Good 3e classes to convert to OSR

[thirdkingdom]

I'm working on converting some 3e classes to an OSR system (specifically Old School Essentials) and, since I'm not super familiar with 3e was hoping for suggestions. I've already done warlock and hexblade, and am thinking of trying Binder next. Does anyone have any suggestions of classes that might convert nicely? Especially obscure ones.

[Silly Name]

The Mystic, from DragonLance Campaign Setting, has always been a favourite of mine. Spontaneous divine casters who don't need to worship or even acknowledge deities, drawing power from within themselves. They are to clerics what sorcerers are to wizards, but Mystics also get to cast spells from a domain of their choosing.

The Marshal (Miniatures Handbook) is another favourite of mine, a very simple but effective Warlord-type class: you fight well and get to boost your allies thanks to your presence, coordinate them and even grant extra move actions.

I never got to play with a Spirit Shaman, but a lot of people talk about it as a very fun and interesting class. It's in Complete Divine.

But, above everything else, I guess the Artificer from Eberron is the one that might give you more of a challenge but also potentially prove very interesting to use.

Incarnum classes are another thing you could try your hand at.

[thirdkingdom]

The Mystic, from DragonLance Campaign Setting, has always been a favourite of mine. Spontaneous divine casters who don't need to worship or even acknowledge deities, drawing power from within themselves. They are to clerics what sorcerers are to wizards, but Mystics also get to cast spells from a domain of their choosing.

The Marshal (Miniatures Handbook) is another favourite of mine, a very simple but effective Warlord-type class: you fight well and get to boost your allies thanks to your presence, coordinate them and even grant extra move actions.

I never got to play with a Spirit Shaman, but a lot of people talk about it as a very fun and interesting class. It's in Complete Divine.

But, above everything else, I guess the Artificer from Eberron is the one that might give you more of a challenge but also potentially prove very interesting to use.

Incarnum classes are another thing you could try your hand at.

I have taken a look at the incarnum stuff, and it looks pretty interesting. Is the mystic similar to . . . I think there was also a Complete Divine class that was sorcerer-like? I know it is a race (OSE uses race-as-class as default, so that's what I'm doing), but what about shadar-kai? My homebrew setting has a Shadowlands that features pretty heavily.

[Thane of Fife]

If you're doing race-as-class, Eberron's changelings and shifters could be interesting.

As for classes, there's the Giant's homebrew Champion (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=9623431&postcount=9), which is sort of a Sentai/Magical Girl kind of thing.

The Tome of Battle classes are pretty different from any kind of OSR melee classes, but they could be fun to work with for just that reason.

[Silly Name]

I have taken a look at the incarnum stuff, and it looks pretty interesting. Is the mystic similar to . . . I think there was also a Complete Divine class that was sorcerer-like?

You're thinking of the Favored Soul. I honestly prefer the Mystic if only for the fluff. They're otherwise pretty similar, except Favored Souls are better at using their deity's favored weapon and get to fly at high levels.


I know it is a race (OSE uses race-as-class as default, so that's what I'm doing), but what about shadar-kai? My homebrew setting has a Shadowlands that features pretty heavily.

I guess Shadar-kai could work. 3rd edition has a "races as classes" system, but the shadar-kai don't have a lot of "meat" to make a class out of, IMHO. Perhaps take a look at the Shadow Magic section of Tome of Magic to crib some abilities and ideas?

[RandomPeasant]

I guess Shadar-kai could work. 3rd edition has a "races as classes" system, but the shadar-kai don't have a lot of "meat" to make a class out of, IMHO. Perhaps take a look at the Shadow Magic section of Tome of Magic to crib some abilities and ideas?

Probably also some amount of Rogue. Honestly, if you're doing "shadow magic race" I would go read the section of A Practical Guide to Evil where Cat fights the Drow, because that has a whole bunch of Shadow Magic concepts in it.

[thirdkingdom]

You're thinking of the Favored Soul. I honestly prefer the Mystic if only for the fluff. They're otherwise pretty similar, except Favored Souls are better at using their deity's favored weapon and get to fly at high levels.



I guess Shadar-kai could work. 3rd edition has a "races as classes" system, but the shadar-kai don't have a lot of "meat" to make a class out of, IMHO. Perhaps take a look at the Shadow Magic section of Tome of Magic to crib some abilities and ideas?

It does?? Where would I find such a thing?

[Silly Name]

It is detailed in Savage Species. It has a few examples of "monstrous classes", and exists principally to allow playing as big, bad monsters from level 1. There are a few monstrous classes scattered across other splats, but the examples in Savage Species are a good template.

[Luccan]

This might be a little out there, but the OA Samurai (later kind of resurected in the PrC Kensai from Complete Warrior) could be interesting because it's main gimmick is enchanting its own weapon.

On a similar note, with a little bit of work, the concept of the Soulknife would be interesting to see in the osr

[thirdkingdom]

This might be a little out there, but the OA Samurai (later kind of resurected in the PrC Kensai from Complete Warrior) could be interesting because it's main gimmick is enchanting its own weapon.

On a similar note, with a little bit of work, the concept of the Soulknife would be interesting to see in the osr

Would the soulknife need a psionics system to build off of or could it be freestanding? I was thinking of trying Spellthief don't really think it fits in that well with OSR-style games.

[Luccan]

Would the soulknife need a psionics system to build off of or could it be freestanding? I was thinking of trying Spellthief don't really think it fits in that well with OSR-style games.

Soulknife doesn't really need psionics. The only thing it uses it for in 3.5 is to summon it's weapon and a couple feats that don't actually interact with the system as a whole, but that can be handwaved really easily.

Spellthief is hard. Even in 3.x, you're just a worse rogue with a only a few spells if you can't get access to spellcasters to steal from

[QuadraticGish]

The Duskblade would probably work well.

[thirdkingdom]

How about any races or prestige classes that would be good to look at?

[AsuraKyoko]

Probably also some amount of Rogue. Honestly, if you're doing "shadow magic race" I would go read the section of A Practical Guide to Evil where Cat fights the Drow, because that has a whole bunch of Shadow Magic concepts in it.

This is a little bit off-topic, but I'm going to second this recommendation! APGtE is a fantastic series, and has given me a ton of inspiration for things to use in tabletop RPGs, and it's also informed how I handle making NPCs (conceptually, more than mechanically, but concept informs mechanics, so it trickles down).

To elaborate on that a little bit, in APGtE the world more or less runs on literary tropes, with certain people ending up as Heroes and Villains. Each Hero or Villain has 3 Aspects that reflect who they are and what they do, and are the things that make them the most dangerous (usually). I've extrapolated this to a lot of other areas of design, by giving NPCs 3 major traits, 3 major things they can do, etc.

Bringing this back a bit towards the topic at hand, I feel like the best designed classes usually have a set of 1-3 primary things that they do, though this is, of course, flexible in execution. Druid is, naturally :smallwink:, an excellent example: it has 3 major features (Spells, Animal Companion, Wild Shape), that all tie in to a central theme (drawing power from nature). Because the core of the class can be boiled down to 3 easily-identifiable things, the specific execution of those things in many ways doesn't matter; If you make a class that casts powerful spells, turns into animals, and has a powerful animal pet, you have a Conceptual Druid, even if the execution is very different.

This all boils down to achieving conceptual resonance; if a class feels like it fits the associated theme without having to draw on the specific mechanics, it's a good fit for conversion into other systems. Having 3 core features is not required for this (many classes don't have 3), but it does function as a natural high end. Any more than that and it's probably not focused enough to achieve that resonance without being very careful.

As far as other classes that would make for good options to convert to OSR games, the Binder could be interesting. It would probably require a fair bit of work, since the mechanics are a bit weird, but it fits within the Rule of Three: it draws power by binding powerful entities to its soul, it can change its capabilities based on which entities it binds, and it has the 5 round cooldown mechanic (or, more generally, it has abilities that are useable all day, but not every turn).

EDIT: I should note that I'm not super familiar with OSR-style games, so my specific suggestion might not fit very well.