characters.

Temp
2007-10-31, 03:16 PM
My group's been doing the free Profession/Craft/Perform skill point thing, but we've continued adding extra skill points each level for the entirity of a character's career.

Free skill points to the Bard is really the extent of the abuse we've had.

Hawriel
2007-10-31, 04:04 PM
I find the profession and craft skills kind of odd. You really cant have one with out the other. Some times the Profession skill can replace the craft skill.

Prof Thatcher this can be done with out a craft skill, but weaving and or carpentry would fit.

Prof lawyer craft leagal document. (or forgery) :smallwink:

Prof blacksmith craft metal crafting. Specialising would be armor or weapons smith

Prof locksmith craft....well this is a hard one if you know how to make a lock you can do alot of other tool and die kind of stuff. oh and pick them.
I guess a locksmith would be a great background prof for a rogue. The honest locksmith fell on hard times, they they fell on him, he was "recruited" by a thieves guild for a job. Two years later for varios RP reasons he is now the top safe cracker in all of name your big city, if not country.

Kvenulf
2007-10-31, 04:06 PM
In one of my campaigns, I generated a chart that listed the NPC classes plus a couple of extras (like Rogue, for those urban scum-types). Players were allowed to choose a background, and the NPC class that fit them best would be used in the following way:
1) Skills were based on the NPC class, with a x3 modifer for skill points. So, a character with the "warrior" background would get 2+Int(+1 if Human)x3 skill points. They then got the normal amount of skill points for a one level progression into 1st. Our warrior chooses to be a Fighter, so he gets 2 skill points, modified by race and Int as usual.
2) Starting money was dependent upon NPC class, not PC class.
3) I gave some small perks to help balance things out, like "adepts" got to keep 1 0-level spell, etc.
4) Otherwise, characters were generated normally.
It worked out alright, and it did give some meaning to the characters background beyond "fluff".

Brawls
2007-10-31, 04:12 PM
My group's been doing the free Profession/Craft/Perform skill point thing, but we've continued adding extra skill points each level for the entirity of a character's career.

Free skill points to the Bard is really the extent of the abuse we've had.
I discussed this with my DM, as well. I have a fairly solid backstory for my character and placed ranks in skills reflecting that history. He granted a few extra skill points so I could still take useful skills as well. I'm trying to convince him of the same idea for skills used during adventures (like swimming, survival, climbing, etc.). We'll see if he bites.

Temp
2007-10-31, 04:16 PM
Someone was mentioning (on these boards, I think) making all players take 3 NPC class levels before advancing in their "real" classes as a balance for the Wizard/Fighter problems.

This seemed like a decent idea to a)achieve its desired goal (NPC class levels do next to nothing to help spellcasters but do provide BA/HP/Saving throws for Fighters), b)help early-level survival a bit, and c)to support earlier occupations.

This method does sort of stick it to the skill-monkeys, though, unless you delay the 4xSkillpoints level until the character's 4th hit die.

Kyeudo
2007-10-31, 04:44 PM
Someone was mentioning (on these boards, I think) making all players take 3 NPC class levels before advancing in their "real" classes as a balance for the Wizard/Fighter problems.

This seemed like a decent idea to a)achieve its desired goal (NPC class levels do next to nothing to help spellcasters but do provide BA/HP/Saving throws for Fighters), b)help early-level survival a bit, and c)to support earlier occupations.

This method does sort of stick it to the skill-monkeys, though, unless you delay the 4xSkillpoints level until the character's 4th hit die.

Forcing a player to take NPC levels to represent his background is like making a race car run on an ordinary engine for its first few years before allowing them to upgrade it.

It doesn't make sense in a fantasy game and it unfairly penalizes the characters. The spellcasters can spellcast, the skill monkeys don't have their combat class features, and the fighters are lagging behind in BAB.

D&D characters are supposed to be extrodinary characters, above the average mundane citizen. So they started working as a mercenary right out of wizard college and so don't have ranks in Proffession(spellcaster), so what? Adventurer's often live off what they get by wiping out the local bandits/evil lord/undead horde/extraplanar apocolypse, and I can see nothing wrong with that.

F.L.
2007-10-31, 05:07 PM
Another possible option is to gestalt what would be ordinary 1-class players with the NPC classes. Or, since commoner is especially useless, you could just add levels in that directly onto the PC's.

Oh, and of course having those commoner levels not count for advancement.

Jayabalard
2007-10-31, 05:34 PM
Forcing a player to take NPC levels to represent his background is like making a race car run on an ordinary engine for its first few years before allowing them to upgrade it.

It doesn't make sense in a fantasy game and it unfairly penalizes the characters. The spellcasters can spellcast, the skill monkeys don't have their combat class features, and the fighters are lagging behind in BAB.Your analogy isn't related at all and doesn't make any sense; you learn to crawl before you learn to walk before you learn to run.

This idea makes plenty of sense in a fantasy game. Most fantasy characters start off as something other than adventurers; it's actually quite common for the heroic person to start off as someone pretty ordinary. Personally the whole "I went to adventurer's school" idea has always seemed absurd to me.

If everyone does it, it doesn't penalize anyone; it's just a feature of the game that you're playing.

Perhaps you mean "The spellcasters can't spellcast" ... which is kind of the point, since the idea is that these people didn't start off as a spellcaster, they did something else first, and why it was noted that it helps bring fighters and wizards a little closer into balance.

A skill monkey class gets their class combat features at the same relative rate as a spellcasting and fighter classes do, so I have no idea what you mean by that.

And who exactly are the Fighter's lagging behind in BAB?


D&D characters are supposed to be extrodinary characters, above the average mundane citizen. So they started working as a mercenary right out of wizard college and so don't have ranks in Proffession(spellcaster), so what? Adventurer's often live off what they get by wiping out the local bandits/evil lord/undead horde/extraplanar apocolypse, and I can see nothing wrong with that.It's fine that you have that particular concept for D&D characters, but keep in mind that some (many?) people choose top play slightly more gritty/realistic characters, just like people like to start off with their power level over 9000. D&D characters are not supposed to be anything except what the people playing intend them to be... which may or may not be extra-ordinary people above the mundane citizen.

it sounds like you missed the OP's entire point...