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So Many Characters...So Few Games!

Wizards of the Coast virtually created the collectible trading card game with Magic: The Gathering. I never played Magic, but I was familiar with the rules and how it worked, which meant I was familiar with the rules of a lot of the other collectible card games that hit the market in Magic's wake. I was working at a Software, Etc., store at the time, and the rumors floating around stated that rather than sue the companies using their "game engine," Wizards of the Coast licensed their system to the other collectible card game comes for a fee, which allowed the smaller companies to continue operating and put a few extra dollars in Wizards' pockets without a lot of legal fees to get in the way.

(I want to stress that I have no evidence to back this up. I didn't play Magic so, truthfully, I didn't care enough to find out then, and I'm not concerned enough about it now to research it . . . Besides, that's not the point of this article anyway.)

Fast-forward a few years.

Wizards of the Coast becomes the owner of all-things Dungeons & Dragons, and of the many concepts introduced to the game, the Open Game License becomes the one that makes the biggest impact on the role-playing game industry.

For those who don't know, basically the Open Game License makes it possible for anyone to create "official" Dungeons & Dragons material. Using a set of stripped down "flavor"-less rules sallied the Standard Rules Document, or SRD (which anyone can download from here for free), publishers, writers and creators can create spells, feats and races usable in any D&D game or campaign (with the DM's approval, of course, but more on that in a bit).

Sure, sometimes this leads to some "broken" material (meaning, basically, that the rules seem a bit out-of-whack with what's already been done by the powers-that-be at WotC). There's no real system of checks-and-balances so you have to trust that the publisher knows what they're doing (a publisher like Malhavoc Press, for example).

This non-WotC material, along with pretty much anything from Wizards not published in the Player's Handbook, is often times called "non-core." In my gaming group, whenever new PCs are created for whatever reasons, it's often stipulated that characters must use either "core" or "standard" Wizards material, which sometimes prevents using some of the more interesting character classes available. The following are some of my favorites that I have yet to play:

The Warden: This particular class hasn't been published anywhere as far as I know; I stumbled across it online. Taking some of the ideology of the druid and combining it with the physical-ness of the ranger, the warden is a class I've wanted to play for a VERY long time (ever since I stumbled across it several moons ago). I've even modified and painted a mini for the character! The limited spell list for the warden is quite specific, which keeps the character more martial flavored while still harnessing the power and magic of nature itself. I like the idea of a character that relies on the power of nature directly for defense (there are AC bonuses which increase per level) and offense (as a character advances in level, the amount of damage his or her plain wooden staff increases as well).

Soldier of Truth: AEG, publisher of The World's Largest Dungeon, released a series of one-word titled supplements awhile back. Books like Dragons, Evil or Magic covered their subject matter, providing alternate or expanded rules that have added a lot to the games that I run. (Their similarly-themed/titled book Toolbox is one of the most useful books I've ever purchased!) One of AEG's last of these one-word-title books is Secrets, and it's easily my favorite. Its chapters are numbered incorrectly (I believe there's even one missing), with each one being written in the style of another narrator's voice. The thought behind his unique packaging is that this collection of secrets was collected from the world(s) over, and it works. As the title implies, the book explores various "secrets" of the fantasy D&D-world, offering up a few extra playable races (non-psionic half-dwarves, an immortal variant of elves and a subrace of a popular D&D monster - the "bleeding orc), new spells (including 10th-level spells), new feats (Past Life feats - very cool), new skills, etc., etc. It also introduces some new character classes; the soldier of truth is one of them.

The basic thrust of the class is that the character is constantly striving to see through the unreality of the world, pushing its boundaries and limits to see and experience things as they really are. As the character progresses in level, he or she gains the ability to see through illusions and other disguises, as well as to briefly defy gravity. At 11th level, a soldier of truth gains a special ability called Unhindered by Reality, and at 16th, Defy Reality. I just gotta find a game, and a game master, that will let me give this class a spin.

Eldritch Weaver: Green Ronin's Advanced Player's Manual offers variant rules - feats, skills, spells - and a handful of new player classes. I've always been a sucker for variant magic systems and casters, especially when they're integrated into the standard D&D magic system. Magic of Incarnum (which I'll mention in a moment) does this; technically, the Expanded Psionics Handbook does this as well. The new classes in the Advanced Player's Manual can integrate into a standard D&D game as well. The eldritch weaver approaches magic as threads of arcane energy, still using a spellbook, and taking a different approach to spells and spell energy. Instead of filling spell slots, the weaver follows distinct threads of magic, which he or she chooses at 1st level. As the character advances, the character can add new spells, but only spells that are further along their chosen threads of study.

Classes from Magic of Incarnum: I'm working on a review of this book for GitC, so I don't want to reveal too much here. This sourcebook introduces another new way of looking at magic - the use of incarnum - and, again, doesn't rely on spell levels or spell points. Rather, the three classes use the energy drawn from the souls of those living, dead and not yet born to create magic effects and affects. I'd love to give all three of these classes a spin.

Archivist: The recent Heroes of Horror from WotC (again, review forthcoming) introduced two new player classes, and one of them - the archivist - caught my eye. A divine magic user, this character class relies on a prayer book. The mechanic is similar to a wizard or other spellbook-based caster class, but I really like the idea of a divine magic user that seeks to add new prayers and rituals to their personal prayer book.

I'm leaving a few off this list, like Green Ronin's Cavalier and Noble. This is intentional - it's hard to look at all these classes and possibilities for PCs when it can sometimes be hard enough to get a good game in once or twice a month. As much as I'd like to just try these classes out, I'm also interested in taking a character through one (or more) of these classes (or some of the old favorites) and progressing a character through several levels and game sessions. There's just not enough time, what with work and all those other responsibilities that came along with growing up. If only I could win the lottery . . .